News

Inglis Responds To Unprecedented Breeder Support For 2008 Yearling Sales

21st Oct 2007

The recently announced changes to the timing of the Inglis 2008 yearling sale's to be conducted in Melbourne and Sydney have been met with such high approval by breeders that additional sessions have been added to both sales to accommodate the record entries that are still being received.

The Australian Easter Yearling Sale and Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale will both now have Part 2 sessions to accommodate the needs of vendors. The Classic Yearling Sale will now follow on from Easter Part 2 (Full details and dates are below).

Inglis recognises the importance of adequate spacing between the major yearling sales for vendors. The revised format has provided a much welcomed gap of eight weeks between Premier and Easter, allowing breeder's to target both sales with no overlap of yearling preparations.

"We understand the logistics and operations of a typical stud and appreciate that key staff should ideally be present throughout the entire preparation to ensure yearlings look their best at sale time" commented Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster. " Secondly, our sales coincide with the major racing carnivals in both Sydney and Melbourne, which ensures buyers will already be in town during our sales. In particular, trainers don’t have to go out of their way to attend our sales. Vendors have picked up on this pretty quickly."

Jonathan D’Arcy, Inglis director of auctions commented, "There have been numerous requests from breeders in recent weeks for Easter to include a select Part 2 session to accommodate their entire yearling crops and allow them to focus on one sale, similar to the grading used during the successful Keeneland sales in Kentucky. Easter Part 2 will comprise two evening sessions for select yearlings that are marginally below that normally accepted at Easter. Noting the top price at Classic earlier this year was $350,000, a limited number of the top quality entries for Classic will be given the opportunity to switch to the Easter Part 2 session. Part 2 yearlings will be stabled for three full days before being sold to allow adequate time for inspection. Classic session yearlings will now be sold over two full days and will also be stabled for three days before entering the sale ring.”

Two additional selling days have also been added to the 2008 Melbourne Premier Yearling sale, to be known as Premier Part 2. This is not the first time a Part 2 session has been held in Melbourne. Earlier this year the Part 2 session achieved an average of just over $30,000 and a top price of $125,000. Peter Heagney, Inglis director overseeing Victorian operations commented that, “With the quality of entries received so far, the resilience of Victorian racing and Premier being the first yearling sale for 2008, it’s a good opportunity for vendors to sell well conformed early types.”

Following weeks of consultation and feedback from both breeders and buyers the revised sales dates for 2008 Melbourne Premier and Easter sales are as follows:

The strength of the Melbourne buying bench cannot be overlooked with Victorian based buyers investing over $85 million in yearlings throughout Australasia last year. Furthermore, Melbourne attracted strong international participation at the top end from South Africa and Hong Kong in 2007.

Mark Webster said, "Melbourne is home to some of the country's biggest yearling buyers and the racing thus far has been unaffected. Those connections will be in a position to reinvest in the yearling market in March. The Victorian Government has also been extremely co-operative and are assisting us to lift the profile of the Melbourne Premier Sale, further develop the Victorian breeding industry and grow export markets."

With Victorian racing remaining EI free and Melbourne Premier commencing the major sales season, vendors have supported it strongly. Furthermore Melbourne graduates such as Weekend Hussler and leading Hong Kong International Sprint contender Sacred Kingdom emphasise the quality that emerges from the sale. South Australia's Mill Park, who raised the winners of four Group Ones in recent weeks, are amongst vendors who have drafts entered for Premier for the first time, in addition to Easter.

The entry fee for Premier Part 2 will be $900 plus GST. The entry fee for Easter Part 2 will be $1600 plus GST. Inglis bloodstock staff will be in touch with vendors over the coming weeks to finalise entries. Breeders interested in the new sessions should contact Inglis this week. Revised dates for other sales in 2008 will be released soon.