Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale by RACING POST BLOODSTOCK

April 9-11, 2018

INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE ALL ROADS LEAD TO RIVERSIDE

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE Here’s hoping Easter 2018 signals start of a glorious new era from sale’s new base THE Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale is not the first great sporting institution to move home. Sometimes it works, sometimes is doesn’t. Many of Europe’s biggest football clubs have upped sticks in recent years. Manchester City, for example, left their Maine Road ground to usher in a new era for the club at the far grander Etihad Stadium, while Juventus have also dominated the landscape in Italy having moved into new digs. Arsenal and West Ham fans may have a less rosy take on leaving the place that made them famous but

in cricket, a radical revamp of Lancashire’s Old Trafford stadium (the scene of Shane Warne’s ‘Ball of the Century’ in 1993) has been a roaring success. Over in America, stadiums come and go on an almost generational basis and the Dallas Cowboys, for example, boast one of the most impressive new facilities not only in the NFL but in world sport. Where all those have gone before them, so the Easter Sale now finds itself at year one of an exciting new chapter. Unlike the examples above, we already have a good idea about what

Inglis’s sensational new Riverside complex is all about. Rave reviews followed what was a sensational Classic Yearling Sale back in February, and while change, especially of long-established institutions, can be a hard sell, surely there are few who would argue Inglis has got this one wrong. This great sale has a great new home and what better place for the great and good of global thoroughbred racing to source the champions of tomorrow? The very best of luck to everybody buying and selling.

Mark Scully, group bloodstock editor

The stunning new complex at Riverside will play host to the Easter Sale for the first time this year

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE

With the first Easter Sale from Riverside Stables on the horizon, Steve Moran looks back at the auction’s highs and lows and what the future has in store

N APRIL 9 a new chapter begins in the story of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale that will, of course, be conducted at its new home – Riverside Stables, Warwick Farm. While the Inglis history dates back to 1867 when William Inglis began auctioning livestock and general produce, it was not until 1905 that the first yearling was sold at the company’s former home at Newmarket. Now, after more than 100 years of ‘sale-o, sale-o’ at the inner-city venue and the hammer falling on a raft of champion racehorses, something special awaits vendors and purchasers alike at a tweaked Riverside Stables, which opened with a record-breaking 2018 Classic Sale in February. Newmarket was home to many a historic event and Inglis managing director Mark Webster believes the new venue will create its own history. “I think we’re already well on the way,” he says. “The opening night of the Classic had an electric atmosphere and that’s an event already significant in the memory of many. Couple that with the extraordinary list of siblings to stakes winners catalogued at Easter – more than 33 per cent of the total lots – and it’s reasonable to think a headline horse or two just might emerge from this first Easter Sale at Riverside Stables.”

New chapter awaits for auction with a venerable history No fewer than 16 Group 1 winners in the 2016-17 season were Inglis graduates, including a bona-fide headliner in Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago) and another with the potential to do the same this year during the British summer in Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock). Both outstanding sprinters were offered at Easter. Merchant Navy was knocked down to Ciaron Maher Racing for $350,000 in 2016 while Chautauqua, in 2012, was passed in at $300,000 but later sold to John Hawkes for $280,000 with principal vendor Edwina Throsby keeping a ten per cent share. Australian racing’s Hall of Fame contains five inductees who were sold at Inglis Easter – Amounis (Magpie), Flight (Royal Step), Heroic (Valais), Might And Power (Zabeel) and Wenona Girl (Wilkes). However, I would suggest the two most momentous sale events at Newmarket did not occur at Easter. They involved arguably the greatest trainer this country has ever seen and arguably the greatest horse. Bart Cummings and Bernborough (Emborough). Yes, Bernborough, but I’ll pursue that argument at another time. On September 16, 1989, Newmarket hosted

overcome his estimated debt of $17.7m from his collapsed syndicate, the pair fetched $1.4m. Cummings had spent $13.6m on 43 yearlings at Easter.

T the so-called Night Of Stars dispersal of Cummings-owned stock following the collapse of the Cups King syndicate, which was originally put together with the backing of major accounting firms. It did not work out well in the end, for Cummings or for Inglis. This was the text of the lead story from many newspapers the following day: “The two brightest lots of trainer Bart Cummings’ ‘Night of Stars’ dispersal sale have fallen, bringing half what they

brought at their first trip to the sales ring last Easter.” The Bletchingly colt from stakes-winning mare Sudden and the colt by champion sire Biscay from Green Dancer mare Tommasina Fiesco broke Australian records at Easter, bringing $2.6 million together. At this sale, to help Cummings

HE story began early in 1989 when Cummings and two accounting firms, Coopers & Lybrand and Peat Marwick, developed a syndicate based around a tax break for investment in racehorses which then applied. The 160 shares in the syndicates were offered at $49,446 each but delays with the prospectus, the recession and climbing interest rates meant few investors were interested. Reg Inglis, then at the helm of the family business, told the Australian Financial Review in 2015 that Inglis had borrowed $8m to pay the vendors of the yearlings. The saga was a financial disaster for Cummings and Inglis but, such is the nature of the game, almost 30 years on

