News

Historic Easter Sale ends on a high

8th Apr 2020

The hammer this evening came down on a memorable Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, arguably its most remarkable in the firm’s 153-year history.

In what has been a most extraordinary two days of trade – the first ever Easter Yearling Sale held in a virtual format restricted solely to online and telephone bidding:

*Seven horses sold for $1m or more, headed by a Snitzel x First Seal colt (lot 447) which realised $1.8m for Sledmere Stud, selling to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier

*There have been almost 300,000 engagements on the Inglis website from more than 100 countries as, in a world first, the sale took on a virtual format

*Coolmore flexed its industry muscle, claiming both leading buyer and leading vendor honours

*The sale average of $318,040 was only mildly down on last year, despite the global health and financial crisis’ everybody is experiencing at present.

The Snitzel x First Seal sale-topping moment reduced Sledmere’s Royston and Treen Murphy to tears.

“We’re quite emotional here. It’s a great result, we’re delighted, absolutely delighted,’’ Royston said, wiping away tears.

“It’s a lot of hard work by a lot of people to get to these days. It’s just a huge result, a great result for our clients China Horse Club who have been a big supporter of ours for years.

“It’s great for our staff and everybody involved.’’

Magnier and the Coolmore team visited the colt several times in the week leading into Easter, and there was a common feeling among the group.

“Sledmere really had the horse looking fantastic and everyone at Coolmore really loved the colt,’’ Magnier said of the spectacular type (pictured).

“To be fair to Inglis, they made the week possible so that all the top buyers could access the sale, and they did. When you got to a horse like this, you knew all the top buyers were on him because Inglis had created the platform to allow that to be possible so we knew he wasn’t going to go cheap.’’

Day 2 started with a bang when the second yearling ‘into the ring’ – an I Am Invincible x Twilight Royale colt of Kia Ora Stud – sold to Magnier for $1.4m, making him the second-top lot of the sale.

Kia Ora’s Andrew Perryman said: “It’s great to get him sold in such uncertain times. We’re so happy for him to be going to Coolmore where he’ll get a great opportunity and hopefully become a stallion.

“He’s such an easy-going horse, he’ll take to racing in his stride and I hope they have great success with him.’’

It capped off a huge two days for Coolmore, with Tom Magnier signing for eight lots which sees him finish the sale as leading buyer at $6,895,000.

Coolmore also grossed $7,530,000 as sellers to be leading vendor.

“We’re extremely passionate, our family is passionate about Australian racing and we’ve got some wonderful people who invest with us working with the yearlings and the stallions,’’ Magnier said.

“The economy is obviously going through a tough time at the moment but if there’s a place that we believe in, it’s Australia. We think the future is in Australia and we’re delighted to be a part of it.

“There have been some wonderful horses put through the sale this week.

“It's a credit to all the farms, not just ours, that everyone stuck together. Everyone did a great job getting their horses right, everyone got behind Inglis, everyone believed in it and made it work and when you put those formulas together, you get success.

“To our staff at Coolmore, they’ve worked harder than ever, weekends, hours they’ve never worked before to help us sell these horses and we owe them an enormous amount of credit.

“Normally they get to go to the sales and lead the horses around the ring but this time they didn’t but we’re very proud of them, as all the farms would be of their staff.’’

Today was also a significant one for Segenhoe Stud, who sold three of the top five lots of the day.

At the conclusion of the 2020 Easter Yearling Sale, the average is $318,040 with a median of $250,000 and gross of $68,060,500.

Buyers purchased yearlings from all around the world including Ireland, Japan, Macau, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and of course Australia and New Zealand.

The leading sire was I Am invincible grossing $14,215,000 from 27 lots sold at an average of $526,481, while Deep Impact’s average of $536,667 saw him finish the sale as best average for three or more sold.

“This has been the most remarkable sale on so many levels,’’ Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster said.

“Not only has it been the first premium Yearling Sale anywhere in the world conducted in this format, it has been done during a global health and financial crisis with restrictive movements internationally and between states in Australia, making it hard and in many cases impossible for buyers to inspect stock in the lead-up to the sale.

“But with fantastic teamwork and solidarity between our vendors and Inglis, we have been able to make this work.

“We are extremely appreciative of our vendors for sticking with us and I feel confident they have been rewarded beyond their expectations in many instances and while the clearance rate does not properly reflect how the sale has run or the quality of the stock, restrictions made it very hard for some farms but they will now have the chance to sell through Easter Round 2 here at Riverside on July 5.

“I must also mention the support of Ardex Technology, who provided the software solutions for our online bidding services but who also provide for trainers and breeders and are a critical part of our industry globally.

“And finally to the general public for their phenomenal support in the lead-up and during this sale, for the huge viewership and support of our Sale Day Live coverage and of course to Caroline Searcy, an industry legend who has helped bring this sale to the world under the most trying of circumstances.’’

Easter Round 2 will be held as a physical sale at Riverside on Sunday July 5 – pending restrictions surrounding the Coronavirus - for yearlings that were passed in these past two days, as well as those who chose to bypass this week’s virtual action and head straight to the physical sale.

To enquire about any of the passed in lots from the past two days, CLICK HERE.