News

EASTER RECORDS TUMBLE IN FLYING FINALE

11th Apr 2007

No sale has ever scaled such phenomenal heights as those reached at the 2007 William Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. With an outstanding total gross of $148,215,000 for 445 lots sold, and a pleasing 81.1% clearance, the final result achieved today clearly eclipsed last years gross of $117,130,000 for 406 lots. The median price reached $200,000 up by 11.1% on last year. The average price achieved was $332,545 up 15% on last year’s average price of $288,497 ($373,466 in today’s session alone).

In the end a record total of 23 yearlings sold for seven figure sums, 14 of these in today’s session alone, bettering last years overall tally of 14 Lots. Such was the aura around the final day’s offering that the gross of the final session almost equalled that of the first two days.

Accordingly, the overall sale clearance rate today zoomed to an impressive 81.1% after a somewhat fractious start. The sheer strength of this third session drove a number of buyers to re-investigate the passed in lots from days one and two.

The first lot of the day was a signal of what was to come when lot 348, the Fusaichi Pegasus filly from a Group placed sister to champion sire, Redoute’s Choice was knocked down to leading bloodstock agent John Foote for $1million. This was a unique offering at any sale worldwide and one of the rare opportunities to buy such a close relation to Redoute’s Choice. Purchasing the filly on behalf of Makybe Diva’s owner, Tony Santic, John Foote said the filly was an outstanding type with a great pedigree and will obviously have enormous residual value as a broodmare.

It was strongly mooted pre-sale that Darley would have a significant presence at Easter and the international powerhouse didn’t disappoint, weighing in with six million dollar plus purchases via John Ferguson, including two $2,100,000 buys in the space of four lots (Lots 466 and 470), after having earlier in the day gone to $2,000,000 for Lot 412. All three are by ground-breaking sire, Redoute’s Choice, with Ferguson stating that the Arrowfield-based son of Danehill is “simply world class”. By the final hammer fall, John Ferguson had signed for 14 lots at a gross of $14,290,000 and average of $1,020,714.
Commenting on his Redoute’s ‘choices’, Ferguson stated that they were all very athletic with wonderful pedigrees and “ticked all the right boxes”. He added that Darley Australia is “committed to the future of the thoroughbred industry in this country and would continue to purchase such outstanding breeding prospects from an internationally ranked catalogue”.

Woodlands Stud whose 25 purchases grossed $15,485,000 over the three days, finished with a $2,200,000 outlay for Lot 564 the Encosta de Lago filly from Danehill mare Twyla. The Newmarket sales ring has certainly been a happy hunting ground for the all-conquering Woodlands whose purchases from this sale last year include STC Golden Slipper-G1 winner Forensics, AJC Sires’ Produce-G1 heroine Camarilla, STC Silver Slipper-G2 flyer Shaft and Listed winner Pistols, plus the stakes performed Switchblade.

William Inglis Acting Managing Director, Jamie Inglis, was “over the moon” with the record figures attained by his company’s ‘flagship’, but also focussed on the resultant benefits for the industry at large: “To achieve such a huge result is marvellous for our vendors, who are to be congratulated for presenting their yearlings in such great order. I’ve lost count of the number of leading buyers who have told me that the athletes on offer at Easter have been second to none and the statistics obviously reflect that assessment.

“The number of million dollar plus yearlings sold puts Easter on a relative scale to ANY sale in the world. However, the most pleasing aspect is the diversity of the buying bench with solid competition from the United Kingdom, USA, Ireland, Europe, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Japan and Hong Kong. It’s indicative of the esteem in which the Australian thoroughbred is held and will have long-term ramifications for our breeding industry.

“Still, it was the incredible contribution from local buyers coming to the fore that really lifted the sale to such an unbelievable level. I truly thought that with the extra 100 or so lots that we would struggle to maintain the average, so this result is truly remarkable.”

The Australian Weanling Sale commences at 12 noon on Sunday 15th April followed by five days of Broodmare action.

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE WILL BE AVAILABLE TOMORROW.