‘The opening night of the Classic had an electric atmosphere’ Inglis managing director Mark Webster

the extension of credit still underpins most of Inglis’s – and other major auction houses’ – business. Webster recalls his impressions of his first year at the helm, 2008. “That year was a record sale of course, a record that hasn’t yet been beaten; last year was second best,” he says. “To set the scene that year, the Ingham family had just sold Woodlands and all of their racing and breeding interests to Darley for $460m. Bob Ingham was obviously cashed up and engaged in several bidding duels with the aforementioned to restock his stable, spending $18m in just three days on yearlings. “I remember the cheeky grin on Bob’s face when, from behind the auctioneer’s box, he whispered ‘open this one at $1.6m please’. Great days, and a true gentlemen of the turf. “But I do recall it was eye-opening to be in the middle of it. I remember thinking to myself, ‘what, people take these horses home without paying for them?’ “Inglis and, of course, Magic Millions do – in one sense – carry this industry in a way the wider world does not quite understand or appreciate. Very few trainers or syndicators could buy a horse if they were expected to pay for it on the day,” he said. The Bernborough story was generally a happier one – with no tales of financial disaster other than that of mystery woman Johanna Taks, who lost every cent she had won – parlaying her winnings in the horse’s 15 consecutive victories – before a controversial ride and defeat in the 1946 Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m). On October 6, 1945, the papers reported: “Bernborough was the top-priced lot at a sale of thoroughbred bloodstock at Messrs William Inglis and Sons’ stables at Newmarket, Randwick, yesterday. He changed hands at 2,600 guineas, the purchaser being Mr AO Romano, of Sydney.”

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operation sold for $5.8m. Oceanfast’s three previous Easter yearlings had grossed just over $4.5m. Yarraman had bought Oceanfast, best known as the dam of super sprinter Alinghi, in 2004 for $80,000. Inglis director Jamie Inglis last year recalled another of the momentous sales at Newmarket. “One of the most exciting times at Newmarket was the build up to the sale of the half-brother to Black Caviar a couple of years ago,” he said. “Come sale time there were more people than ever before at Newmarket and he sold for $5m. It was amazing theatre.”

T Azzalin Orlando Romano was an Italian-born Sydney nightclub owner who knew what he was doing when he bought Bernborough, who then had not raced anywhere other than Toowoomba because of a ban imposed by the Queensland Turf Club. The Newmarket sale was contingent on the entry of Bernborough

being accepted by the Australian Jockey Club. By my reckoning, Bernborough, who was later sold to Hollywood movie producer Louis B Mayer, cost Romano around the equivalent of $1.5m. The Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner’s prize in 1945 was £7,200, about two a half times what Romano paid.

Rekindling (High Chaparral) won $3.8m for victory at Flemington last year. As romantic a tale as this – or the memories below of past Newmarket auctions – may not emerge in the short term from Riverside Stakes, but then again, who knows? Yarraman Park’s Harry Mitchell, like Webster, has

understandably fond memories of Easter 2008. Incidentally, it was Yarraman Park that sold the very last yearling lot to go through the ring at Newmarket last year. “The Yarraman highlight was 2008 when we had the three top lots and two Australian records,” says Mitchell. “The atmosphere was electric that

year and we were lucky to have the right horses by the hot stallions. All the stars aligned and at the end of the sale we couldn’t really believe it as we’d never before had yearlings anywhere near that level.” That year they topped the sale with the Encosta De Lago colt out of Oceanfast who made $2.2m – one of 12 yearlings the

HAT was in 2013, and the aftermath was not quite so fondly recalled with the various insurance machinations that followed when the half-brother, by Redoute’s Choice and known as ‘Jimmy’, had to be euthanised after an apparent spider bite and the onset of laminitis. We can only speculate as to whether the frenzy of 2008 and 2013 will be recreated this year but it is an historic occasion in itself and, as Webster puts it: “There’s a sense that everyone wants to be involved in the first Easter at Riverside.”

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE Dean Hawthorne

THE JURY Which first-season sire’s yearlings have impressed you the most this year? Who is your favourite horse to have come from this sale and why?

Bloodstock agent Dissident and Deep Field. The Dissidents are a very consistent line of horses. With the Deep Fields there are some who look like they’ll be better three-year-olds, but I’ve seen some sharper ones around according to their bottom lines. I’d be surprised if there are some Magic Millions-style runners.

I bought Derryn at the second session of Easter for $110,000 and he’s won $800,000. He’s a Group 2 winner and been Group 1-placed and has probably been the best-value buy.

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The three key ones are Deep Field, Rubick and Dissident, with the latter my pick as we’ve already bought two and probably can’t buy any more of them.

