By the numbers: The rise and rise of the Inglis Classic Sale

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

When Racing NSW announced its $25 million prizemoney injection on Wednesday, one stat that stood out was that returns to owners in the state had increased 127 per cent in the past decade.

Saturday metropolitan runners in Sydney will now race for a minimum $150,000 - that value was $70,000 in 2012, while midweek prizemoney levels jump to $55,000 (was $35,000 in 2021).

Out in the industry heartlands, minimum prizemoney has increased to $40,000 for provincial races (was $22,000 in 2012) and to $25,000 in country meetings ($15,000).

This has occurred during a period of extraordinary growth in the value of thoroughbreds in Australia, with the general consensus being that the big prizemoney boosts have made thoroughbred racing much more appealing from a commercial perspective. Demand for yearlings has arguably never been higher and that was certainly evident at the Classic Sale.

Traditionally, the Classic Sale is a good measure of the financial health of the heart of the industry, given it attracts a broad buying base, generally dominated by trainers.

The average price for a Book 1 yearling through the Riverside Stables rose to $122,178 this week, a 20 per cent annual increase. To give that further historical context, it is a 71 per cent growth on the average of $71,342 five years ago and a 308 per cent rise on the Sale average of just under $30,000 in 2012.

So while New South Wales' prizemoney levels have risen by 127 per cent, the average price of the Sale which is the main supplier of yearlings in the state has gone up by a factor of four.

The return to the thoroughbred industry in terms of aggregate sales from Classic has increased from $13 million in 2012 to $36 million in 2017, to $58.4 million last year and then $73 million in 2022.

Table: Aggregate of Inglis Classic Yearling Sale - selected years

The Classic Sale has been by far the fastest growing of Australia's four major select yearling Sales in the past decade. Its gross since 2012 has increased by 462 per cent, compared to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale at 245 per cent.

The gross of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale grew 123 per cent from 2012 to 2021 while the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale has grown 105.6 per cent in the same period.

So what has driven that accelerated growth?

Location, location

While the Classic Sale has evolved, it is still largely a sale driven by the domestic market. The COVID era may have dented international participation at Australian yearling sales, but the impact on the Classic Sale has not been noticeable in that regard.

Ten years ago, Australian buyers purchased 89 per cent of horses and spent 87 per cent of the money at Classic, while in Book 1 this year, domestic buyers secured 91.6 per cent of horses, and spent 89 per cent of the money.

The evolution has been on where in Australia that investment is coming from.

As their home sale, you'd expect that New South Wales buyers would be predominant and this week, they bought just under 50 per cent of the horses on offer, spending 49.2 per cent of the gross.

Those numbers have reduced from the 2012 Sale, where the home buying bench spent 53.5 per cent of the money and picked up 56.6 per cent of the horses on offer.

The biggest New South Wales buyers from this year's Classic Sale were Darby Racing, who secured 10 yearlings for $1.36 million, the same amount of money James Harron spent in securing three for his colts partnership.

Trainers Annabel Neasham and Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott bought nine and eight respectively.

The volume of investment from Victoria at the Classic Sale has increased significantly in the past 10 years. In 2012, Victorian investment was 17.7 per cent of gross, but this year it was a much bolstered 27 per cent. In real terms, Victorian buyers purchased twice as many horses (145 to 70) as they did through Classic in 2012.

Table: Percentage of total spend by state

This week's biggest buyer in terms of horses purchased, was Victorian trainer Mark Kavanagh, who picked up 14, while others who were busy from south of the Murray included Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, who purchased seven, and Ciaron Maher, who when you add up all his purchases, took home 12 yearlings.

Queensland buyers also upped their investment. Ten years ago, just 19 horses headed north from the Classic Sale, with a total spend of $362,000. In 2022, those numbers were 67 in Book 1, with a total spend of $6.7 million, or an 18-times increase in a decade.

Agent John Foote was the leading Queensland buyer, in $780,000 although his purchases tend to get sent to many different places, while Billy Healy Racing and Kendrick Racing purchased six apiece.

With the Western Australian border still effectively closed, the volume of horses purchased from that part of the country has dropped off. In 2012, there were 26 horses purchased by WA buyers, while this year at Classic there was just six.

However, in a measure of how times have changed, Western Australians actually spent more at the Sale this year than in 2012 ($1.1 million, compared to $1.05 million).

From an international perspective, the one notable aspect at the Classic Sale was the return of the Hong Kong market. In 2012, this wasn't a big sale for Hong Kong buyers, with only six purchases. In 2022, that number was 33, contributing six per cent of the gross. That is up from under five per cent last year and 4.5 per cent five years ago.

Table: Volume of horses purchased by state

Quality or competition?

The above stats indicate that there is no doubt that a stronger and more diverse buying bench has propelled the Classic Sale upwards at such a rate in the past decade.

That strong market has also given vendors an increased confidence to bring better quality horses to the Sale, fuelling the competition even further.

While it’s a bit of a superficial measure, looking at it from a purely pedigree perspective, the 2022 Sale had 74 lots out of stakes-winning dams, or roughly 9.1 per cent. In 2012, it was 21, or 3.7 per cent of the catalogue.

The desirability of young stallions also had a major role to play in the boom Classic Sale of 2022. Nine of the top 13 lots were by stallions with either their first, second or third crop, with third-crop sire Extreme Choice providing two record breaking results at the top of affairs.

Perhaps the final point of comparison to 2012 is a look at the top-price bracket. In 2012, there were 10 horses sell at the Classic Sale for $100,000 or more. In Book 1 alone this week, there were 298 horses sell in the six-figure range, with that round number the median for the Sale.