The ceaseless march of the digital market
Statistics show the burgeoning online market for racehorses is transitioning toward a much more quality-focused offering.
The sale of multiple Group winner Daisies (Sebring) on the Inglis Digital platform this week for $920,000 represented the highest price yet in 2023 for an online purchase.
The buyer was no surprise. Yulong has led the way in almost every major broodmare purchase in Australasia in recent times, spending over $40 million through the traditional sales ring in 2023 and a further $7.839 million to date in the digital market.
Building the biggest broodmare band in the country takes investment and Zhang Yuesheng’s team have been busy, scouting far and wide.
Four of the top five highest-priced horses sold online in Australia and New Zealand this year have gone to Yulong. That list includes Daisies and her fellow Inglis June (Late) Online Sale graduate Literary Magnate (Written Tycoon), as well as Belle En Rouge (Burgundy) and Crown Jewels (Tavistock), both purchased through the Gavelhouse Plus platform.
Yulong has secured seven mares in the digital space this year under its own name but a further 52 horses under other entities, a significant contribution to the market from the biggest investor in Australasia in recent years.
Given the trend has been for a greater volume of elite mares to be offered in the online space in the second half of the year, with the traditional breeding sales season having concluded, we can expect the big players to be heavily involved at the top end of the digital market in the coming months.
However, focusing simply on one major investor does a disservice to just how deep and diverse the online market has become. There are 52 different buyers who have purchased horses for over $100,000 online already in 2023.
There is no doubt that the circumstances of the Covid pandemic accelerated the role that digital sales play in the market, but any suggestion that the nature of trading would return to what it was pre-Covid once lockdowns and travel restrictions were lifted has proven wide of the mark. The digital market is stronger than ever.
This week’s Inglis June (Late) Online Sale netted just over $8 million and was the second most successful, in terms of gross, in its history. It featured 16 horses priced in six figures.
Top priced online sales so far in 2023
| Horse | Type | Buyer | Price |
| Daisies | Race filly | Yulong Stud | $920,000 |
| Belle En Rouge | Race filly | Yulong Stud | $800,000 |
| More Aspen | Broodmare | Ultra Thoroughbreds | $720,000 |
| Crown Jewels | Broodmare | Yulong Stud | $642,500 |
| Literary Magnate | Race filly | Yulong Stud | $640,000 |
| Of Good Cheer | Broodmare | Chatsworth Farm (Yulong) | $560,000 |
| Diamonds | Race filly | Belmont Bloodstock | $560,000 |
| Not Guilty | Race filly | Hunter Valley Bloodstock | $480,000 |
| Sweet Anna | Broodmare | Yulong Stud | $452,500 |
| Ringmaster | Racehorse | C F Lee | $435,000 |
So far in 2023, there have been 97 horses traded for over $100,000 online across the three major platforms, Inglis Digital, Magic Millions Online and Gavelhouse Plus.
Inglis Digital is the dominant player in the market with 81 of those $100,000-plus sales. Their stats indicate how much the volume of horses in this price range has increased over the years.
In the infancy of Inglis Digital in 2018, there were 14 lots sold for $100,000-plus and that grew to 25 in 2019, then 41 in 2020 and 93 in 2021. In 2022, that number reached an even greater peak at 149.
That record is set to be eclipsed again as halfway through 2023 there have already been 81 horses reach $100,000 or more, with the next few months likely to feature a host of high-profile lots to sell in that six-figure range.
The volume of total horses traded on Inglis Digital has grown year-on-year, but nowhere near the same rate as the $100,000-plus horses. In 2020, 1 in 106 horses on Inglis Digital sold in that price bracket and that grew to 1 in 55 in 2021. In 2022, it was 1 in 34 and so far in 2023 it is also 1 in 34.