It’s a good class of first-season sires this year and we’ve already purchased yearlings by Dissident, Deep Field, Rubick, Olympic Glory, Shooting To Win and Brazen Beau, as well as New Zealand sires Charm Spirit and Sacred Falls, as they’ve all impressed us as physical types.

We’ve bought a Hallowed Crown and an Adelaide of the first-season sires. We’ve had great success with such stallions going way back to Danehill. We had Danarani, who won the Flight Stakes, and then in the second year we had Danendri. We also bought Dashing Eagle, who won the Flight Stakes and a Thousand Guineas, and they were all Easter graduates.

It’s a solid group with plenty to pick from. Progeny by Rubick, Dissident and Deep Field have impressed me across the board and have sold well accordingly. I’ve ended up with a half-dozen Rubicks – they look sharp, early types who have broken in exceptionally well.

( Able Friend (left). He was a champion and the best horse we’ve ever bought as a yearling.

Omei Sword. We bought her for a very good client in Mr Lai and she had an abundance of talent. She was a Group 2 winner and finished second to Astern in the Group 1 Golden Rose. A few niggles along the way prevented her from showing her best as we thought she was well capable of winning a Group 1.

In the past I bought a horse called Dariana who won the Queensland Derby and was second in the Underwood Stakes.

While at Arrowfield we sold Mustaaqeem to Angus Gold and that colt went on to win the Group 1 two-year-old race in South Africa last year. Then obviously Summer Passage, who will always be a favourite; purchased by Wexford Stables from Highgrove Stud, he also went on to be a two-year-old Group 1 winner.

How does the type of yearling on offer at Easter differ from other major sales?

Foaling date has a lot to do with some of the horses who end up at Easter. They’re not forward enough for the Magic Millions and need a bit of time, but the changes you see in those horses from January when you walk in the paddock to Easter is remarkable – by the time they arrive at the Easter Sale they’re lovely, quality horses.

The yearlings probably aren’t as precocious but we bring most of our money to this sale because they have the pedigrees. At a lot of the other sales you’ll get a nice type, but the page isn’t going to be astronomically good. The pages are three or four times better, which is what Easter is skewed towards, and buyers go there for a high-pedigreed horse.

Inglis does a fantastic job of assembling the best pedigrees in Australia for the sale and they usually have the conformation to match their pages. It’s the last major yearling sale in Australia and the horses have a bit more time to develop, so we see a more mature yearling.

The major factor is that they’ve had three more months to mature in comparison to the two other major sales, Magic Millions and Karaka, which are both in January. You get perhaps not a bigger horse but a more mature horse. It’s a great advantage to the seller.

There’s usually a higher standard of quality types on offer.

What is the key to finding value in such a competitive market?

I’ve always said Easter is the best-value sale in Australia purely because of the residual value in the fillies. You can buy a lovely filly with a hell of a good page for less than sale average. You can go to other sales and they’re very good types but with no back-up pedigree, and if they put their foot in a hole you get nothing back.

You have to inspect every single horse on the grounds. There are always going to be one or two who slip under the radar. I picked up a nice Star Witness colt at the Classic Sale and I thought he was relatively cheap, so you have to do your homework and not be dependent on stallion or damside pedigree. There’s always value to be found at a sale.

Leave no stone unturned. We’ll look at all yearlings and stick to our criteria. We don’t always end up on the most expensive horses but we’ve done well with our systems.

In this sort of market you’re competing with oil barons, sheikhs and people who own countries, not businesses, so you have to come out with your strongest set of shoes on.

Do your research, be patient and try to zig when everyone else is zagging. It’s probably the best-value sale that we’ve got in Australia when looking for yearlings with pedigrees, largely because of the quantity on offer.

Which sire is going to end the week as the leader by aggregate?

It’s between Snitzel and Fastnet Rock. They’re the two dominant sires in Australia with numbers, while I Am Invincible isn’t far behind. All three of those top sires are flying and cementing themselves.

I’ve seen 300 horses so far and I’d say Snitzel is going to be tops.

Snitzel. He’s the champion sire of Australia and is getting a huge amount of winners and good ones at that. Winning the Golden Slipper will only add further fuel to his popularity. Last year his progeny were in hot demand and there’s only more reason for them to be sought after.

Snitzel. One of his daughters [Estijaab, right] has just won the Golden Slipper and he’s throwing more Group 1 winners this season and last than he has in his career. He’s got to be $1.50 favourite for aggregate and probably average.

Given Champion sire Snitzel now has more than $21 million in progeny earnings this season and just landed the Slipper, he’d be a safe bet. Snitzel and I Am Invincible – it could be the Slipper quinella again.

Where is your favourite place to relax in Sydney after a day at the sale?

Anywhere around the Coogee area is nice. There are plenty of nice restaurants there, while I recommend the Coogee Bay Hotel for a quick beer before you go out for a meal.

I usually go to Rockpool for dinner.

Anywhere where the beer is cold!

It used to be either in the old Inglis Newmarket room or down at the stables hospitality tents, so we’ll have to suss out what the most relaxing environment is at the new Riverside complex.

