Easter Round 2 to get under way after months of uncertainty
Inglis to host first live Australian thoroughbred auction in more than three months
Stakeholders are taking a measured approach heading into Round 2 of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the first live auction to be held in the country since the onset of the coronavirus, and it is predicted that those buyers willing to chance their arm could come out on top.
A 100-lot catalogue has been compiled for today’s makeshift sale that was scheduled by Inglis after its premium Easter auction in April was forced into a virtual format after the government clamped down on businesses and people movement as the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.
The Round 2 auction will be followed by the Scone Yearling Sale which has also been moved from the breeding heartland in the Hunter Valley to Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Sydney.
The July sales series was thrown into further chaos last week when Victorians were banned from attending the yearling sales and Wednesday’s Australian Weanling Sale, which also resulted in the already relocated Great Southern Sale being pushed back to August and returned to Melbourne.
Despite the economic uncertainty and the fact that international and interstate trainers and agents will be limited in their participation at the sale, Inglis general manager of bloodstock and marketing Sebastian Hutch is glad to be back at Riverside.
“Having endured a period of great challenge, it’s nice to be back for a live auction and we’ve been looking forward to it for a little while,” Hutch said yesterday.
“The sentiment has been positive around the complex since people have arrived and hopefully we can reflect on some positive results (this) evening.”
Inspections started on Wednesday and since then a number of trainers and agents have signalled their intent by being on the grounds.
They include Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, John and Michael Hawkes, Mark Newnham, Bjorn Baker, John O’Shea and Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s assistant trainer Annabel Neasham.
The powerful Coolmore and Aquis Farm teams have also been inspecting yearlings, as have agents including Bill and James Mitchell, Dave Mee, Peter Twomey and Chris Blomeley.
While optimistic after Inglis’ virtual Easter sale in April held up better than expected, Hutch believes the market will need to adjust to find an “equilibrium”.
“The thing at the moment is that it’s very much a buyers’ market. These aren’t ideal circumstances to host a yearling sale from an economic point of view,” he said.
“But there’s plenty of quality of stock here and those who have an inclination and an appetite to buy will buy well. The responsibility of the auction house is to find an equilibrium which vendors and buyers are prepared to meet.”
Edinburgh Park Stud principal Ian Smith has three yearlings – colts by champion stallions Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Exceed And Excel (Danehill), and a Teofilo (Galileo) half-sister to Group 3 winner Pohutukawa (Medaglia d’Oro) – who are heading to auction for the second time this year.
The trio have already been broken in, as a number of vendors have chosen to do with their Easter Round 2 stock.
“Obviously we were disadvantaged when Covid-19 came down because of where we are located (at Wingham) and then we came here to the Inglis complex prior to the first Easter sale, but again there weren’t many people wanting to look around, and a lot of people were uncertain about where things were going,” Smith said.
“They are three very nice yearlings and we decided to continue on with their education. They were broken in by Paul Blattman and they also spent a couple of weeks at Warwick Farm for extra education.
“They have been back at our farm for the past five or six weeks having a light prep. They are here and ready for the trainers to take them on.”
Smith remains positive about how well the racing industry can emerge from the world health crisis and hopes that it can translate into owners wanting to invest in horses.
“During this lockdown we’ve had people exposed to the racing industry who would not normally be exposed,” he said.
“Channel 7 is live on a Saturday afternoon and there’s more people out there interested in horses than ever before.”
He added: “The best thing is that everything is starting to open up, the wheels are starting to turn again and there will be some nice horses sold here this weekend.”
Smith’s view that racing had been in the public spotlight with the absence of other sport and entertainment during the coronavirus lockdown has been backed up by anecdotal evidence that many trainers had experienced an appetite from owners wanting to take shares in horses in recent weeks.
That previously unexpected demand could spur trainers to be active at today’s yearling sales when it appeared unlikely only two months ago.
Hutch said: “Racing is a sport that people can get a massive amount of enjoyment from and the fact that it was the only show in town during the (early part) of the coronavirus has been beneficial in terms of showcasing the sport.
“Growing the ownership base is something that we and a lot of industry bodies put a lot of work into, so if it transpires that more people want to own racehorses, that is excellent, but there’s no disguising the fact that these are difficult times.
“The news on a daily basis reflects on some sort of concerning stories to do with the economy and various other matters in Australia.”
The Round 2 sale features yearlings by leading stallions such as I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Fastnet Rock (Danehill), Frankel (Galileo), Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), Pierro (Lonhro), Written Tycoon (Iglesia) and Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
“We’re trying to help people identify where the opportunities lie and if you can find the right horse there’s an opportunity to earn significant reward by racing in Australia,” Hutch said.
“Prize-money is still fantastic and it’s going to be restored in time for spring, where it hasn’t been already, and that’s very encouraging.
“Good horses, as alluded to regularly, can change someone’s address and hopefully there’s an address changer in the catalogue.”
The Easter Round 2 sale also heralds the first auction for Chris Lee’s A List Stud with four yearlings, by Exceed And Excel (two), Sebring (More Than Ready) and Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), all being offered unreserved in a move aimed at giving buyers confidence to bid on stock consigned by the fledgling farm.
“It is a bit of a flip of the coin on how the sale is going to go, but Chris is here to sell and I think what he is doing is quite, quite commendable,” said John Holloway, who is assisting Lee at this week’s Easter sale.
“There are a number of unknown happenings about what is going to take place here, but the four yearlings he’s got here … at a normal sale you sell them out your ears, but I am sure we will still sell them and get good prices for them.”
Gold Coast-based Lee purchased Laceby Lodge at Baddaginnie in Victoria last year and rebranded it as A List Stud, where he now has 25 mares with plans to increase that number at the upcoming Magic Millions National Sale.
Meanwhile, Hutch says the decision to move the Scone sale to Sydney to run alongside the Easter event could play in vendors’ favour.
“The book is slightly smaller than what it would normally be owing to the circumstances, but what hosting the sale at Riverside has done potentially is put it in front of a broader cross-section of people and certainly in terms of the inspections that a Scone horse would have been subjected to at this point,” he said.
“Vendors have had 30, 40, 50 parades which is in excess of what they do over the course of a Scone sale ordinarily.
“Normally the majority of parades are on sale day for the Scone sale and we’re expecting a large volume of people (today), so it’s been very encouraging from that point of view.”
The Easter Round 2 sale starts at 10am today with the Scone Yearling Sale taking place immediately after.
Related links
Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale Round 2