Top end of the market set to maintain momentum at Easter
Big wet won’t stop Inglis’ premium offering with star colts and elite fillies
Inglis has contingency plans in place if Sydney’s heavy rain impacts its Australian Easter Yearling Sale, with the predicted downpour also threatening Saturday’s opening The Championships race meeting at Randwick.
The Bureau of Meteorology are predicting up to 300 millimetres of rain late on Friday and into Saturday, leaving the Group 1 card at Randwick in doubt, but, despite the last-minute weather headaches, 500 of Australasia’s best-bred yearlings are still set to go under the hammer across two days.
The rain could pose accessibility problems at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex at Warwick Farm if the weather event keeps up, but it is not expected to stop the two-day Easter sale from going ahead.
Inglis has protocols in place to ensure that its premier yearling sale of the year is not dramatically impacted and the bloodstock market headwinds experienced across Australasia so far in 2024 may not prove to be as dramatic at the Easter sale, at least not in the top quartile of the catalogue.
“I have been pleased with the response to the catalogue from the get-go and pleased with the people that are here and with the people who are scheduled to participate,” Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said on Friday.
“It’s not to say we’re not conscious of the challenges in the market, and there are going to be challenges, but certainly at this juncture other than the weather everything has come together nicely.”
Leading vendor Arrowfield Stud will have a considerable say in how the overall market plays out and principal John Messara would be satisfied if his draft of 58 horses can achieve a gross of $20 million, which is about the mark the prominent Hunter Valley stud achieved at last year’s Easter sale.
Messara is also confident about the wider market’s prospects at Inglis on Sunday and Monday.
“In the context of the way top-end horses have sold worldwide, I feel pretty happy because we’ve got some really nice horses in the Easter draft every year and this year is no exception and that end of the market has held up well,” Messara told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Obviously, we’ve also got some lesser lights, which might be very good horses as well, but on paper not seen in the same light.
“That’s the end of the market I’m a bit concerned about, it’s been soft all over the place, but overall I am pretty positive about the sale.
“Importantly, the sale has followed the all ordinaries index for a decade and longer, maybe longer, and we’ve been tracing this.
“Indications are that we will at least be in line with last year if you think that graph will sustain itself through this season.”
The Pierro (Lonhro) daughter of Winx (Street Cry) has understandably commanded the headlines, but the Easter catalogue contains numerous fillies with mouthwatering pedigrees.
Yulong is offering offering a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) first foal – a filly – out of New Zealand’s champion mare Melody Belle (Commands) (Lot 143) while Kiwi breeder Lib Petagna’s Elsdon Park has brought three yearlings across the Tasman for the Easter sale including an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) daughter of his three-time Group 1 winner Lucia Valentina (Savabeel) (Lot 115) who has already produced the stakes-placed Luella Cristina (Snitzel).
“For us, especially for our first few years [of operation], it’s all about building our brand and showcasing our best horses to the market … and the Easter sale is known as being the cream of the crop,” Elsdon Park’s Kerrie Cox said.
“So, we’ve brought three of our nicest horses over here, obviously highlighted by the I Am Invincible-Lucia Valentina filly who probably should be in the broodmare band.
“We are offering her to the market to showcase what we’re breeding and the quality of the horses that we have.”
Elsdon Park also has the Per Incanto (Street Cry) brother to trainer John O’Shea’s top-class sprinter Lost And Running and a colt by Waikato Stud’s emerging sire Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) (Lot 480) in the sale.
Widden’s Antony Thompson, whose farm has a strong hand particularly through the deeds of Zoustar (Northern Meteor), believes there’s been a “very typical” Easter buying bench.
“I wouldn’t think that there are many buyers who bought here last year who aren’t here this year and, by the same token, we haven’t really seen too many new buyers here but you never know with Winx’s filly in the sale and those sorts of things, sometimes they can flush out not a well-known or typical buyer,” Thompson said.
“You do see those horses bringing new people into the market, so that will be interesting to watch what happens there.
“She’s obviously a bit later in the sale, so who plays across the board more traditionally will also be interesting.”
Messara bought the top-priced yearling at last year’s Easter sale, the three-quarter sister to In The Congo (Snitzel) by The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) for $1.8 million, and he hasn’t ruled out undertaking a similar strategy again this year to acquire high-end fillies.
Interestingly, the Arrowfield chairman also suggested he may venture into what may be considered by some pundits to be a crowded colts’ syndicate space, but if he does it’ll be in a limited capacity.
“We’re always looking to buy a stallion prospect or a stallion in the making or a readymade stallion like everyone else and it’s getting tougher and tougher, I must say,” Messara disclosed.
“[Yearling sales is] one other source, but more speculative, and we’ll look at it but we’re unlikely to be too aggressive there.”
The regular participants in the colts market are once again expected to make their presence felt.
“These are people who go to a sale in the expectation that they will find and buy the best horses,” Hutch said.
“They have proven themselves to be very good at it and had a lot of success doing it at Easter, whether it’s Coolmore, Newgate, James Harron, TFI, et al, so I would be hopeful they’ll be a prominent feature of the market as long as they’re comfortable with the quality of stock that they find.”
Meanwhile, if Saturday’s The Championships is to fall victim to the deluge, the meeting which includes the T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m), the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) and the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), is likely to be postponed by seven days rather than to Sunday or Monday which would clash with the Easter sale.
Stewart reaffirms wish for Winx filly
American thoroughbred investor John Stewart has doubled down on his vow to buy the first foal of Australia’s generational mare Winx (Street Cry), pledging to go as high as AUD$9 million to purchase the daughter of Pierro (Lonhro).
The Resolute Racing principal, a relatively new owner and breeder based in Kentucky, has in recent weeks publicly made his plans known and reaffirmed his plans on Friday after reading ANZ Bloodstock News’ story about the Coolmore-consigned filly.
“Will the Winx filly be the first horse that @rresoluteracing is out bid on?….I don’t think so. Given the pedigree page and inspecting the filly in person twice, I can say without a doubt that at the end of the day it will take some deep pockets to keep this filly from joining our band,” Stewart wrote on X.
“Our current record is US$6 million AUS $9.1 million #goodnightove @FasigTiptonCo November Sale.
“I am committed to do whatever it takes to buy this filly unless I get the impression I am being bid up and in that case someone could get stuck with paying a big number.
“People are calling her a collectors item and I am a collector so it is a natural fit.
“This filly represents everything that @rresoluteracing stands for.
“Regardless of what happens it is going to be something people will be happy they were following.”
A shareholder in the Coolmore-purchased Storm Boy (Justify), who is favourite for Saturday’s ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes, Stewart made the trip to Australia to watch the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt finish third in the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m).