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466 lots catalogued at auction which gets underway on Tuesday
The Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale begins its two-day run at Riverside Stables in Sydney on Tuesday, with 466 set to go under the hammer during the two day auction.
The auction - generally regarded as the jewel in the crown of the Inglis yearling sales series - follows on from a recording breaking editions of the Classic and Premier yearling sales and the auction houses’ general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch told Racing & Sports Bloodstock he is confident the sale can carry on in a similar vein.
“Everything has gone really very smoothly,” said Hutch. “The weather has been great and people are in good form and we are in a fortunate position, whereby, certainly domestically, there hasn’t been an issue for the majority of people to travel, of course there are still some challenges surrounding it. But for the majority it has been quite straightforward.
“There are lots of people around, the old faces, new faces and there is plenty to look forward to and we are hopeful of a good two days of trade. There has been good feedback from buyers on the quality of the catalogue and vendors have been very busy with inspections.”
With the coronavirus situation at its peak during last year’s sale, forcing the auction to be conducted as an online virtual sale, Hutch said the Easter yearling sale presents a unique opportunity to get hold of some of the best bred stock in Australia.
“Part of the appeal for vendors and buyers is that the quality of the premium stock presents a certain appeal almost irrespective to the conditions, so to quite what extent the nature of the market thus far will affect the market at the Easter sale is a little bit hard to know,” said Hutch.
“We are certainly confident that the best stock will be well found and as is the case with Easter each year there will be some fantastic buying in the middle of the value areas.
“This has always been a sale where you can buy nice horses with a good pedigree for not a lot of money and I think that will very much be the case with certain offerings at this year’s sale.”
After the announcement that Shadwell Stud will disperse their stock in Australia, 12 of their yearlings will be offered by Yarraman Park Stud during this year’s sale and Hutch said they present a rare opportunity for buyers to invest in some of the most sought after families in the stud book.
“We are obviously very grateful for the opportunity to be offering the Shadwell yearlings, but I think what is very important to remember about these yearlings is that they were bred specifically for the racecourse and there isn’t any doubt there was any commercial objective when they were mated,” said Hutch.
“They were mated purely with the objective of trying to breed the best racehorses they could. Obviously this is not always the case, there are different motivating factors in the minds of people when they are mating mares.
“The fact that physically they present in a manner that appeals to the vast majority of the buying bench, coupled with pedigree credentials and with the history of the farm and I think all these things will mean they will be very well sought after and very well found.”
Another unique angle to this year’s sale is the last opportunity to purchase a yearling by the breed-shaping sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) and Hutch was quick to pay tribute to the massive influence the late Arrowfield Stud-based sire has had on the Easter sale over the past years.
“The stallion has been phenomenally successful, not just domestically, but internationally and has been a massive part of getting the Australian thoroughbred known to the rest of the world,” he said.
“I remember when I first came to Australia, it was very evident that international participants were coming to Australia very specifically because it was the only place where yearlings could be bought by particular stallions and chief amongst those stallions was Redoute’s Choice.
“He is just such a phenomenal sire of sires and has produced so many stallion’s who have gone on to be Group 1 stallions in their own right, but now we are talking about his grandsons who are proving to be great stallions and his daughters are also proving to be top-class producers as well.
“Right across the board he just produces a hugely appealing breed of horses and while it is sad coming to the end of that era, similarly it has been a great opportunity for everyone to recognise his enormous contribution to the Australian thoroughbred industry and recognise the fact that his influence will extend long beyond him as a stallion.”
The stallion has seven lots set to go through the ring during the two days of trade.
The sale gets underway at 10am on Tuesday.
