'Pleasing' results for Inglis Digital as bidding opens on concluding sale of the year

Sustained success across the year

With over $85 million in transactions across 22 sales in 2023, there has been no shortage of interest in Inglis Digital sales this calendar year, with buyers of all budgets diving into the online auctions to find value.

From shares to broodmares, over 8500 lots (including the current sale) have made their way onto the platform, offering buyers from Randwick to Roebourne a chance to acquire a missing piece to their operation.

Now live with their final auction, The Thoroughbred Report takes a look back at what has been a strong year for the online platform, alongside a look at some of the more intriguing lots in the final iteration of the sale for this year.

With two auctions per month for the first 11 months of the year, there’s seldom time where an Inglis Digital auction is either live, or within a week of being live.

Even with a global ‘correction’ across many sales, a trend Australia has not been immune from, the numbers posted across the year managed to keep comparability with 2022, according to Melmeth.

“It’s been very pleasing,” he told The Thoroughbred Report when asked how he saw results across the year. “The clearance rates have remained up, the averages have held, the quality of stock has been excellent. Overall, it’s been a very pleasing year for us.

“The most pleasing part of it (for us) is that one in five races are won by an Inglis Digital graduate, so everyone’s getting positive results.”

The numbers throughout 2023 have been strong, of the non-standalone sales, of which there have been 22 completed, a total of 6089 lots have been successfully sold at a clearance rate of 75 per cent.

In eight separate sales, the highest-priced lot was knocked down for over $500,000, with all but two sales (both in October) offering over 250 lots.

Away from the hammer dropping (or perhaps in this case, the mouse clicking), there have been a number of success stories for buyers out of the sale, perhaps none more prominent than Rebel Racer (Rebel Raider), the 7-year-old gelding winning the G2 Adelaide Cup less than two months after being purchased for $35,000 in January. Since joining Amy and Ash Yargi on the Mornington Peninsula, he has gone on to earn almost seven times his purchase price in prizemoney, competing at metropolitan level on a consistent basis.

Another positive result out of the auctions has been Just Folk (Magnus), who found a new home and ownership group with trainer Gavin Bedggood. Picked up for $199,000 in July, with the retirement of previous trainer Josh Julius the motivator behind his sale, Just Folk went on to compete five times after swapping colours, all at black-type level, with his worst result being a 2.2l fourth in the G2 Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day. The remaining four starts saw him finish in the placings each time, which included a brave win in the G3 Eclipse S. at Caulfield in December.

Off the back of his strong campaign, Just Folk was able to recoup his full purchase price, with interest, in less than six months, earning $256,000 in prizemoney.

Strong results for high-end stock

With such lucrative opportunities for breeding prospects, talented racemares were in consistently high demand, with three Inglis Digital auctions boasting top lots that cracked the $1 million mark.

Both of July’s auctions brought significant interest in securing a talented competitor for their breeding future, with Another Award (Shamus Award) attracting a price of $1,200,000, while Jamaea (Headwater) was sold for $1,025,000.

Both results were dwarfed in September by the sale of North Star Lass (Zoustar), who was knocked down for $1,525,000, an amount comparable to the 2022 price commanded by Sierra Sue (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), who sold for $1,550,000 in a standalone Inglis Digital auction.

Gallery: Some of the high-class race fillies/mares that cracked the $1 million mark via the Inglis Digital platform in 2023, images courtesy of Inglis Digital

While the highest result of 2022 may just shade that of 2023, Sierra Sue was the only millionaire purchase of that year, whereas 2023 boasted four, three of which occurred in ‘normal’ sales. Also attracting a seven-figure price-tag was Miss Rosieano (Exceed And Excel), who sold for $1,275,000 in a standalone sale held in July.

The collective total of four million-dollar lots also eclipses 2021, which boasted three; Funstar (Adelaide {Ire}), Joyous Legend (Snitzel) and Every Rose (Choisir), the former selling for $2,700,000 to Japan, a figure that remains an Inglis Digital record since the concept began in 2017.

Final sale of the year brings new feature for returning buyers

Just the one online sale is run by Inglis Digital in December, although it certainly isn’t void of options, with 558 lots entered in the final catalogue of the 2023 calendar year.

“There’s some quality across the board, we’ve got some nice standouts in the racehorse section, particularly Kosgei, he is a potential Hong Kong-style horse,” Melmeth said of the final catalogue of the year.

There will undoubtedly be Hong Kong interest in Kosgei (The Autumn Sun), a 3-year-old gelding who would be eligible for lucrative races such as the G1 Hong Kong Derby should his next owners elect to send him to the powerful jurisdiction.

He was a game fourth in the G1 VRC Derby in November, running on well from midfield to finish 3.35l off Riff Rocket (American Pharoah {USA}). He was also solid in the Listed Geelong Classic at his prior start, running on well from the rear of the field to claim third.

Asked why Hong Kong buyers are turning to Inglis Digital more, Melmeth pointed towards one factor in particular.

“We definitely have engagement from Hong Kong buyers on a regular basis, at all different levels, I think what the buyers like and the reason we get engagement (from them) is the clarity and transparency around the sale,” he explained.

“I think they enjoy that a lot of the information has been provided by the vendors now, to make educated decisions. So it’s definitely something that we’re seeing more engagement on, and we are now getting more and more vendors that are putting up this style of horse (Kosgei), because they are seeing the engagement from Hong Kong. It’s a bit of a snowball effect.”

Away from Kosgei, a host of other intriguing prospects are available to bid on, with Melmeth continuing, “There’s racefillies like Queenmaker, Frumos, Grinzinger Crown, they’re all extremely high-quality individuals.

“We also have Trust, who’s based in Europe and is in foal to Kingman. There’s Missile Rain as well, who is a full sister to the dam of Derby winner Riff Rocket, she’s currently in foal to Cosmic Force, so there’s a fair bit of interest across the board.”

The December sale will also provide the unveiling of a new feature for frequent buyers on the platform, a recommendation tool that identifies lots of potential interest based on previous buyer patterns.

“There’s now a feature that recommends lots to the buyer, based on their previous history,” Melmeth explained, “So it’s now highlighted on their index page, based on what they’ve done in their history with us, it’s a machine learning engine that provides them with horses that they might be interested in based on what they’ve done previously.

“Bidding, shortlisting, favouriting and buying would be the key areas that are picked up on by it. We’re not saying it’s going to give them the horse that they will buy, it’s just trying to help with the process.”

Other highlights of the catalogue include Snapback (Snitzel), who ran second in the G2 Sires’ Produce S. as a 2-year-old at Eagle Farm, a five per cent share in Surf Dancer (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and a two per cent share in stallion prospect Mo’unga (NZ) (Savabeel).