Cover image courtesy of Inglis

The 2026 edition of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale will get underway on Sunday at the Riverside Stables Sales Complex in Warwick Farm, where three days of selling will kick off at 10am. The season opener for Inglis has 800 lots catalogued before withdrawals, and promises to offer the same wealth of opportunities provided year in, year out by the sale.

What does Hutch predict?

While last year’s edition of the Classic sale recorded the lowest turnover and clearance rate since before the pandemic, a closer look at the averages suggests that purchase prices remained relatively constant in relation to the previous two editions of the sale.

Table: Key metrics across the last five Inglis Classic Yearling Sales

An economic downturn was felt across all sales last year, particularly affecting the middle and lower parts of the market, although the Inglis Classic sale saw only a minor reduction in turnover year on year. The first two sales of the 2026 Australasian season, however, have suggested this part of the market has strengthened again, with averages and clearance rates lifting across the board at both the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch expressed that, all the same, it is hard to get a read on the market when the Inglis Classic sale fills a slightly different niche.

“This time last year, I was certainly apprehensive in the approach to this sale,” he said. “Turnover had been significantly down at Magic Millions and at Karaka. There was an expectation that the sale would be down significantly, and that was not how it played out. The turnover only ended up being a minor amount down from the previous year, and on the balance of our sales at the end of the season, we were either up or on a par with 2024.

Chart: Turnover from the last five Inglis Classic Yearling Sales

“Turnover was up at both of the previous sales this year, despite smaller catalogues for both. We have catalogued the same number of horses, although there has been a slightly higher number of withdrawals at this stage, so I am hopeful for a solid sale this year.”

The strength of the middle market at Magic Millions and Karaka should be of encouragement to the Classic sale, which caters most to this band, and receives the attention of a very international buying bench every year. In comparison to the beginning of the year, the Australian dollar is trading well against the Hong Kong dollar, at an exchange rate of AU$1 to HK$5.42 at the time of writing, and the continual success of sale graduates in Hong Kong means that interest from trainers and traders who focus on the jurisdiction remains strong each year.

Since 2018, 199 Classic Sale graduates have recorded more than 530 wins in Hong Kong, and a fresh highlight was delivered last week when Inglis Classic graduate Little Paradise (Toronado {Ire}) won the Listed Classic Mile.

“What is of most importance to an auction house is the turnover, so a lot of thought goes into the sales structure, the catalogue, and the incentives on offer,” Hutch said. “We drive that turnover by achieving good clearance, and we feel that by having as many buyers as we can get to engage with the sale, it gives ourselves the best chance of getting good clearance.

“I am very conscious of what our responsibilities are in the market. It is incumbent upon us to support the industry by providing as fluid a set of markets as we can across our sales series. We try to be as supportive as possible by cataloguing solid numbers for each of our sales.”

Repeat trade a reason to keep coming back

Widden Stud lead the 74 vendors by draft size, with 51 yearlings in the catalogue, with last year’s leading vendor by aggregate Arrowfield Stud hot on their heels with 43 entered in their draft. Fergal Connolly’s Valiant Stud - last year’s leading vendor by average (two or more sold) and also the vendors of 2025’s top lot - tie for 10th largest draft, with 18 yearlings.

Table: Vendors with the largest drafts catalogued for the 2026 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale

Classic will be Connolly’s biggest yearling draft this year, and it is the great results every year that mean it was an easy choice to concentrate the bulk of the farm’s consignment on the February sale.

Last year’s sale topper was a $520,000 The Autumn Sun colt who is a full brother to Group 1-performed Tulsi, also sold by Valiant Stud at the Classic sale.

“We always seem to have great results here,” Connolly said. “They get a great buying bench here. A lot of Sydney trainers have had success with our horses, and repeat business is a sure sign that people are happy with your product. For example, Henry Field bought (three-time winner) Concession from me, then he came back and bought North England two years ago, who won the Golden Gift.”

Connolly shared that he has specifically targeted the Inglis Classic sale with his best horses, and results in previous years have vindicated his decision-making.

“The Autumn Suns at last year’s Easter sale averaged around $300,000, while our colt came out and was bought for over $500,000,” he said. “We strongly believed in the horse and by bringing him to Classic, we knew we would get the results for him here.”

Drilling where there is already oil

Since 2018, 24 Group 1 winners have graduated from the sale, including Private Harry (Harry Angel {Ire}), Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), Skybird (Exosphere), and Sepals (Calyx {GB}) - all of whom could have been purchased for $115,000 or less.