I enjoy sitting around any dining room table away from the hype of the sale, having a quiet bite with clients and drumming up a game plan for the next day.

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE

Lydia Symonds talks to Vinery Stud’s Peter Orton about its stalwart shuttle stallion More Than Ready, who has been a champion in both hemispheres

F YOU think your commute to work is bad, take a moment to contemplate More Than Ready’s (Southern Halo) travelling time from Kentucky in America to Scone in Australia. He may not have to endure the 9,000-mile trip every day but he has been racking up these remarkable air miles for the best part of 18 years and by all accounts shows no sign of stopping any time soon. Since retiring to stud in the US as a four-year-old in 2001, a winner of seven of his 17 starts including the King’s Bishop Stakes (Gr1, 7f), More Than Ready has never missed the journey, shuttling first to Vinery Stud in Kentucky – before moving to WinStar Farm after Vinery’s sale in 2013

Global traveller who has made the world his oyster – to Australia every single year and will return to Vinery’s historic base in the Hunter Valley in July for an astonishing 18th time this season. Peter Orton, general manager of Vinery Stud, says the longevity of the sire continues to surprise him.

“More Than Ready just handles everything as well now as he has always done,” says Orton. “I think what strikes you most about him is the way he takes the whole process of travelling around the world like he does in his stride. He has a

More Than Ready Stallion superstar Name More Than Ready (USA) (foaled in 1997;

Southern Halo-Woodman’s Girl by Woodman) Approximate miles travelled to and from stud 333,165 Miles to moon from Earth 238,900 Stakes winners 182 Group/Grade 1 winners 21 Commenced stud duties 2001 Years at stud 18 Mares covered 2,158 (excluding US) Lifetime progeny earnings $193,371,955 (up to March 28)

great temperament and intelligence and he doesn’t allow himself to be overworked or get too stressed up. “When he arrives and just goes into his paddock he seems unfazed. He’s an amazing horse, he’s always great to deal with. His libido is always good and his fertility is the best in the barn.” More Than Ready has sired 182 stakes winners, surpassing the mark of 173 set by his own sire Southern Halo (Halo) and placing him fifth on the list of all time stakes-winning sires,

bettered only by Danehill and his sire Danzig (Northern Dancer) and fellow father and son Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer) and Galileo. So how did a dirt specialist come to a land where turf racing is the only option? In a time where Danehill blood was dominating Australian breeding, Orton explains that Vinery Stud specifically sought the perfect outcross stallion to provide breeders with a viable alternative. “We started with Red

Ransom and then Mossman,” Orton recalls. “At the time there had been some Southern Halo bloodlines that had been very successful in Australia so we then turned our attention to source a Halo-line horse and More Than Ready came on the radar – we thought he’d be perfect to have here. “The key to him coming down here when we first started looking at him was certainly the Halo line, but also he was a great physical match. When you breed you’ve got to take into account strengths and weaknesses in horses and the great thing about More Than Ready is that he’s a great blender. “We were really just trying to find that niche in the market and to strike with a horse like More Than Ready was a very lucky result.”

UCKY is possibly underselling the influence More Than Ready has had and is still having in Australia. His first crop alone contained 12 stakes winners, three of them at the highest level, including Carry On Cutie, who won the Champagne Stakes (1600m) as a two-year-old. His other notable successes

More Than Ready in his paddock at Vinery Stud in the Hunter Valley, where he will return from the US in July

‘He has a great temperament and intelligence and he doesn’t allow himself to be overworked or get too stressed up’

Peter Orton, Vinery Stud general manager

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include two Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr1, 1200m) winners in Sebring and Phelan Ready, Samaready, who won the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr1, 1200m), two VRC Victoria Derby (Gr1, 2500m) winners in Prized Icon and Benicio, a Queensland Derby (Gr1, 2400m) scorer in Eagle Way, and Oaks winners More Than Sacred and Dreamaway. One of many trainers who has enjoyed immense success with the progeny of More Than Ready is Gai Waterhouse, most notably with Sebring, who she saddled to win the 2008 Golden Slipper. The legendary trainer also sent out the ultra-consistent and talented mare More Joyous to win eight races at Group 1 level and she says the sire’s success in Australia is extraordinary. “He comes down here year after year and performs well and has done something where a lot of others before him have failed,” says Waterhouse. “To do what he’s done is quite exceptional. Some of the greatest stallions in Europe and around the world have tried it and failed, so it just goes to show how difficult it is to achieve what More Than Ready has done. “When you’re buying a horse by More Than Ready you have

MORE THAN READY PROGENY SALES

Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale Year

No. sold

Total ($)

2004

1,210,000

2005

1,255,000

2006

1,120,000

2007

460,000

2008

7,920,000

2009

1,785,000

2010

3,145,000

2011

7,255,000

2012

5,540,000

2013

5,699,090

2014

8,485,000

2015

6,825,000

2016

3,065,000

2017

2,695,000

Total

220

56,459,090

Vinery Stud general manager Peter Orton (far left) and a scene of tranquillity at Vinery Stud

that knowledge that they’re consistent and you can always get a good fun horse. “He produces stock with a brilliant turn of foot and very good temperaments. They seem to take to work very well and when they’re good they’re very good,” Waterhouse continues.

