Australian Weanling Sale to two days as Victorian Covid crisis escalates
Owners from Victorian hot-spots will be prevented from attending race meetings as 52 Great Southern Sale lots join next week’s auction
The Inglis Australian Weanling Sale will now run over two days at Riverside Stables in Sydney next week with the postponement of the Great Southern Sale scheduled for next Thursday, the auction house announced yesterday.
Fifty-two weanlings were added to the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale, taking the catalogued number to 385 youngsters to go through the Inglis sales ring next Wednesday and Thursday. All 52 additions are weanlings from Victorian or southern New South Wales farms that were set to go through the Inglis Great Southern Sale next Thursday.
Among the inclusions are 14 weanlings from Yulong, ten from Lauriston and eight from Mane Lodge, with first season sires like Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock), Impending (Lonhro), Highland Reel (Galileo) and Invader (Snitzel) represented.
Yulong’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray said that the certainty surrounding the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in an uncertain environment was the deciding factor in offering their draft next week.
“I think we know that next week is definitely going to be a live sale, and we just don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “I think the opportunity for potential buyers to be able to see the weanlings in the flesh is a real bonus.
“People want to buy these weanlings and get them in their program because a lot of them are going to be turning them over again as yearlings, so every week and month that passes by, they lose. People get a little bit less interested.”
The Yulong weanlings are still at their Nagambie farm, with potential Victorian buyers able to inspect the draft before the 14 lots head to Sydney.
“Inglis will have a nice buying bench here, albeit less Victorians, but we’ve invited the Victorian buyers to come to the farm and look at them before they head up there on Saturday,” he said. “I think they will hold their own up there. Obviously being a Victorian farm we want to try and support the industry through the Victorian sales, so that’s why we had the weanlings there, but it’s no big deal bringing them up here. They’ll easily fit in and be well supported.
“We’ve tried to breed some of the staying–type families back to the staying–type stallions. The Highland Reels, we’re supporting Adam Sangster and Swettenham and we’ve got a couple of really nice Highland Reel foals. Mating-wise, we try and breed the best possible racehorse. We’ve got a few of those Zabeel-line mares which we have bred to the staying stallions.”
Fairgray says he has been overwhelmed by the offers from others within the industry, assisting the Victorian farm to send not only their weanlings through next week’s sale but also a draft of 12 yearlings through Sunday’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale Round 2.
“We’ve been very lucky. It’s an amazing industry – how people, when you need help, everyone reaches out and supports you,” he said. “The messages offering help have been fantastic. Obviously, it’s not ideal not being able to use our own staff and not being able to be in the sales complex, but we just deal with it.
“The staff here have done a great job preparing them, we’ve rallied around and been able to get staff to show them and Inglis have been very good in offering staff to help support and I’ll know they’ll be giving them a good push because they know the difficulties that we’ve been through. You are dealt it and you deal with it, but the industry is one where people pitch in and help each other and that’s what’s happened.
“It’s disappointing for some agents here who have done the right thing in Victoria and they’ve been penalised by not being able to go to the sale, and of course the Kiwis have always been big supporters of the weanlings particularly. They’ll have people looking on their behalf because, come January, they will still want to be able to have in their drafts at Karaka a few of the different tastes of stallions in there.”
Lauriston’s James O’Brien, president of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria, told ANZ Bloodstock News on Tuesday: “Wearing a Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm cap, I’ve got ten in the Great Southern Sale, and we are presenting all our weanlings to sale, so we’re all-in. I’ve got none going to the yearling sales. I’ve put all my eggs in one basket and the basket’s getting a bit shaky. I have got some really nice horses there and I want them to be presented well. These are the times we are in.”
To view the updated catalogue, click here.
Owners in Victorian hotspots banned from tracks
In addition to the upcoming interstate sales over the next month, those living in the Victorian suburbs identified as Covid-19 hotspots will be prevented from attending racetracks as well.
Racing Victoria (RV) chief executive Giles Thompson said there was not a racetrack or training centre that fell within those hotspots and essential staff and participants who live in those areas can continue going about their work.
“What we will do is communicate to those groups to remain vigilant with the biosecurity protocols,” Thompson told RSN927 yesterday.
“If you are an owner that wants to go to the racetrack to watch your horse and you’re from one of those suburbs, from midnight tonight until hopefully we get things under control in those suburbs, and more broadly across Victoria, we are asking you to not go to the track.
“As far as other owners are concerned, it is as is at this point assuming their suburbs remain in the level they are currently at.”
Thompson said the full costs of the effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on Victorian racing would not be known for another 12 months.
RV announced on Tuesday that, from August 1, prize-money would return to pre-coronavirus levels and that most spring features would remain at their 2019 levels.
Thompson said RV had made the decision early on to stop all non-essential spending, while a number of staff had been stood down and noted the clubs in Melbourne had also followed suit.
He said what happens to wagering when other forms of entertainment returns as well as the reopening of retail outlets was still to be realised.
“What we are doing is navigating our way through this period,” Thompson said. “We have navigated our way through that well over the last three-to-four months and we need to navigate through the next 12 months as well.
“The final cost of Covid – and there will be a cost – we’ll have a good answer in about a year’s time.”
Controversy as Leicester races on
The pandemic continues to wreak havoc around the world and racing was in the spotlight in the UK on Tuesday when a decision was made to proceed with a meeting at Leicester, despite the city being on lockdown.
The evening meeting was given the green light by local health officials and the British Horseracing Authority, but had to proceed using a flag start in scenes reminiscent of the 1984 Missile Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Rosehill.
The flag start was required because only four stalls handlers reported for duty due to health concerns, while several trainers withdrew runners.
The UK government’s health secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on Monday night that Leicester was to be the subject of a local lockdown after a spike in coronavirus cases. The racecourse is on the outskirts of Leicester in the suburb of Oadby, which was within the boundaries of the lockdown provisions.
The turnaround time caused confusion among officials and trainers alike, with the BHA only confirming the decision to race late on Tuesday morning. Leicester stewards then had a further meeting to confirm that the meeting would proceed without starting stalls.
David Maykels, Leicester’s general manager, said: “At ten to eleven this morning we were off and then ten minutes later we were on. It was quite frenetic.
“It was about half an hour later that we were told about the issue with the starting stalls handlers with only four willing to come – they are the safest people on the course.
“Only two local security staff said they wouldn’t be okay about turning up but our medical team have been most supportive of racing and they are the experts.
“We wanted to race – we lost six meetings last year. We felt we are the safest place in Leicester and it was important to race for racing and for Leicester.
“If we hadn’t raced tonight I could see other courses not racing in coming weeks.”
The BHA is likely to face further tests, depending on the measures undertaken by the British government in a bid to get on top of the coronavirus pandemic.
Leicester is due to race again next Tuesday, with the BHA to make a decision tomorrow about whether the meeting can proceed.
There are also reports that further cities could be set for local lockdown provisions, including Doncaster, Windsor and York. Doncaster and Windsor have race meetings set down for Sunday, while York is set to host the rescheduled Dante Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) next Thursday.