Tony and Calvin McEvoy, purchasing in conjunction with Belmont Bloodstock (FBAA), were last year’s leading buyers by spend, outlying over $1.96 million for nine lots, including purchasing R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner third Bohemian Rhapsody (Prague) from Sledmere Stud for $200,000.

“We have bought a couple of Group 1 winners here over the last few years,” said Calvin McEvoy. Also from the draft of Sledmere Stud, the McEvoys purchased G1 George Ryder Stakes winner Veight (Grunt {NZ}) at the same for $220,000, and the gelding has gone on to win over $2 million for connections.

“It’s a good sale for us, we have had a lot of luck here and I think you can buy a nice horse at the right value.”

Darby Racing were the leading buyers by numbers last year, taking home 11 yearlings including $1 million Golden Gift winner Revengeance (Hellbent), a $100,000 purchase from Davali Thoroughbreds who has raked in over $600,000 in just two starts. The year before, the Darby Racing team spent $30,000 to acquire subsequent $1.7 million earner Within The Law (Lucky Vega {Ire}) from the draft of Yulong.

For proprietor Scott Darby, the value and strike rate he has enjoyed with Inglis Classic is what brings him back year on year.

“We have been discussing today why we have been so successful at this sale, and we can’t quite put our finger on it,” said Darby. “But we love this sale, and naturally, like having success with a particular stallion or farm, you stick to what works. Value and success is what keeps us coming back and buying in big numbers here.”

113 different stallions represented

A total of 113 individual stallions are represented in the sale, of which 14 have their first yearlings available at the sales this season. Home Affairs, currently second on the leaderboard amongst first season juvenile sires, tops the billing with 22 of his offspring catalogued, followed by leading second season sire Farnan with 20.

Table: Sires with the greatest representation at the 2026 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale

Of the first season sires, Jacquinot, In The Congo, and Hitotsu have all tied for representation with 18 apiece in the sale. All three have started well at the sales with their first crop, and along with Diatonic (Jpn), Jacquinot and In The Congo have recorded average prices above $150,000 from their yearlings sold to date.

Table: 2026 Sales performances for the most represented first season sires at the 2026 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale

Diatonic has been on Darby’s radar over the week of inspections; “His stock are very interesting. We've seen some really nice horses from him at Magics and we have a couple on the list here at the Classic Sale. We are big buyers on type - if we like the type, we will buy it. That’s how we operated with Lucky Vega, and we were able to purchase Within The Law at great value.”

Leading first season sire at the Gold Coast last month, Anamoe has eight in the catalogue, and the offspring of the nine-time Group 1 winner have again been popular at Riverside this week.

“There’s not many of them available, but he is a stallion that has been very exciting for us,” McEvoy said. “There are some very nice horses in the catalogue by him. We also quite like the Jacquinots, we have already bought a couple and there has been a few at this sale that have popped up and made our list. Those two stallions are the ones that we are most keen on.”

Positive feeling on the complex

Despite some reservations about how the sale will perform, Hutch has been encouraged by a busy complex ahead of Sunday’s opening day of selling.

“We get what feels like an extended period of time to prepare for this sale,” he said. “We send out the catalogue in the middle of November, and then we get to sit and observe how the first two sales of the season unfold. By the time this sale comes around, we're pretty keyed up and ready to go.

“We have had good footfall on the complex since people began parading on Saturday afternoon. I am not necessarily inclined to want to equate that to any particular outcome for the sale, but it's certainly encouraging that there are a lot of people here looking. The sentiment seems positive amongst vendors and buyers.”

“There has been a lot of foot traffic all week,” Connolly said. “It’s been very consistent since Tuesday when we arrived. It’s been great.”

“It’s been good to be on complex this week,” said McEvoy. “We have put the hard work in and we've found a number of horses that have made our short list. If they're the right price, then we'll be there to hopefully get ahold of them.”

“We have found plenty that we like,” said Darby. “I am really happy with the catalogue. There are some really, really nice horses that will make a lot of money, and we would like to sink our teeth into, and there are also some beautiful horses that we believe we will be able to secure for our owners at very reasonable prices.”

“People like coming to this complex, and people like doing business here,” Hutch said. “People respect the fact that we try to offer a good service, and that's something we're constantly trying to improve and develop. It's a competitive market here, so we can't afford to be complacent, but certainly we're determined to always be improving what we do. I feel as if we have prepared for this sales series as well, if not better than, last year.”