Inglis release sparkling catalogue for Classic Yearling Sale
A half-brother to Private Harry (Harry Angel) and a brother to Stretan Angel (Harry Angel) are among the highlights of a sparkling catalogue for a Classic Yearling Sale which Inglis expects to enhance the auction’s reputation for quality at bargain prices.
A total of 798 lots have been catalogued – eight fewer than in 2025 – for the sale at Riverside from February 8-10.
And Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said buyers could expect a wide range of attractive offerings from what he feels could be the best crop of yearlings seen in Australia for several years.
Among those likely to turn heads is Lot 56, a colt by Zousain (Zoustar) who’s the seventh foal out of Happy Pilgrim (Congrats), the dam of Nathan Doyle’s star sprinter Private Harry. The colt is offered by NSW Southern Highlands farm Rheinwood Pastoral, who also bred Private Harry.
Also sold at Classic, for $115,000, Private Harry went through his first five starts unbeaten last season, culminating in Randwick’s The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m), before a multi-million dollar buy-in from Yulong.
Also sure to be in demand is Lot 462, a colt from NSW’s Kirks Bridge Farm by Harry Angel (Dark Angel) out of Sretan (Bernardini), who’s a brother to Stretan Angel.
That Phillip Stokes-trained mare is a winner of three stakes races and has been placed in three of Australia’s most important sprints, with seconds in the VRC Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and the SAJC The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m), and a third in the VRC Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m).
Much is expected also of Lot 158, Glenlogan Park’s son of the late Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Group 3-winning mare Madotti (Falvelon), and of Waikato Stud’s Lot 480, a son of their ten-time New Zealand champion sire Savabeel (Zabeel) who’s the second foal of three-time stakes winner Supreme Heights (Jimmy Choux).
A total of 74 vendors will present stock from 113 sires including such proven stallions as I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and Snitzel, up-and-comers including The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) and Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), and 14 debutants such as Anamoe (Street Boss), Artorius (Flying Artie), Hitotsu (Maurice) and Jacquinot (Rubick).
Hutch was able to reflect on an “excellent” catalogue he feels represents the vast depth of yearlings on the ground for the 2026 sale season.
“My observation is it’s a better yearling crop than the year prior,” Hutch told ANZ News.
“A lot of people might say a sales company would say that, but that’s based on what we’ve seen and the information we’ve collected. We feel we’ve seen more nice horses than at any similar stage of the past number of years.
“It may well be that people are just showing us more horses, and thus we’re seeing more nice horses, but it just felt like earlier this year we had a fantastic round of yearling sales, and the market’s recognised that, and consequently it feels like more people want to sell nice horses.
“In general, we feel like it’s an exceptionally good crop of yearlings.”
Inglis statistics show Classic has produced 24 Group 1 winners since 2018, 13 of whom could have been bought for $100,000 or less. Classic has produced 41 millionaires in that period, while the average price for an Australian stakes winner out of the sale is $113,594, or 63 per cent less than the Gold Coast January Yearling Sale, Inglis said in a press release.
Those 24 elite winners include Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), bought for $100,000, Sepals (Calyx), who was an $80,000 buy, Skybird (Exosphere), bought for $110,000, and Hong Kong star Voyage Bubble (Deep Field), who cost $380,000.
More lately, the past two winners of the $1m Golden Gift (1100m) – Revengeance (Hellbent) and North England (Farnan) – were also bought at Classic, for $100,000 and $280,000 respectively.
Such outcomes have helped boost Classic’s reputation as “a trainers’ sale”, for its knack of producing quality horses at reasonable prices.
“I think we work with vendors very carefully to identify the right horses for the sale,” Hutch said.
“There’s nothing flashy about the sale – there are more high–profile sales in Australasia – but the sale has consistently produced good racehorses.
“We consistently try to put horses in the sale we think can go on and be good racehorses, and look to try and have people represented in the catalogue with a reputation for breeding and selling good racehorses. It’s not rocket science.
“I think buyers like the sale. There’s a perception in the market which means you can secure good value at the sale, which means buyers approach the sale in a good mindset. They go there with the expectation of trying to buy nice horses at value.
“If it’s borne out on the racecourse that people are doing that and doing that well, then people get more enthusiastic about the sale.
“It feels like the sale’s got genuine momentum built up over a number of years. A lot of very significant horses of the last 12 to 36 months have come out of the sale, and that’s given people confidence to go and support the sale with more and more nice horses.”
Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) – Coolmore’s sale-topper of both Magic Millions Gold Coast and Inglis Easter as a first-season sire in 2025 – has a strong selection of 22 yearlings at Classic next year.
