Strong buying bench assembled ahead of Inglis Great Southern Sale
A quality and diverse catalogue featuring the progeny of many of Australasia’s most sought-after stallions including Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) and exciting freshman Anamoe (Street Boss) will go under the hammer at the Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale on Friday.
A total of 283 weanlings to be offered, down from 379 last year at the one-day sale which gets underway at 10am at Oaklands Junction.
Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch is optimistic the smaller catalogue and favourable Melbourne weather conditions will help support a positive trade, while still realistic about the selective nature of the current market.
“It’s hard to be here at the Great Southern Sale and the first topic of conversation be the weather, but we started inspections on Tuesday morning and we’ve been blessed. Today [Thursday] and yesterday [Wednesday] it’s been actually sunny, warm days in the sun, so I think that helps with the mindset of lots of people,” he said.
“It’s obviously a smaller catalogue and it would feel we have increased buyer interest for a smaller number of horses. Typically, you would say that’s a good recipe for a sale, but by the same token, as has been the case with sales right the way through the season, be it yearling sales, mare sales, weanling sales, even digital sales, people are going to be very discerning.
“People are going to be very price sensitive on the majority of the stock. There are a small number of very high end foals here and I think they’ll be very well sought after. And at the same token, I think there’ll be plenty of buyers who shop well relative to the production cost of some of the horses on offer.”
Many proven sires are well represented, with the catalogue boasting weanlings by Justify (Scat Daddy), Toronado (High Chaparral), Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) Dundeel (High Chaparral), Exceed And Excel (Danehill) and Savabeel (Zabeel), among others.
The catalogue also includes weanlings from the first crops of highly anticipated sires, including Darley’s nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe (Street Boss), Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) heroes Jacquinot (Rubick) and In The Congo (Snitzel), as well as Victorian-based first-season sires Diatonic (Lord Kanaloa), Paulele (Dawn Approach) and Sejardan (Sebring).
The Great Southern Sale has been a happy hunting ground for both pinhookers and end users alike and past alumni include elite-level winners Montefilia (Kermadec), Behemoth (All Too Hard), Extra Brut (Domesday), Gytrash (Lope De Vega), On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) and Lunar Fox (Foxwedge).
With a broad range of stock on offer, buyers are encouraged to act decisively, with this representing the final opportunity to secure pinhook prospects for next year’s eastern seaboard yearling sales.
“If you want to be involved in the Inglis Yearling Sales series, it was far more lucrative than I think what people would have reasonably anticipated at the start of the year,” said Hutch. “And if you want to be involved in that, you’ve got to have stock, and this is the last opportunity for people to acquire stock for yearling sales on the eastern seaboard.
“We have seen the last number of years that there’s been a frenzy of demand for appropriate stock here and I can’t see any reason why that won’t be the case tomorrow [Friday], but by the same token, the challenges that the industry has in terms of stock that’s not perceived to be commercial or commercially appealing.
“Those are going to be in evidence tomorrow, as well, those challenges. So look, there’ll be lots of positive stories out of tomorrow and no doubt there’ll be plenty of other things to think about as well.”
Last year’s second leading vendor by aggregate, Rosemont Stud returns to Oaklands with a high-quality draft, headlined by a filly by Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett and a colt by first-season sire Home Affairs.
The farm will present Lot 106, the sole offering by Wootton Bassett in the sale – a filly out of a winning daughter of Frankel (Galileo), who has captured the attention of prospective buyers throughout the inspection period.
“She’s been really popular. In fact, she’s barely been back in her box this morning, she seems to be out all the time,” Rosemont’s general manager of bloodstock Ryan McEvoy told ANZ.
“She’s one of those fillies whose type matches her pedigree. I think everyone would have noted her when the catalogue came out, only Wootton Bassett filly in the sale and out of a fast Frankel mare, daughter of a Royal Ascot Queen Mary Stakes winner. She’s a unique offering and a gorgeous type, she moves well, has a lot of presence and quality about her and we are excited to see where she lands tomorrow.”
“She’s certainly got the profile to [top the sale], and she’s been popular enough to suggest that she will sell well. I don’t know what else is out there, but she’s a filly that has certainly been well found in our draft.”
Rosemont will also offer Lot 135, a colt by Home Affairs out of five-time winner Limerock (Charge Forward), making him a half-brother to Group 3-winning two-year-old Limestone (Helmet). With Home Affairs’ progeny returning strong results as yearlings in the ring this year, McEvoy is confident the colt will attract plenty of attention.
“He is gorgeous. He’s another one, a bit like the filly, they’ve really come for him today [Thursday], second and third lookers and I think everyone has done their homework, they’ve seen how well the Home Affairs yearlings have sold this year and how well they averaged.
