Inglis confident in Easter quality

Inglis has worked with Australia's leading vendors to present a two-day catalogue of elite yearlings on April 6 and 7 at the Riverside Stables which General Manager of Bloodstock Sales and Marketing Sebastian Hutch says represents the best in Australia.

"We're very pleased with how the catalogue has come together. It's a massive exercise putting together a series of catalogues for a yearling sales series, but in many respects, the Easter horses pick themselves," Hutch told TDN AusNZ.

"We deal with a broad cross section of very savvy vendors, who know where they want to sell their horses and invariably they sell their best horses at Easter. They pick themselves and it’s no different this year."

As has become expected from this Sale, many of Australia's best families are represented in the catalogue.

There are 39 yearlings out of Group 1 winners including the first foals of star mares/fillies Secret Agenda (Not A Single Doubt), Pinot (Pierro), Catchy (Fastnet Rock) and Lasqueti Spirit (Beneteau).

The Sale also features 42 siblings to Group 1-winning horses, or around nine per cent of the 466-strong catalogue.

Among those are full brothers to Super Seth (Dundeel {NZ}), Te Akau Shark (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), Nakeeta Jane (So You Think {NZ}) and Booker (Written Tycoon) and full sisters to Viddora (I Am Invincible), Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Pierata (Pierro).

There are also half-siblings to stallions Dundeel (NZ), Brutal (NZ), Shooting To Win and Exceedance as well as to recent Group 1 winners Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}).

Just over 36 per cent of the catalogue, or 169 yearlings, are from stakes-winning mares, while there are siblings to 161 stakes winners.

Australia's leading sires are all well represented with 53 yearlings by I Am Invincible, 45 by four-time defending Australian Champion Sire Snitzel, 35 by Pierro, 33 by Zoustar and 25 by young Coolmore shuttle stallion American Pharoah (USA).

There are also nine yearlings from the final crop of legendary Arrowfield Stud stallion Redoute's Choice.

Major international stallions such as Deep Impact (Jpn), Frankel (GB), Kingman (GB), Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), Medaglia D’Oro (USA), Siyouni (Fr), Tapit (USA) and Duramente (Jpn) are also represented.

First-season stallions Merchant Navy (17) and Russian Revolution (16) also feature heavily while other stallions with their first Australian crops at the Sale include Hellbent, Almanzor (Fr), Menari, Pariah, Ribchester (Ire), Impending, Churchill (Ire) and Caravaggio (USA).

"The catalogue has come together very nicely. There's a good cross-section of stallions, an excellent cross-section of vendors, lots of current pedigrees and offspring of top-class, young racemares. There's a host of yearlings out of proven elite-producers and as is always the case at Easter, there are going to be some fantastically high prices and we will reflect in a few years' time on the number of horses that turned out to be high-class, or exceptionally well-bought at the Sale," Hutch said.

Bringing the best

Hutch said that Inglis didn't set out with a certain number of yearlings in mind for the catalogue but believes it had found the sweet spot of fitting into an elite two-day format, while meeting the strong appetite of the buying bench.

"It’s down slightly on numbers on last year, but up significantly on the year before that. We are trying to find a happy medium where you have a suitable number of the right horses, you can service the vendors well, and you have enough critical mass to attract people to the Sale," he said.

"We don’t set out with the objective to obtain a particular number of horses for the Sale. It’s about identifying and working with vendors to put together drafts that we think are capable of achieving the right sort of results and appealing to the right sort of people. That’s how the book has come together."

Australia's biggest farms have again thrown their strong support behind the Sale, both in terms of quality and quantity. Arrowfield Stud is the leading vendor with 49 entries followed by Coolmore (40), Widden (28), Segenhoe (23) and Yarraman Park (22).

While 2020 was a difficult year, with the Easter Sale impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns which resulted in the catalogue being split between a 'virtual' sale held in the traditional timeslot and a Round 2 physical sale conducted in July, Hutch said the enthusiasm for those vendors to sell their horses in a live auction environment at the Riverside Stables remained undiminished.

"Year in, year out, people send their best yearlings to Easter. I'm not making a claim that is open to dispute. It is demonstrated year-after-year. Last year was challenging, owing to the fact we put together what we felt was an incredibly strong Easter catalogue, and didn't really get the opportunity to showcase it the way the horses deserved and the people deserved," Hutch said.

"The fact the Sale eventuated to be as good as it was, is a testament to the work of the vendors and the fortitude of the buyers. A traditional Easter Yearling Sale last year we felt would have been on track to be a record-breaking Sale.

"We’ve got the bit between our teeth to firstly, get everybody back to Riverside and enjoy the emotion of a live auction, and secondly, get everybody in front of a critical mass of what are the best yearlings in Australasia. That's an exciting prospect."

Buyers' appetite as strong as ever

Given the manner in which the Australian sales season has started in 2021, and the willingness of people to invest in bloodstock, there is much cause for optimism as to what may be achieved at Easter.

"While what happened last year was unfortunate, I feel people are willing to look at it as a circumstantial anomaly and weigh back in and support the Sale with quality again," Hutch said.

"Naturally, what happened did induce conservative behaviour for a lot of people, both domestically and internationally but we have seen the rebound through the yearling sales in Australasia so far and the expectation on the strength of our catalogue, is that is going to continue and culminate at Easter.

"It's the pinnacle of Australasia's yearling sale season and I think we are quite happy to let the Sale do the talking in April."