They include Lot 284, Lynton Farm’s daughter of Panegyria (Exceed And Excel), a winning daughter of dual Group 1 scorer Virage De Fortune (Anabaa) and Lot 491, Berkeley Park Stud’s filly out of dual Melbourne Group 3 winner Sylvia’s Mother (Snitzel).
There’s also Lot 592, Mullaglass Stud’s filly out of You Rang (Sebring), a half-sister to Group 3 winner Rise Of The Masses (Russian Revolution) out of Ruud Awakening (Bernardini), New Zealand’s Champion 2YO of 2012-13.
And Lot 706 is a Coolmore colt from dual stakes winner Celts (Lonhro), dam of two black type victors in La Tene (Helmet) and Gaulois (Street Cry).
Home Affairs’ sire, triple champion stallion I Am Invincible, has five offerings including Lot 367, Yarrman Park’s colt out of Royal Missile (Smart Missile), a stakes-placed half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Turffontein (Johannesburg).
Keenly awaited first season sire Anamoe has eight yearlings including Lot 12, Widden Stud’s son of three-time Perth stakes winner Flirtini (Artie Schiller), Lot 75, Tyreel Stud’s filly by Melbourne stakes winner and twice stakes placed I Am Eloquent (I Am Invincible), and Lot 539, Eureka Stud’s son of the Group 3-winning Tycoon Evie (Written Tycoon).
From the third-last crop by Snitzel comes four yearlings at the sale, including Lot 365, Arrowfield Stud’s colt second foal out of Royal Collection (Munnings), a three-time winner in the US whose dam My Princess Jess (Stormy Atlantic) won four stakes races there.
Darley’s much anticipated sire Pinatubo (Shamardal) – whose oldest progeny are just hitting the tracks – has 18 yearlings at the sale. They include Lot 178, Yarraman Park’s daughter of Meliora (Ad Valorem), winner of the Angus Armanasco Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and dam of two stakes winners in current Swettenham Stud sire I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible) and his brother Godfather.
Pinatubo also has Lot 497, Fairhill Farm’s filly first foal of an unraced daughter of Sistine Angel (Testa Rossa), who won two Group races in Melbourne and was Group 1 placed.
Champion first season sire Ole Kirk has 17 offerings including Lot 715 from his home stud Vinery, a filly whose third dam Alizes (Rory’s Jester) threw Group 1 winners in Alizee (Sepoy) and Astern (Medaglia D’Oro) and current Newgate Farm stallion Tassort (Brazen Beau).
Ole Kirk is also represented by Lot 92, Kia Ora Stud’s son of the Group 3 winner Jal Lei (Sebring).
The late Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) has two yearlings entered including Lot 376, a daughter of the stakes-placed Sacred Valley (Fastnet Rock), whose brother Age Of Fire was the Equal Head of the 2017-18 New Zealand 3YO Free Handicap.
Arrowfield’s Japanese shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero) has 17 offerings, including Torryburn Stud’s Lot 744, a filly out of a half-sister to Hot King Prawn (Denman), Hong Kong’s Group 1-winning Champion Sprinter of 2020-21.
Despite pre-sale jitters based on relatively flat results in Australasia earlier in the year, Classic 2025 cleared 82 per cent at an average of $92,514 – just $42 less than the average for 2024, which achieved an 84 per cent clearance.
Hutch is wary of predicting market conditions for next February, but is reassured by the results of Classic 2025 – and other Inglis sales this year.
“Before the 2025 sale, we were prepared for a very challenging sale season, but I would say our Inglis sale season defied our expectations and market trends,” he said.
“I don’t feel the success of recent sales in the northern hemisphere, particularly in the US, have any bearing on our market whatsoever, except to remind people there’s still a strong demand around the world.
“But I will say that it feels like racing has had a good spring. The carnival in Sydney was successful. Melbourne felt particularly successful. Early summer racing has been very positive. There’s no disguising that the sport has its challenges, but people are enjoying racing.
“Our market this year was in defiance of the broader economy. We’ll probably have to be in defiance of the broader economy again in 2026, but the industry is very resilient and I imagine there are plenty of people looking forward to the sale season in 2026 off the back of what’s been a very positive spring and early summer in terms of racing.”
Hutch added: “You can talk the talk about a sale, but a sale has really got to walk the walk, and the Classic sale has.
“Classic is really putting its best foot forward in terms of its graduates. That gives people confidence in selling nice horses at the sale and that in turn encourages buyers to want to be more engaged with the sale.”