Inglis Chairman’s Sale promises plenty ahead of Thursday night

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

The build-up to the 2023 Inglis Chairman’s Sale has been steady this autumn, with the intermittent inclusion of some big names to a boutique, elite-level catalogue.

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Now, the sale is about to take place at Riverside Stables on Thursday evening and it promises good theatre and spectacular bidding.

Thursday’s catalogue features 109 horses, a number slightly up on 2022, and they’re such names as Nimalee (So You Think {NZ}), Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}), Icebath (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) and Berimbau (Shamardal {USA}). The latter, the dam of the Champion filly Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), will close trade as the very last lot of the night.

Gallery: Some highlight lots being offered at the 2023 Inglis Chairman's Sale.

Traditionally, the Chairman’s Sale has been a spectacle on the Inglis calendar. It’s a young sale, commencing in just 2017 with a catalogue of 93 horses. The company has had a bit of fun with it over the years, decking out its auctioneers and bid spotters in smart black tie.

However, the theatrics play second fiddle to the serious business of trade, and trade has been good at this sale.

Last year’s sale-topper was the Not A Single Doubt mare Shout The Bar, who sold to Coolmore for $2.7 million. The year before, Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) was a best seller when also going to Coolmore, this time for $2.5 milliion.

As such, the Inglis Chairman’s Sale has consistently turned out some of the year’s far-reaching bloodstock prices since 2017, and the current catalogue is likely to be no different, according to Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch.

“I can say definitively that this is the best Chairman’s catalogue we’ve ever put together,” he said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “In terms of lot-for-lot quality, it would be hard to find a better broodmare sale in Australia, and that applies to its variety too.

“We have more strength among race fillies than we’ve ever had, and a great variety of pregnancies to international stallions of real significance, like Gun Runner and Frankel, and then the best of our local stallions like I Am Invincible, Extreme Choice, Snitzel and Zoustar.”

The American sire Gun Runner (USA) is represented by Lot 46, the Artie Schiller (USA) mare Originator (USA), who will be offered by Glenesk Thoroughbreds. Glenesk consigned Shout The Bar last year, and this mare has a September 22 covering to the American stallion, who was offered to Southern Hemisphere time last year.

Frankel (GB), meanwhile, is represented in the sale by four mares served by him on September covers. Both he and Gun Runner are among the 27 covering sires represented across the 109-horse Chairman’s catalogue.

Overall, the highlights of the sale read well.

There are 72 horses on offer that are either stakes horses or stakes producers. It’s also a young catalogue; 43 mares pregnant with either their first or second cover, while a total of 89 horses (a little over 80 per cent of the catalogue) are aged 10 or under.

Thirty-two fillies or mares are free of Danehill (USA), while a breeding right in the Victorian stallion Toronado (Ire) will open the session. A share in the in-form Kiwi stallion Proisir will be offered as Lot 101.

“Over the years, we’ve had top stallion shares on offer,” Hutch said. “We had a share in Extreme Choice 12 months ago (which sold to China Horse Club for $500,000), and one in Russian Revolution a few years ago. To have a Toronado breeding right and a Proisir share this time is a fantastic opportunity for the sale.

“They’re among the most progressive young stallions in Australasia, and Toronado, it would be fair to say, has had a breakout year, as has Proisir. They’re a brilliant inclusion to our catalogue.”

Gallery: Stallions with shares and breeding rights on offer at the 2023 Inglis Chairman's Sale

Showcasing Inglis stock

Among the highlights of the 2023 Inglis Chairman’s Sale are the race mares Nimalee, Montefilia and Icebath.

Nimalee will be offered by Glenesk Thoroughbreds and, after a career that delivered her the G1 Queen of the Turf S. last year, as well as the G2 Emancipation S. and G2 Golden Pendant, she is being offered as a breeding prospect only.

Montefilia on the other hand, at five years old, is being offered by Newgate Consignment as a racing or breeding proposition. The four-time Group 1 winner was twice second in Group 1 company through the autumn and looks to have racing legs left in her.

Icebath, who will be offered as Lot 20, also by Newgate Consignment, is being offered with an option to race on as well. The 6-year-old mare was a last-start fourth to Anamoe in the G2 Apollo S.

“Mares like this, and this sale, are a fantastic showcase for our business,” Hutch said. “In respect to a number of them, it’s such a unique opportunity for us to showcase stock. Montefilia, Nimalee and Icebath, they’re the centrepieces of the sale, so to speak. They’re all graduates of an Inglis sale too, so it’s a great way for us to also promote the merit of our yearling-sale series.”

Other notable additions to find the sale ring on Thursday are Grahame Begg’s retired mare Dosh (Rich Enuff), the dual Group 3 winners Swats That (Shamus Award) and Tralee Rose (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}), along with the dam of Celebrity Queen, Celebrity Miss (More Than Ready {USA}).

“We’re expecting a very good crowd,” Hutch said. “A lot of these good race fillies are owned by well-diversified groups of people, so we’re expecting those owners to come along. It’s a special occasion for them. This is where their achievements with their mares get recognised by the commercial marketplace, which is always an exciting thing.”

Inglis will host the Chairman’s Sale amid evening entertainment. It encourages its guests to dress up and enjoy the unique atmosphere.

“There’s a sense of occasion to the night,” Hutch said. “We have some entertainment post-sale, and we invest a significant amount of time and energy into making this sale a little bit different. And having been to some of the best breeding-stock sales around the way, be it Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland or Tattersalls, the Chairman’s Sale is the best as far as spectacles and occasions go.

“Anybody who has experienced it wants to be part of it again, and we encourage anyone who hasn’t been part of it before to jump in and experience it on Thursday.”

Facilitating the Golden Slipper

One of the distinct selling points of the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in the last handful of years has been its feature sales of the dams of two Golden Slipper winners, both carrying their Golden Slipper-winning colts at the point of sale.

In 2020, Samaready (More Than Ready {USA}) was sold at the Chairman’s by Vinery Stud, fetching $1.8 million when she was bought by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier. She was in foal to Snitzel carrying Shinzo, who dazzled in the Golden Slipper this year and emerged as a white-hot stallion prospect for the future.

The other was in 2018 when Nothin Leica Storm (Anabaa {USA}) was sold by Widden Stud, in foal to Extreme Choice. She was bought by Kingstar Farm for $90,000 carrying the 2021 Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside, also an emerging sire force at Newgate Farm.

In short, the last two colts to win the Slipper have been sold in utero through the Inglis Chairman’s Sale, which is food for thought when it comes to bloodstock selection and elite prospects.

“The Chairman’s Sale has facilitated the transaction of the last two colts to win the Golden Slipper, and I feel this is a significant thing,” Hutch said. “It’s a brilliant feature of this sale’s recent history, and we take great pride in the fact that we sell great mares that can go on and achieve fantastic things as either producers or as race mares.”

Table: Top lots from the Chairman’s sales