Optimistic Inglis all set for strong Premier sale
A half-brother to Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) queen Streisand (Magnus), siblings to 12 other top-tier victors, and offspring of 15 elite-level winning mares including Mariamia (Toronado) and Nettoyer (Sebring) are among the reasons giving Inglis optimism over a strong Premier sale.
A catalogue of 814 yearlings – by 110 stallions and offered by 64 vendors – has been drawn for the auction at Oaklands Junction from Sunday, including 226 in Book 2 on Tuesday.
That’s 11 more horses than last year’s edition, which despite fears of a flat sale season returned improved year-on-year Book 1 statistics in several areas.
These included a $135,000 average, a $100,000 median and a $53.84 million gross. And while the clearance rate was down one point at 81 per cent, Premier 2025 had two million-dollar lots for the first time.
Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch is effusive over the quality of this year’s catalogue, calling it probably the best Premier book he’d seen in his time with the company.
And while guarding against complacency from vendors, with a strong and diverse buying bench assembled and much positivity in the 2026 market, Hutch is hopeful of a highly successful sale.
“We feel we have a better catalogue than 12 months ago,” Hutch told ANZ News.
“On the basis of having run a good sale last year, we feel we’ve got good support, or better support, and consequently our expectation is that we should be able to run a better sale than 12 months ago.
“I’m very reluctant to give anyone the impression the market at the moment is easy, because it’s not. You’ve still got to work hard to get horses sold, at all levels but especially in the $100,000 and under range.
“But if you’ve got a nice horse, typically people are getting well paid for it, and there are plenty of nice horses here.”
Hutch said last year’s inspections at Victorian and interstate farms had revealed a “very impressive” list of yearlings for Premier.
“When you look at the metrics we apply to the assessment of horses for the sale in the spring, those metrics say we have a group of horses who scored better than a year prior,” he said.
“Arguably, we’ve got a bunch of horses who’ve scored as well as any Premier catalogue while I’ve been at Inglis.
“That doesn’t necessarily make the horses more valuable. There are other variables in place of course like pedigrees and vetting. But I feel we have a very nice group of horses.
“We’ve had good support from local vendors and interstate vendors. When you look at who’s selling at the sale, we have a great range of local farms, and there’s plenty of interstate vendors targeting the sale. Newgate have a bigger draft than last year. Coolmore have a draft of their own.
“Hopefully all those factors contribute to a better sale.”
Newgate has a 19-strong draft, up from nine in their first Premier draft last year, by sires including their own superstar Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), who has three lots in the draft and eight in total, plus Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Frankel (Galileo).
Coolmore are presenting their first Premier draft since 2016, with 17 horses mostly by their own sires. They include four by St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni), two by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) and two by Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), who has 16 yearlings at the sale in total as his stock continues to rise in his first season of runners.
Hutch said foot traffic at Oaklands had been busy this week, and with a “good representation of international buyers” he hoped for “a buying bench sufficient to achieve good results”.
“There’s genuine optimism about the market,” he said. “I’m a little more guarded about that. My observations of the market at Gold Coast, Karaka and Classic have been that the demand for horses is very good, but buyers are very discerning.
“So I’d be very guarded against any vendors thinking the market was easy, because it’s not. It’s good if everything lines up and you get it right, but it is not easy.
“That was why we were so pleased at Classic to improve the average and clearance rate. We’re obviously going to try to do the same thing here, but it’ll be hard.
“But I think while seeing the market as being good, we’d want to caution against anyone becoming too complacent or too optimistic.”
Hutch added, however, that the sale which produced Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) had consistently reinforced its reputation for quality.
“Graduates of the sale are going well,” he said. “Streisand is the third Group 1–winning two-year-old out of the sale in the past 12 months [after Vinrock and Nepotism]. That’s more than any other sale.
“And it’s well known that the last three Everest winners to go through a sale have gone through Premier, in Nature Strip, Think About It and Bella Nipotina.
“All things considered, there’s a lot to be positive over about the sale.”
Highlights of the catalogue include Lot 458, Newhaven Park’s colt by Star Witness (Starcraft) whose half-sister Streisand boosted his page markedly by winning last Saturday’s Blue Diamond.
Among other siblings to Group 1 winners is Lot 470, a half-brother by Hitotsu (Maurice) to two such horses in Baraqiel (Snitzel) and Autumn Angel (The Autumn Sun), who’s presented by NSW’s Glenn Lee Thoroughbreds.
Twin Hills Stud’’s Lot 369 is a colt by Adelaide (Galileo) who’s a brother to Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) heroine Funstar, and a half-brother to another Group 1 winner in Youngstar (High Chaparral).
A colt by Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) who’s a half-brother to dual elite-level victor Streets Of Avalon (Magnus) is offered as Lot 142 by Supreme Thoroughbreds.
The stock of high quality racemares is well represented including Lot 187, the colt first foal by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) of ATC The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) heroine Mariamia. He’s part of the huge 74-strong draft of Victorian powerhouse Yulong, the most represented vendor at the sale by far.
Lot 229 from Newgate is one of two yearlings by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) at the sale, a colt second foal of dual Group 1 winner Nettoyer.
And Lot 350 is a Vinery Stud filly by Zoustar (Northern Meteor) out of Snitzerland (Snitzel), the six-time black type winner, including of the Lighting Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), who’s thrown two stakes victors from five foals to race.
NSW’s Alma Vale Thoroughbreds returns after debuting at Premier last year, offering a quality 13-horse draft representing several in-demand sires, with perhaps the cream of their selection contained in their first five lots.
The farm kicks off the sale with Lot 1, a filly by second-season sires table-topper Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) out of the stakes-placed Dagny (Darci Brahma). Lot 54, also by Farnan, is the colt first foal of New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) placegetter Feel The Rush (Proisir).
Lot 65 is a colt by sire-of-the-moment Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) who’s out of a three-time winning half-sister to the outstanding racehorse and sire Dundeel (High Chaparral).
Next up for Alma Vale are two yearlings by exciting debutant stallion Anamoe (Street Boss):
Lot 82 is a filly first foal out of Glitzy Girl (Medaglia D’Oro), a winning daughter of Steps In Time (Danehill Dancer), a seven-time stakes winner, including of the ATC Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m).
And Lot 117 is a filly first foal of Iamadancer (I Am Invincible), who raced only twice but is a daughter of stakes winner Samara Dancer (Hinchinbrook).
Later, Alma Vale offers Lot 278, a colt by I Am Invincible who’s the second foal out of Prospect Park (Manhattan Rain), an unraced half-sister to two stakes winners, including Group 1 victor Grand Journey (Good Journey).
“We’ve got some very nice horses in this year – and they’re racehorses,” said Alma Vale’s general manager Verna Metcalfe.
“We did put a great emphasis on Premier this year. It was our first time here last year and I was pretty happy with how we sold. I just think Inglis do a good job of getting the buyers in. And if a horse is a little bit backward, they’ve got a few extra weeks to develop.
“Between January and now, they bloom. These horses who don’t make a January sale, you’re better off to bring them here, give them a couple of extra weeks, and they just seem to jump out of the ground.
“There’s a couple in our draft that could go to Easter, but I decided to bring them here because Inglis does a great job of getting a broad bench of buyers down here.”
The sale kicks off at 10am on Sunday.