“He is a really classy colt and has got a great shape to him. Out of a stakes-winning mare who’s thrown a stakes winning two-year-old. He’s got a lot of sharpness about his profile and pedigree, and he has a great attitude as well, so looking forward to seeing where he lands, he’s a beauty.”
With strong foot traffic and a positive atmosphere across inspections, McEvoy believes the sale is continuing to build a strong identity within the market.
“I think this sale is really starting to create its own niche. Certainly the history of the sale in the last five years, it’s been one of the real sales where you can go and find a horse and pinhook it and the margins for pinhook success out of weanlings being bought at this sale is nearly the best.
“I think there’s enough people here, it’s got good energy around the place. A lot of people here, our inspections are as busy as we’ve ever had, so all is well.”
Three Bridges Thoroughbreds will offer a quality draft of ten weanlings on Friday, with notable representation from one of Victoria’s leading stallions, Toronado (High Chaparral), who is responsible for four of the Eddington farm’s entries.
The operation’s broodmare manager Ashley Porter is upbeat about the prospects of the draft, particularly given the broad appeal of the Swettenham Stud sire’s progeny across both domestic and international markets.
Toronado continues to assert his influence across the globe, having sired 239 individual winners so far this season, 11 of those in Hong Kong from just 29 starters. He made headlines at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale earlier this year when a colt out of stakes placegetter Hardly Surprising (All Too Hard), bred and sold by Gilgai Farm selling for $1 million to Andrew Williams Bloodstock and Hong Kong Bloodstock.
“We’ve got some exceptional Toronado colts,” Porter told ANZ News.
“They’re all very even types, very consistent. He always leaves a very consistent type does Toronado, and out of some well performed mares. So we are very excited to bring them here.
“Toronado really appeals to the Hong Kong market. They love him up there, and he’s very suited to that market, they cope very well. So all four of the colts that we’ve got here would be suited for that.”
Lot 102, the colt out of SAJC Queen Of The South Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Into The Mist (Redoute’s Choice) has been extremely popular, with the team at Three Bridges expecting him to sell particularly around midday on Friday.
“He’s a very attractive horse. He’s got the looks, which really helps if you’re especially looking to pinhook something. He’ll have a lovely look for a yearling. He’s a very good walker and tracks through,” she continued.
Stonehouse Thoroughbreds will offer a 20-strong draft of quality foals from a diverse range of stallions throughout the day on Friday, including Lot 114, a colt by Toronado out of three-time winning Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Justice Glory.
“He’s been our most popular horse here by far,” Ryan Arnel said.
“Toronado is no doubt our best stallion in Victoria. He’s well received by trainers here and he’s also well received by the international buying bench like Hong Kong. He’s had great success over there, he appeals to every section of the market that we’re selling to here. The horse stands up to what everybody’s looking for, so we look forward to seeing what he’s going to make through the ring.”
Arnel will also offer Lot 189, a filly by Coolmore Shuttler St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni) out of Posing (Medicean), making her a half-sister to three-time Group-level winner Konasana (Dundeel).
“He’s been a really interesting horse. He’s come down from New South Wales to us for the preparation, from a great farm in Yarraman Park. We’ve liked him from the day he came off the truck and he just had that bit of quality about him,” Arnel said.
“He just had something there – we didn’t know anything about the horse and you can just see that there’s some sort of quality there. He’s kept that all the way through his prep, coming to the sale, he’s improved again. He has been ticking everybody’s boxes here, so it’ll be interesting to see how he’s received on the buying bench.
“St Mark’s Basilica is a horse that wasn’t on my radar originally as a stallion, and everything I’ve seen I’ve just seemed to like. He’s taken my eye, I’ve actually bought one myself at the Sydney weanling sale.”
By Waikato Stud’s now four-time Group 1-producing sire Super Seth (Dundeel), Arnel will offer Lot 260, the filly out of Toomey, an unraced daughter of Mongolian Khan (Holy Roman Emperor), and the sole offering by the Waikato Stud sire in the catalogue.
“[Super Seth] is a stallion on fire at the moment. He’s doing everything right, and he’s a really interesting stallion to bring over. She’s actually come over from New Zealand and it’s an interesting play but I think it’s great to get those kind of stallions in front of the buying bench here and to actually get them more seen in the Australasian market, and especially at weanling level, I think she’s a horse that’s going to appeal to a lot of people here also.
“There’s more people here than horses, it’s a really positive feeling. We’ve sold here for years and years now and this is arguably the busiest time we’ve had with a draft of 20 horses. Today is the perfect example since eight o’clock, there hasn’t been any less than four parades at any one time and yesterday was the same. Record numbers through and a lot of positivity about the quality here also.”