Exciting new sires Home Affairs and Stay Inside will take to a new stage in their stud careers alongside proven counterparts such as Zoustar, I Am Invincible and Written Tycoon at a quality-packed Inglis Ready2Race Sale.
With an increased representation of fillies, Inglis has assembled a strong catalog of 222 2-year-olds for its burgeoning breeze-up sale, to be held at Riverside two days before The Everest (G1) Oct. 16.
As the buzz grows about Home Affairs' first 2-year-olds in their early preparations, Coolmore's young stallion will have six first-crop offspring ready to race in the sale, with four colts, one gelding, and a filly.
Newgate Farm's Golden Slipper (G1) winner Stay Inside has a filly and two colts, one of the latter a son of ATC Oaks (G1) heroine—and the last horse to beat Winx—Gust Of Wind, offered from the draft of Hanover Lodge.
Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said he was delighted with the depth and diversity of the catalog, saying its quality reflected the increasing strength of the sale since its inception in 2013, especially in the past few years.
Recent graduates include dual group 1 winner Nettoyer plus group winners Libertad, Forgot You, Democracy Manifest, and Lightsaber.
The Ready2Race sale has also experienced change in recent years in attracting more interest from domestic buyers, alongside the traditionally strong business from Asian investors, with their emphasis on purchasing male horses.
Reflecting that shift is a greater representation of fillies this year.
Signature Scent—who's now won two out of three races for Ciaron Maher—created a sale record last year in being bought back by breeders Yulong from Baystone Farm for AU$1 million.
But what escaped a lot of notice in the excitement around her sale was that she was in fact the only filly sold at the auction, with six entered, three withdrawn, and two passed in.
While 11 fillies were sold at the auction in 2023, this year 25 fillies have been cataloged, including six in the 19-lot draft offered by Dean Harvey's Baystone. That's the largest draft entered for the sale by the Victorian farm, which heavily targets the breeze-up market each year with training partner Troy Corstens.
The success of last year's sale of Signature Scent--bought from Yulong for just AU$200,000 six months earlier at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale—has partly inspired Baystone's greater push for breeze-up fillies for this year's edition.
"Last year was good to us, and we've bought some really nice fillies this year," Harvey told ANZ News.
Inglis said the Ready2Race sale had provided almost 800 individual winning graduates since 2016 at an average earning-per-runner of AU$111,069—some 35% higher than its nearest rival.
"The timing is a significant positive for the sale, two days before the Everest," said Hutch, adding the presence of Hong Kong star Ka Ying Rising in the AU$20 million sprint was a bonus.
"It's a fantastic time to be in Sydney, so I think there's going to be fantastic engagement with the sale, from Hong Kong-based buyers for one thing."