“They get the results and that’s why I just keep returning to him. I have great admiration for him.” The stallion’s impact in both hemispheres is widespread and continues year after year. That was no more apparent than last year when he was responsible

for two Grade 1 winners at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar in California. With five-year-old gelding Roy H’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (6f) and talented two-year-old filly Rushing Fall retaining her unbeaten record in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

Fillies Turf (1m), it epitomised what More Than Ready is about and what Orton believes sets him apart from many of his counterparts. “He’s just a really good all-rounder,” Orton explains. “We’ve seen that certain sire lines do stay fresher and

younger into their latter years and the more precocious sire lines that have results quicker. I think Southern Halo is one of them that can keep going and producing results well into their latter years. “More Than Ready is a champion sire in Australia and in America, being crowned champion two-year-old stallion in both hemispheres. “It’s very, very rare to find a stallion who works in both hemispheres, especially given the different styles of racing, but the beauty of More Than Ready is his portfolio of winners at different distances – he has had two Golden Slipper winners but he has also had two VRC Derby winners and a whole array of other Derby and Oaks winners as well.”

RTON continues: “His progeny run on anything, dirt and grass, anything. He’s just a very efficient and consistent horse. His ability to produce these sorts of horses who can run on all surfaces is quite an extraordinary one, because quite often to be effective at that, their action has to be a little specialised. “More Than Ready was a Continues page 10

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE Trainer Gai Waterhouse with 2008 Golden Slipper winner Sebring, a son of More Than Ready and now a leading sire himself

From page 9 turf-style of horse, he ran like a turf horse, he just skipped across the top of the dirt. We try to breed the right type of horse – physically they’ve got to have the ability to act on different types of surface, it’s a major problem for some breeds.” Waterhouse, like Orton, believes More Than Ready is not only a good sire himself but is already beginning to build a deep legacy on the Australian breeding industry. “He really has been a huge success. His legacy is already beginning to show beyond him with his sons at stud. Sebring is becoming one of the most successful stallions in Australia. He, like his father, is proving a good sire of everything – colts, geldings and fillies,” says Waterhouse. More Than Ready is also beginning to prove himself a good broodmare sire, his daughters having produced five Group 1 winners, namely Blue Diamond Stakes scorer Miracles Of Life (Not A Single Doubt), Manikato Stakes (1200m) winner Rebel Dane (California Dane), Delection (Shamardal), Atlante (Fastnet Rock) and Luna Rossa (Written Tycoon). This year he has ten lots at

‘More Than Ready has not only done so much for the industry but for us as a farm’ the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale at the Riverside Stables complex, comprising two colts and eight fillies. One of the ten will be offered by Vinery Stud, a filly out of Gilgai Stakes (Gr2, 1200m) winner and Group 1-placed mare Hallowell Belle (Starcraft), who is herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Fuddle De Duddle from the family of Caulfield Guineas (Gr1, 1600m) winner In Top Swing (Beautiful Crown). “She’s a real standout,” says Orton. “The mare was a very good racehorse and she’s a big, strong, powerful sprint filly, but she has her father’s temperament and she looks like she might get up and go early. She really is stunning, a spectacular filly.” At this year’s sale More Than Ready will again not only be represented by those ten yearlings but also through the progeny of his Slipper-winning son Sebring, who stands at

Widden Stud and has 34 lots catalogued. However, the connection does not stop there.

HE sales this year marked a dawning of a new era for the stallion with one of his grandsons, Dissident (Sebring) having progeny on offer for the first time. Newgate Farm’s Group 1-winning sire has 20 yearlings from his first crop catalogued at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. More Than Ready’s other sons now standing at stud include Vinery barn-mate Pluck, Better Than Ready and Verrazzano, and Orton says a lot of what makes More Than Ready a great sire has been inherited by his stallion sons. “A lot of his amazing temperament has come through on his other sons too and this is also true of fertility,” says Orton.

“Sebring has good fertility and he covers a lot of mares. Pluck is a very fertile horse as well and, with partners in New Zealand, we stood Perfectly Ready and he was always really good too, so they have all inherited that, which is obviously a massive help.” But while Orton, and indeed the staff at Vinery Stud, never cease to be amazed by the colossal imprint the 21-year-old sire continues to have on the Australian breeding industry, the whole team cannot hide the affection they have for the horse and also the impact he has had on the stud. “He’s what Vinery is,” says Orton. “When you get stallions like that they become the cornerstone of your farm. “He’s not only done so much for the industry but for us as a farm. We all here at Vinery owe him a great debt of gratitude and it’s nice for us to see him continuing to live a very happy and active life.”

