Buyers eye bumper catalogue of prized yearlings

A $100m sale is expected at the Inglis Easter sale starting on Tuesday where all eyes will be on the last of the yearlings sired by renowned stallion Redoute’s Choice.

Strapper Jordie Pryor, 24, from Torryburn stud in the Hunter Valley, with a Miss Interiors/ Capitalist yearling entered in the Inglis Easter sales. Picture: Britta Campion

The Inglis Easter sales are expected to top $100m as demand for premium race horses remains strong and international visitors endure hotel quarantine to attend the event in person.

All eyes will be on the last of the yearlings sired by renowned stallion Redoute’s Choice in the sales that begin on Tuesday.

The state-of-the-art centre at Warwick Farm was brimming again with buyers and trainers previewing the prized yearlings at the Easter weekend.

A bumper catalogue of 466 yearlings has been prepped for sale in what is set to be a strong auction if the success of Queensland’s Magic Millions in January is anything to go by.

Fifth-generation bloodstock agent Arthur Inglis said demand for premium race horses had been strong, despite an initial spook when the COVID pandemic first hit. “People were very concerned last year, and now they feel they’ve got through all of that and come out the other side and now people feel they can have some fun,” Mr Inglis said.

“You could speculate that one of the reasons for the strong demand has been people aren’t able to travel overseas, and people are spending more money on houses, boats, cars and horses.”

Coronavirus restrictions turned last year’s Easter sale virtual, and 150 horses were withdrawn after border restrictions limited interstate travel.

In the end, no horses were ­paraded in the ring; instead, Inglis arranged a televised live-auction where bidders could watch the auctioneer sell each lot consecutively while prerecorded videos of the horse played alongside.

“We couldn’t have the horses because it would have necessitated the presence of a lot of hand­lers, but we still wanted to have that moment where you could watch the auctioneer put the hammer down,” Mr Inglis said.

Despite the upheaval, the ­average price was $305,000, with a top sale of $1.8m.

All eyes this year will be on the last crop of Redoute’s Choice, who died in 2019. In his 22 years, he was renowned as one of the most influential stallions in the southern hemisphere, siring 39 Group 1 winners.

Yarraman Park Stud has the largest number of entries, with 10 sired by stallion I Am Invincible, which has more than $54m in prizemoney to his name.

Despite coronavirus travel restrictions impeding some international buyers from attending the sale, Mr Inglis said a few keen buyers had “bit the bullet” and completed hotel quarantine so they could attend.

This week’s sale is bittersweet for 24-year old strapper Jordie Pryor, who will have to say goodbye to the five horses she has cared for since they were born.

“We do everything to raise them until they are sold as race horses,” Ms Pryor said. “We are on call to be ready to assist them during birth, and then do all the normal horse maintenance like feeding, checking in on them, teaching them to lead and getting them rugged up over night.”

Preparation for the sale ramps up three months before, where the horses are primed and prepped to ensure they in the best condition for the event.

“You do get a bit attached to them but you try not to at the end of the day,” she said. “It’s rewarding to be part of the whole process, to watch the mares breeding, bringing them up and then follow them when they’re racing.”

Inglis communications manager Peter Fitzgerald said horseracing had remained relatively unscathed during the pandemic.

“Racing is the only sport that hasn’t stopped; I don’t think they lost a single race meeting,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “For a while it was the only sport to watch when ­people were stuck at home. I think it’s helped people become more engaged with the industry.”