Inglis Digital – Lots sold for $100,000 or more by year
| Year | 100k-plus | Total sales | % 100k-plus |
| 2023 | 81 | 2750 | 2.95% |
| 2022 | 149 | 5116 | 2.91% |
| 2021 | 93 | 5165 | 1.80% |
| 2020 | 41 | 4357 | 0.94% |
| 2019 | 25 | 2256 | 1.11% |
| 2018 | 14 | 1249 | 1.12% |
There is yet to be a mare sell in the seven-figure range on the Inglis platform this year. In 2022, there was one, Sierra Sue (Darci Brahma), while in 2021 there were three, Funstar (Adelaide), who sold for $2.7 million, as well as Every Rose (Choisir) and Joyous Legend (Snitzel).
The Australasian record for an online sale is held by Avantage (Fastnet Rock), who was sold for NZ$4.1 million on Gavelhouse Plus in 2021, while other million-dollar mares to go through Gavelhouse include Amarelinha (Savabeel), Baggy Green (Galileo) and Spanish Whisper (Lope De Vega).
Gavelhouse, a subsidiary of New Zealand Bloodstock, runs fortnightly online auctions but reserves quality offerings for the more occasional Gavelhouse Plus platform. The Sir Patrick Hogan Dispersal, held on that platform in May, netted NZ$3.5 million, including seven lots over NZ$100,000.
Magic Millions operates its online auctions monthly and has had five results over that $100,000 threshold this season, highlighted by Diamonds (Rich Enuff), who sold for $560,000 earlier this month. The platform record is the $650,000 paid in February 2022 for the gelding Tiger Heart (Better Than Ready).
You’ll notice that is the first time we’ve talked about a racehorse prospect as opposed to a broodmare or filly among these top lots. It’s easy to forget that these online auctions are true mixed sales.
The top nine online lots sold so far in 2023 have been mares. Extending that out to those lots sold for $100,000 or more, we see 68 per cent of them have been offered as race fillies or mares, while racehorses make-up 28 per cent of that cohort.
That concentration of broodmares and race fillies at the top is interesting when you compare it to the make-up of a typical online catalogue. The just completed Inglis June (Late) Online Sale featured 612 lots and 56.7 per cent were broodmares or race fillies, while 19.4 per cent were racehorses, 8.3 per cent of lots were shares of racehorses, 7.5 per cent were yearlings and 7.5 per cent weanlings.
It shows that the demand for breeding stock is particularly strong and over 58 per cent of mares/race fillies sold online for $100,000 or more in 2023 have been offered in foal. There has been a broad mix of serving stallions, headed by Maurice (Screen Hero) with four mares in foal to him. The most represented sire of fillies and mares in that price bracket is Written Tycoon (Iglesia) with five, three of which have ended up at Yulong.
The racehorse contingent in 2023 is headed by Ringmaster (Zoustar), who sold to Hong Kong interests for $435,000 through Inglis’ late January Online Sale. Operative (Written Tycoon) is another Inglis Digital graduate bought by a Hong Kong-based buyer, who paid $230,000 for him in March. The digital format has proven quite popular for the Asian export markets, with Singaporean interests also heavily involved before the shock recent decision to end racing in that country by October 2024.
Online sales have also become a popular place to trade out of colts initially bought as stallion prospects. Rupert Legh bought out his former partners in stakes winner Sebonack (Capitalist), who at $270,000 topped the Inglis March (Late) Sale. Syndicators, looking to diversify their offering, are also getting involved. Darby Racing bought two recent winners at the Inglis Late June Sale off the Newgate’s colts syndicate, spending $335,000 combined on Mafia (Written Tycoon) and Bunker Hut (Savabeel).
The digital market has grown so strongly because vendors are meeting the market’s demand for quality. What may have started out as an engine to assist liquidity and trade of tried racehorses has developed into a very useful asset for trading valuable stock for buyers, sellers and sales companies.
Horses sold online for $100,000-plus in 2023
| Type | Number | Percentage |
| Broodmare | 50 | 51.55% |
| Racehorse | 27 | 27.84% |
| Race fillies | 16 | 16.49% |
| Yearling | 2 | 2.06% |
| Shares | 1 | 1.03% |
| Weanling | 1 | 1.03% |