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Inglis director Jonathan D’Arcy (holding gavel) in full auctioneering flow

easier it gets, and if you’re in the same position you get to know people’s mannerisms and you notice a slight change and that they might be interested in the horse,” he says. “When you’re bid-spotting and you’re looking at a whole range of people, there’s probably only certain people who are going to bid [so you are focusing on them]. At the end of the day, if someone wants to bid they’ll make themselves known.”

Tim Rowe talks to Inglis’s Chris Russell about the high-octane experience of selling in new surroundings

HE sudden murmur that sweeps across the auditorium as a yearling’s price hits seven figures is an adrenaline rush like no other for thoroughbred auctioneers who call the shots as parties pair off to bid for their chosen specimen, with the prices often going up in frightening numbers. The auctioneer controls the mood of the room and the speed of the drama unfolding before them, much like the conductor of an orchestra, with the tension felt by all observing the play unfolding before them. Along with the trusty bid-spotters, the auctioneer can often extract an extra bid or two from buyers and the mental strain required often leaves them drained at the end of the day.

What it is like to orchestrate proceedings from the rostrum Inglis’s New South Wales bloodstock manager Chris Russell says preparation is the key to being able to maintain composure and ensure the sale flows as smoothly as possible. “It’s definitely an adrenaline rush, particularly at Easter,

when you get up and start selling horses for seven figures,” Russell says. “When you start saying the word ‘million’ the whole crowd stops and looks on. “That gets the heart pumping, the silence and

waiting for the next bid to come through. It definitely gets the adrenaline going.” The rapport the auctioneer has with the bid-spotters is also vital to the success of the selling process at a sale. “The more sales you do, the

USSELL says the bid-spotters and auctioneers had taken a lot from the experience of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, the first held at the new venue. “The Saturday night at the Classic was a baptism of fire. You didn’t know where certain people were going to be bidding from and there were so many people there after the races having a drink and waving their arms, it’s certainly trying,” he recalls. “The bid-spotters were great. If someone held a bid they made them aware that they were holding a bid and therefore they

could communicate with the auctioneer on who held bids at all times. “We went in there knowing it was going to be a tricky sale for our first one, but it worked well.” Inglis will rotate four auctioneers throughout a day at the Easter Sale, with up to 200 lots catalogued on any one session across three days, an arduous test of stamina for those on the rostrum. “We’ll do roughly 20 lots each, which is about two minutes per horse, so you’re up on the rostrum for 40 minutes and it’s pretty taxing, not only physically but mentally as well,” Russell says. On the new venue, he concludes: “We had the hurdle of it being multi-purpose, so it can be used for things like conferences, concerts and weddings, so getting the balance right was going to be the trick, but in terms of selling from it I found at the Classic that it was really good to sell at. “It takes a bit to get used to with the bidding galleries up the top and selling to the seating areas. It also takes a bit of time to get used to where the buyers are situated and where they like to bid from. But there’s no doubting it’s a great venue.”

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE

‘Invader is just huge for us. That’s A-league for us now’ Aquis Farm breaks new ground with this year’s Easter draft. Jack Keene talks to the operation’s CEO Shane McGrath

N JUST three short years since the Fung family established Aquis Farm in Queensland, the operation has grown exponentially and emerged as a powerhouse in the Australian bloodstock industry. In 2017 Aquis branched out into the Hunter Valley when taking over the management of the historic Emirates Park in Murrurundi, the farm behind such Group 1 winners as Secret Savings (Seeking The Gold), Al Maher (Danehill) and Mossfun (Mossman). Almost a year on from this significant investment, Aquis will offer its first-ever consignment at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale at the state-of-the-art Riverside Stables in Warwick Farm, with the entire draft reared in the Hunter Valley. For the management team at Aquis Farm, the offering of a New South Wales-raised draft at the sale is another big moment in the operation’s short but impressive history. “This will be the first Aquis draft that has been reared at our Hunter Valley property, so it’s a significant milestone,” says Aquis CEO Shane McGrath. “It signifies and showcases our emergence on a national level. We have grown out and our stud manager Tony Scott and operations manager Garry Isaac have been responsible for a number of our achievements. “We’re extremely proud that in a short time we’ve grown into a two-state operation.”

McGrath views the acquisition of Emirates Park as a landmark moment for Aquis Farm and believes the move has proven to be beneficial for both parties, with Aquis standing reverse shuttler Divine Prophet (Choisir) and Kiss And Make Up (More Than Ready) at the NSW property. “We acquired the Emirates Park property last year. Emirates are the landlord, we are the tenant, and we’re also custodians of their bloodstock interests, so it’s very much a partnership and the synergies are there for both of us,” McGrath says. “It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement and to be able to utilise a farm such as Emirates, with the history and tradition and quality of stock, it’s a huge endorsement of what Aquis is trying to achieve. “We took on the management of the Emirates Park stallions and brought in our own freshman in Divine Prophet, who is currently up in Ireland and has been well received, and Kiss And Make Up. “Both were well supported in their first year. It’s always daunting when you launch new stallions, particularly when you’re a new farm with a new base, but we will be eternally grateful for the support we received rom the breeders in the Hunter Valley, and it shows they acknowledge the impact it has made on a buying level.”

