Inglis opens entries for Ready2Race Sale

Written by Bren O'Brien

Inglis has opened entries for its 2021 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, which will be held at the Riverside Stables on Tuesday, October 12.

The Sale will be staged for the ninth time in 2021, having reached new heights in 2020 when it grossed $11,642,000, a record for an Australasian breeze-up sale.

The 2020 edition also featured a record average of $96,571 and a record number of lots sold for $100,000 or more, 39, while the top price of $610,000 for a Deep Field colt was the highest price at any Australian 2-year-old sale in over a decade.

The 2020 edition has already produced two stakes winners, G2 VRC Sires Produce S. winner Lightsaber (Zoustar) and Listed winner See You In Spring (Siyouni {Fr}), as well as six other winners and a host of stakes performers.

Entries for this year's Sale will close at 6pm AEST on Friday, August 6 with breeze-ups to be held at Seymour, Eagle Farm, Cambridge (NZ) and Warwick Farm (twice) in the lead-up.

Inglis’ NSW Bloodstock Manager Chris Russell is confident of another high-quality catalogue.

“This is a sale format that we have real confidence in going forward," Russell said.

“We have invested significant time, energy and resources into the Sale in recent years in particular and that effort is now paying dividends for our vendors and our buyers.

“We had plenty of good quality horses at the Sale last year, but to see our gross jump 45 per cent even during COVID-19 while those around us all had significant retraction in growth is testament to the strong standing the Sale has in the marketplace now."

Russell said it was particularly heartening to see the level of investment from local buyers in 2020, given the challenges for international buyers attending the Sale.

While there are no guarantees to full international participation in 2021, he expects the local buyers to be busy again, especially considering the strength of the local yearling market, which made it tough for buyers this season.

“Two-year-old sales in Australia have been known largely for their Asian buying bench – and that is still true to an extent – but one of the more pleasing elements of last year’s renewal was that 65 per cent of the top 20 buyers were Australian-based trainers, syndicators and agents," he said.

"It wasn’t long ago (that these people) would not even attend a breeze up auction, let alone be high on the buyers’ list."

The 2020 buyers' list included the likes of notable bloodstock agents James Harron, Guy Mulcaster, Bevan Smith. Duncan Ramage and James Clarke as well as trainers Mick Price, Bjorn Baker, Matthew Smith, Gerald Ryan, Annabel Neasham, Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young and syndicators First Light Racing, Roll The Dice, Tricolours, Grand Syndicates and Blueblood Thoroughbreds, who paid $100,000 for Lightsaber.

Russell expects an even stronger catalogue in 2021, something which should ensure the depth of the buying bench.

“The quality of early stock already confirmed for this year’s Sale is arguably stronger than has ever been the case and I’d encourage others in this part of the market to take this Sale very seriously," he said.

He also believes there will be a strong representation from the bevvy of emerging sires which have dominated Australia's best 2-year-old races this year as well as the freshman crop of stallion which entered stud in 2018.

“Obviously it’s a market that has traditionally been populated by the progeny of proven sires but in recent years, we have seen it prove a very effective showcase for the progeny of first-season sires, as we saw with the likes of Capitalist and Shalaa last year," he said.

“We are excited by the prospect of getting the progeny of Russian Revolution, Merchant Navy, Hellbent, Pariah, Invader, Highland Reel, Churchill, Almanzor and Impending into the Sale and showcasing the quality to a diverse market.”

Other successful recent graduates of the Sale include Group 1 winner Nettoyer (Sebring) and Group 3 winners Allibor (All Too Hard), Trumbull (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) and Deballatio (Smart Missile).

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