‘It’s happened a number of times now’ – Inglis Digital sells another seven-figure lot as Yulong purchase Group 1 scorer Velocious
In what was yet another big result for the Inglis team, New Zealand’s Champion 2YO for 2023/24 – Velocious (Written Tycoon) – sold for a seven-figure sum on Wednesday’s Inglis July (Late) Online Sale.
Sold by Albert Bosma’s syndicate Go Racing, the three-year-old daughter of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) was bought by her sire’s owners Yulong – who signed off the purchase for $1,625,000 as Walnut Farm.
Having won her opening two starts as a juvenile, including the Counties Challenge Stakes (Listed, 1100m), Velocious went on to claim her champion title with further victories in the $1 million Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) and Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) – ending her juvenile campaign with four wins from just six outings to claim the NZ Champion 2YO title.
However, returning as a three-year-old, the filly would not reach the heights of her juvenile days as she produced down-the-field efforts in both the Gold Trail Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) and Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
The campaign was not a winless one for the filly, as she landed wins in a pair of handicaps over 1150 metres and 1100 metres respectively, before signing off with another down-the-field effort in Eagle Farm’s Queensland Day Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at her sole Australian start – an effort that prompted both her owners and trainer Stephen Marsh to call time on her racing career.
“She’s a really good-looking filly so we’ve got to thank Albert Bosma, Matt Allnutt [Go Racing manager] and the team [at Go Racing] for giving us the opportunity to sell her,” Inglis CEO Sebastian Hutch told ANZ News.
“I suppose from their point of view her racing career has probably ended a little prematurely. She was a fantastic Champion 2YO in New Zealand and I guess they’d have hoped she could’ve raced for a little while longer but it wasn’t to be, and so after they’re looking to maximize their value with the filly at the appropriate time and they thought Inglis Digital was the right way to do that and it’s worked out incredibly well.”
Originally purchased by Go Racing for NZ$190,000 from the Inglewood Stud drat at Book 1 of the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, Velocious would go on to earn NZ$980,550 from her six wins and a placing in 13 starts and Hutch revealed her sale price of $1,625,000 on Wednesday was well above the reserve.
“The final result was actually a long, long way above what the reserve was on the filly which is an illustration of the nature of the competition and it’s also further illustration, if it was needed, that the demand for quality bloodstock in Australia remains strong,” Hutch said.
Hutch also reflected on what was yet another seven-figure sale price of a mare via Inglis Digital.
“It’s become a non-frequent event that we would sell a high-class mare on Inglis Digital and realise seven figures,” he added. “It’s happened a number of times now and it’s a demonstration of the fact that people respect the platform as providing a true and fair market for quality bloodstock.
“I think this is especially rewarding for Brett Gilding [bloodstock sales manager] in our bloodstock team. He’s got a very good relationship with Albert Bosma and Matt Allnutt and all the team at Go Racing and I think he’s been badgering Matt about selling this filly when the opportunity came to pass, so I suppose this is just reward for his efforts.
“This is the first real major transaction that our office has had with Albert and I think it’s a sign of how our platform is regarded that he was comfortable selling his filly on Inglis Digital.
“He would’ve had alternative options and he’s chosen to go with us. I’d say he and his partners have been incredibly rewarded for that decision.”
Go Bloodstock’s Albert Bosma was also quick to mention the role of Brett Gilding in the selling of his Group 1-winning filly.
“It’s just fantastic, we’re really rapt and really grateful for all the work Inglis has done to help us get this result,’’ Bosma said.
“When you get fillies of her value there’s really only a small amount of potential suitors but we were thrilled with the interest. I thought the marketing on her was very good, she got put in front of all the buyers that were prospective buyers realistically and I really felt that was done superbly.
“Brett [Gilding] has been wonderful, he’s kept us updated the whole way along, nothing was left undone.
“It’s really a win for everyone – we’re thrilled with the price and I’m sure Yulong is thrilled to have her.”
Yulong’s COO Sam Fairgray revealed that Velocious was likely to visit Yulong’s new shuttle stallion More Than Looks (More Than Ready) for her first mating. It is not the first time Yulong has invested in the family with the operation having acquired Velocious’ dam Parmalove (Redoute’s Choice) for $730,000 on Inglis Digital last year.
“Actually Mr Zhang has followed her for a few months now to see what was happening with her and when she finally came onto the market he was very keen to explore those options,’’ Fairgray said.
“I think she’ll likely visit More Than Looks, it appears to be a really nice mating there.
“Velocious was a high class two-year-old, we own the mare [Parmalove, who was purchased by Yulong through Inglis Digital in 2024] and she’s carrying a full sibling to her now so it’s great to have Velocious joining the farm as well.’’
For Inglis’ Brett Gilding, the result was particularly satisfying: “I saw Velocious win a big race at Ellerslie as a two-year-old and have been determined ever since to do what I could to secure her for auction by Inglis when the time came, so for this sale to have worked out the way it has is very pleasing,” he said.