New boy a game-changer Aquis will add another exciting name to its stallion roster this year with champion two-year-old Invader (Snitzel) due to embark on his stud career in the spring. The colt was raced by a partnership including Aquis and won the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr1, 1400m) last season, and the farm will stand him in partnership with Phoenix Thoroughbreds. McGrath believes that securing Invader, a half-brother to Group 2-winning sprinter Notlistenin’tome (Dylan

Thomas), was a significant fillip for Aquis. “He’s huge for us. That’s A-league for us now. He’s by arguably the best stallion we’ve seen since Danehill in Snitzel,” McGrath says. “We raced Invader in partnership and we were fortunate to win a Group 1 with him and he was retired as Snitzel’s highest-rated two-year-old ever. “We have Phoenix on board as partners in the horse and it just goes to show you where the industry and the market has progressed to in Australia, with the likes of Aquis and Phoenix securing such a high-profile freshman stallion.”

Pierro colts to the fore Focusing on the yearlings at hand, Aquis will offer a total of 17 at the sale, and McGrath is expecting three colts by Coolmore stallion Pierro (Lonhro) to prove popular with buyers. The first of the trio is lot 42, a colt out of the winning sprinter Bellvue Girl (Exceed And Excel), herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Sugar Babe. His second dam is the multiple Group 2 winner On Type (Zeditave), and McGrath said the September-foaled colt is an impressive physical specimen. “The Pierro colt out of Bellvue Girl is a homebred of Aquis’s and he’s an outstanding colt,” he says. “He’s as good a colt as you’re going to see out of an Exceed And Excel mare. He’s by a horse in Pierro who was obviously a champion two-year-old himself and as a stallion he’s quickly proven himself.” McGrath was also positive about lot 92, who is out of the placed Street Cry

Aquis Farm will offer the first yearlings reared at its Hunter Valley base at Easter, including three colts by Pierro (top, from left lots 42, 92 and 423) and a son of Shooting To Win (lot 128)

(Machiavellian) mare Delphic from the family of multiple Group 1 winners Lonhro (Octagonal) and Niello (Octagonal). Aquis will also offer lot 423, a Pierro colt out of the stakes place-getter Valoura (Exceed And Excel). “We have three Pierros in the draft. The Delphic colt, as well as the Bellvue Girl colt, are both as good a representation as you’ll find from that stallion,” McGrath says. “They’ve all been bred in the Hunter Valley and are

‘Generally, Australian breeders sell their best and recycle the money back into the market’ Aquis Farm CEO Shane McGrath

testament to the system we have going at Aquis.” There are several other colts who catch the eye in the Aquis draft, none more so than lot 225, a colt by first-crop stallion Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) out of a winning half-sister to gun three-year-old colt Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock). The October-foaled chestnut is also from the same family as Group 1 winner Bonaria (Redoute’s Choice) and Group 2 winner Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock), and McGrath said the colt had the looks to match his page. “He’s got the Emirates brand on him, he’s a lovely horse with a very current pedigree,” McGrath says. “He’s strong, he’s mature. He’s flashy and has a nice action, he’s a lovely style of a horse. “It’s an honour to be presenting him and the other Emirates horses when you think of the horses who have been produced with that brand before. He’s a beauty.” Aquis will also be hoping to tap into the I Am Invincible

(Invincible Spirit) gold mine during the Easter Yearling Sale, with the farm set to offer one yearling by the Yarraman Park-based stallion. Lot 128 is the ninth foal out of the 2002 Reisling Slipper Trial Stakes (Gr2, 1200m) winner Fatoon (Snaadee), herself a sister to Group 2 winner Adeewin and a half-sister to another Group 2 scorer Mutawaajid (Redoute’s Choice). The September-foaled colt is a half-brother to the 2012 Epsom Handicap (Gr1, 1600m) winner Fat Al (Al Maher). “He’s out of a very fast mare. The beauty of I Am Invincible is that you get fast two-year-olds and you get three-year-olds but they’re also great quality,” says McGrath. “They have enough action for Australian buyers and they seem to go on all ground. It’s remarkable in Australia the number of stallions who can go from a low level to where they are now.” Other notable yearlings include lot 176, an Exceed And Excel (Danehill) colt from

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the family of Group 1 winners Erupt (Dubawi), I Am A Star (I Am Invincible) and Aube Indienne (Bluebird); lot 217, a Dissident (Sebring) three-quarter sister to Group 2 winner Bring Me The Maid (Sebring) from the family of Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr1, 1200m) winner Polar Success (Success Express); and lot 321, a filly by first-crop sire Wandjina (Snitzel) who is a three-quarter sister to dual

Group 3 winner Sweet Redemption (Snitzel). “The draft is a good mix. We’re probably focusing more on quality rather than quantity on the purchasing side and trying to purchase stallion prospects, but we’re 100 per cent committed to selling any of our stock who are suitable for sale,” McGrath says. “There’s nothing being hidden in the paddocks, what we breed is what we sell, and

that provides us with the capital to reinvest. This is probably a natural evolution for the business. As we’ve acquired better mares, their progeny are destined for the better sales. “Aquis as a group, along with our partners, have built a strong broodmare band and around 100 of those went to the leading commercial stallions. We need to be selling at Easter and Magic Millions.”

