Part 2 of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale will be held on Sunday and immediately followed by the Scone Yearling Sale at Riverside Stables with quality youngsters catalogued in both sales.
Due to the coronavirus, Round 1 of the Easter Sale was held in a virtual format restricted solely to online and telephone bidding.
It was topped by a son of Snitzel from Sledmere Stud going for $1.8 million to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier and the sale held up remarkably well, given the unique set of circumstances, with the average of $318,400 only slightly down on 2019.
“As has been well documented, the lead-up to the traditional Easter Yearling Sale in April was against a back-drop of a hugely challenging environment as a result of the pandemic,’’ Inglis General Manager of Bloodstock and Marketing Sebastian Hutch said.
Snitzel x First Seal (colt) sold for $1.8 million
“It was agreed at the time that it would be appropriate to offer vendors and buyers a further opportunity to acquire Easter yearlings at a later date, so the concept of Easter Round 2 was born and we are very pleased with how the catalogue has come together.
“It’s been challenging from the perspective that circumstances have just kept changing, but we are progressing really nicely. Thanks to the support of vendors and buyers we’ve had very pleasing results.
“It’s been challenging from the perspective that circumstances have just kept changing, but we are progressing really nicely.” – Sebastian Hutch
“There’s been a lot of people at the complex and it’s nice to get back to a live auction. It’s going to be a buyers’ market and there will be value to be found here for people who are in a position do the work and get through the horses in a judicious manner.
“It’s an unusual experience for many people to be buying high-end yearlings at this time of the year, but for many of the yearlings the additional time has benefitted them.
Sebastian Hutch
“There are plenty of nice horses here and while the economic conditions and circumstances aren’t ideal for the conduct of any major yearling sale, but a lot of work has gone into liaising with buyers and prospective buyers.
“Hopefully, we have put together a market where vendors and buyers find a happy equilibrium and we sell plenty of horses.”
Among the star offerings at Easter Round 2 will be Vinery Stud’s half-sister, Lot 11, by Star Turn to the G2 The Roses heroine Vanna Girl (Husson {Arg}), the winner of seven of her 10 starts for Toby and Trent Edmonds.
Quality stallions represented
Representatives of leading Australian stallions including I Am Invincible, Snitzel, Pierro, Exceed And Excel, Fastnet Rock, Lonhro, Written Tycoon, So You Think (NZ), Dundeel (NZ), Sebring, Zoustar, Deep Field and Not A Single Doubt will be on offer, as well as international superstar sires Frankel (GB) and Medaglia d’Oro (USA).
Youngsters by exciting first season sires such as American Pharoah (USA), Capitalist, Shalaa (ire), Extreme Choice, Divine Prophet and Astern will also go under the hammer.
Watch: Lot 11 parade
“The unique Easter Round 2 catalogue is a combination of yearlings originally catalogued for the Easter Yearling Sale, plus additional entries,” Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster said.
“Inglis has provided almost double the Group 1-winning graduates this season than our nearest competitor, with the value of the Easter Yearling Sale again demonstrated by the success of graduates like Dreamforce, Nettoyer and Quick Thinker, all of whom won Group 1 races during the Sydney autumn carnival.”
Super Scone line-up
Easter Round 2 will be immediately followed by the annual Scone Select Yearling Sale, which will be held at Riverside rather than its traditional White Park venue due to COVID-19.
One of the feature offerings will be Lot 280 from Widden Stud, a half-brother by Outreach to the unbeaten 2-year-old The Bopper (Nicconi), winner of the Inglis Challenge. He was purchased for $30,000 by trainer Kris Lees in 2019.
Lot 280 - Outreach x Chicago (colt)
Yearlings by the likes of More Than Ready (USA), Nicconi, Teofilo (Ire), All Too Hard, Deep Field, Foxwedge, Smart Missile, Headwater, Pride Of Dubai, Shamus Award, Rubick and Choisir will be offered.
First-season sires Capitalist, American Pharoah (USA), Star Turn, Flying Artie, Winning Rupert, Sooboog, Divine Prophet, Territories, Air Force Blue (USA) and Odyssey Moon are all also represented.
The Scone Sale has provided quality performers including Voodoo Lad (I Am Invincible), Cradle Mountain (West Quest {Can}) and Condo’s Express (Rubick) in recent years.
Top weanling catalogue
The Australian Weanling Sale will also be held next week and has been expanded with selling on Wednesday and Thursday at Riverside following the finalisation of the supplementaries.
“We’re very pleased with the way the catalogue has come together and there are some outstanding horses in the sale with over 380 weanlings,” Hutch said.
“It necessitated spreading it over two days and that’s been met favourably by vendors and buyers and that gives people that little bit more time to work through the horses.
“It necessitated spreading it over two days and that’s been met favourably by vendors and buyers and that gives people that little bit more time to work through the horses. " - Sebastian Hutch
“There is a lot of interest in the weanlings and the progeny of the first season stallions are always appealing to investors.
“It’s going to be a market that’s appealing to both speculators and end users and hopefully that’s reflected in positive results at the end of the week.”
Highly commercial proven stallions including Snitzel, Fastnet Rock, Pierro, Zoustar, So You Think (NZ), Sebring, Lonhro, Exceed And Excel, Dundeel (NZ), Deep Field, Written Tycoon and Brazen Beau, as well as exciting first crop sires such as Russian Revolution, Merchant Navy, Hellbent, Churchill (Ire), Pariah and Spieth (NZ) are all represented.