“We pride ourselves on working hard to deliver the best results we can for people who support us and I think results like this only serve to further enhance the confidence the market has in offering quality stock through Inglis Digital.”
Wednesday’s second-top lot was the Group 2-placed broodmare Comica (Magnus) – offered in foal to Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) – who sold to Two Bays Farm for $220,000. The seven-year-old was offered by Merton Creek Thoroughbreds.
In total five lots realised six figures in the July (Late) Sale – Velocious, Comica, Royal Mule (Kingman) ($200,000), Wild Belle (Pride Of Dubai) ($155,000) and Express Yo’self (Alabama Express) ($100,000) – helping its gross reach $4,849,350.
Entries are now open for the Inglis Digital August (Early) Online Sale and will remain so until next Wednesday, August 6. Already committed to the sale are Group 3 scorer Cleo Cat (American Pharoah) and six-time winner Ausbred Flirt (Maurice). The sale will run from August 8-13.
Hutch looks ahead to another big season of yearling sales
Hutch, who was speaking to ANZ in New Zealand on Wednesday, is also looking forward to what is set to be another big year of yearling sales for Inglis.
Entries for the 2026 Inglis Select Yearling Sales Series opened on Sunday, and Hutch revealed his optimism for the new calendar year after what turned out to be a fantastic 2025 for the Inglis team – despite the lack of optimism from buyers prior to the sales.
“I think most people envisaged something of a doomsday scenario this year, the general expectation of the market was very pessimistic,” Hutch told ANZ News.
“There was a real appetite amongst many to try and sell early and get their money early and that’s fine of course, but we were determined to offer the people that supported our sales with the best service that we possibly could and to have the best outcomes we possibly could and it turned out we delivered market-leading outcomes for those that supported us.”
In a number of leading stats from Inglis’ 2025 yearling sale season, the company’s yearling sales saw a market-leading 82.6 per cent clearance rate across all of its sales – while also selling 27 lots for seven-figure sums.
“The Inglis sales for all intents and purposes bucked the trends of other sales, Inglis Premier was up, Inglis Easter was up, the HTBA sale was up and then Inglis Classic was down slightly but was still a fantastic sale,” Hutch said.
“Whereas, the balance of other sales were down year-on-year so as we look forward to 2026 I’d be saying to any commercial breeder who’s invested in the bloodstock market in Australia that if you don’t have Inglis working for you then you’re running the risk of compromising your own outcome.
“We work extremely hard to deliver the best outcomes for our clients and I think we did that this year, and we will be doing the same to achieve that or even better again next year.
“You can’t dwell too much on trying to predict what is going to happen in 2026, but what I can say is that the same team of people who work so hard to try and deliver good results in 2025 are the same group that will be trying to do the same in 2026.
“They’ll have another year of experience under their belts and another year of motivation too.
“Buyers come to our sales with confidence, vendors enjoy the experience and service that they get out of the sales, and the process works well for us and we are only looking to improve that process so that should encourage anyone that is thinking of buying or selling with us next year.”
A standout confirmation for the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale – and as a whole during the entire yearling sale season in 2026 – is the Snitzel colt out of legendary mare Winx (Street Cry).
Inglis sold Winx’s first foal in 2024. The filly out of Pierro (Lonhro) sold to Winx’s part-owner Debbie Kepitis for an incredible $10 million at the Easter Yearling Sale – doubling the previous Australian yearling record and becoming a world record sale for any yearling filly.
“He’s a very unique horse of course, the first son out of the most accomplished racemare in Australian racing history and by a champion sire who unfortunately is no longer,” Hutch said of the Snitzel colt.
“Snitzel has already sired a Cox Plate winner [Shamus Award] and Winx won four Cox Plates during her career, so he’s got the credentials to be an outstanding racehorse and I think there’s every reason for people to be excited about seeing him going to the Easter Yearling Sale in 2026.”
Away from the excitement in Australia, Hutch is also very optimistic about creating more ties with international buyers after Inglis’ international spend was up 20 per cent year-on-year in 2025.
“I think Inglis is a well-respected name in the bloodstock industry around the world,” Hutch said. “And I think people investing in bloodstock in Australia have confidence in investing with us and they recognise that we’re a company synonymous with quality, honesty, integrity, tradition, all these good values and that gives people confidence.
“We work hard to promote our brand and our sales all around the world all the way through the year, and we’re always looking at new ways we can develop new buyers from different parts of the world.
“We added Nicky Wong to our team at the end of 2024, he’s become familiar with our processes and our people. I think his capacity to make a positive contribution as international business development manager is only going to grow and grow significantly through to the 2026 yearling sales season, and I think that will have a positive effect on what international business we can do.
“As I speak now I am in New Zealand canvassing yearlings for the sales but we’re meeting plenty of buyers at the same time and this is something we work on all year round, so I think vendors should be taking confidence from the work that we do and hopefully we can deliver good results for people again next year.”