Competitive buying bench expected THE Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale failed to follow the trend of the year with some underwhelming results at Oaklands Junction, but McGrath is expecting the Easter Sale to prove a completely different proposition. McGrath praised the work of Inglis in promoting the sale as an international event, and he says he is anticipating that the market and the buying bench will be as strong as ever.

“Easter is almost an isolated market. It’s unique with the international buying bench and Inglis do a terrific job with the promotion,” McGrath says. “It has been a key sale in the international calendar now for a number of years and the success rate out of it ensures international buyers will turn up. The facilities at the new Riverside Stables are world class, and the catalogue is the crème de la crème of Australian breeding.

“It’s where our best horses are heading and you’ll find that is repeated with other farms all the way through the catalogue. The beauty about Australia, particularly with fillies, is that you can buy into the best Australian families. “Generally, Australian breeders sell their best and recycle the money back into the market, so that helps the buoyancy. The prize-money is so strong, the incentive schemes are there, it’s such an attractive place to race.”

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INGLIS AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE SIRE STATISTICS

Stallion

*Figures in A$

Year to stud

2015 2017 2017 2017 service fee sold average* median*

A$0

2014

A$13,750

93,536

78,483

Foxwedge

2012

A$27,500 70 81,064 62,500

61,736

48,000

Frankel

2013

67,291

46,000

Guillotine

2009

NZ$7,000 7 21,882 15,641

NZ$7,000

A$18,700

47,350

35,000

Hallowed Crown

2015

A$33,000

A$27,500

A$44,000

45 131,852 137,785

Helmet

2012

A$33,000 40 48,721 40,200

A$16,500 17 48,917 37,500

Hinchinbrook

2011

A$16,500 73 105,346 92,500

A$38,500 58 126,241 127,500

Holy Roman Emperor

2007

A$22,000

Husson

2007

A$13,200 17 24,419 23,500

A$13,200 17 59,399 53,000

I Am Invincible

2010

A$55,000 116 258,063 207,500

A$55,000

56,130 52,000

A$16,500

35,461

All Too Hard

2013

A$55,000

93 120,326 99,260

A$55,000

Animal Kingdom

2013

A$33,000

75,796 45,000

A$27,500

Artie Schiller

2007

A$13,200

69,741 67,000

A$22,000

Bel Esprit

2003

A$18,700

54,496 40,950

Brazen Beau

2015

A$44,000

Charge Forward

2005

A$16,500

25 19

31,860 17,000

A$11,000

63,394 62,500

A$11,000

A$29,700 55 100,227 71,000

11,542 63,307

8,500 67,500

Choisir

2003

Cougar Power

2011

Danbird

2005

Dawn Approach

2014

A$27,500

68,019 42,000

A$22,000

87,279

70,000

Declaration Of War

2014

A$24,750

51,650 41,000

A$16,500

69,532

66,000

Deep Field

2015

A$22,000

Deep Impact

2007

Delago Deluxe

2013

A$11,000

39,187 30,500

A$11,000

30,833

41,500

Dissident

2015

A$38,500

Dream Ahead

2012

A$27,500

Dundeel

2014

A$27,500 53 131,779 102,250

A$27,500

35 101,291 98,604

Epaulette

2014

A$27,500 69 73,267 64,500

A$22,000 45 73,530 55,000 Mulaazem

Epiphaneia

2015

Eurozone

2014

Exceed And Excel

2004

Excelebration

2013

A$2,000 0

0 53

A$13,750 69 33,036 21,500 35 401,922 370,000

A$16,500 20 39,279 31,000

The new Riverside complex (and on subsequent pages) has already received a big thumbs-up from sales-goers

A$0 0

0 Into Mischief

79 307,712 262,500 42

A$0

63,661 63,000

A$13,750

2009

Kendargent

2008

0 0

Lonhro

2004

A$9,900

50,000 75,000 0

A$88,000 19 196,582 252,500

59,307

45,750

A$22,000 48 94,836 77,000

3 602,412 728,618 0

53 311,803 275,570

74,459

0 56,000

10 106,865 115,000 63 390,130 360,000 1

30,000

0 0 A$88,000

45,000

7 249,448 177,500

Lord Kanaloa

2014

1 375,000 562,500

Malibu Moon

2000

32,500 22,500

Manhattan Rain

2010

A$16,500

69,863 41,500

A$16,500

A$33,000 84 145,701 130,000 Medaglia Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Oro

2005

A$110,000

56 213,288 126,250

A$110,000

8 147,634 101,073