A strong buying depth and broad international participation underpinned a buoyant day's trade at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale at Riverside Stables Oct. 16, making it a record-breaking edition of the 2-year-old auction in Sydney.
The session was headlined by the Hunter's Lodge-consigned Toronado colt out of Baccarat Baby (Casino Prince), who became the highest-priced colt sold at the sale when Hermitage Thoroughbreds went to AU$900,000 (US$583,443, AU$1=US$0.65) to secure the youngster.
A total of 122 lots sold for a record AU$19.05 million (US$12,319,991)—up from AU$15.6 million in 2024 and eclipsing the previous record by more than AU$2.3 million.
A record 64 lots realized AU$100,000 or more, while 39 sold for more than AU$200,000, producing a clearance rate of 75%, up from 64% last year. The auction returned an average of AU$156,180 (US$101,334) and a median of AU$100,000 (US$64,885), matching last year's benchmark on a day vendors widely described as solid and well-supported across all levels of the market.
"We said before that we were the best prepared we'd ever been," Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch told ANZ News.
"We felt we were in a good spot to run as good a sale as we could, and I'm certainly pleased with the metrics. I think it's been, on the whole, a positive day."
Hutch said the depth of quality among this year's catalog had been reflected in the strength of competition, particularly at the top end of the market, underlining the increasing professionalism of vendors, many of whom now plan specifically around the Ready2Race format.
"I felt like we had great depth amongst the buyers at the top end," he said.
"We feel like we lament this sale every year, that we just don't feel like we have enough horses to satisfy the demand from people at that top quartile, and it's probably the best group we've had for this sale. I think there are plenty of people making money today."
Hunter's Lodge first draft delivers dream result with Toronado top lot
Much was made of Lot 188 before he entered the ring. The colt had clocked the fastest breeze of the sale at a slick :10.05, doing so with apparent ease and backing it up with both pedigree and presence.
Out of a group 3-winning mare and half sister to multiple group 1 winner Duais and recent The Roses (G2) winner Philia, the colt duly delivered a dream result from the first ever draft of Cade Hunter and Liam Ruddy's Hunter's Lodge, returning AU$650,000 on their AU$250,000 Inglis Easter investment and topping the sale.
"It couldn't feel any better to be honest, it couldn't have gone any better," Ruddy said. "The whole draft has sold really well, it's been a good clearance rate and everybody is getting a good return on investment so we're really, really over the moon.
"We had the reserve at $400,000 so when the bidding opened at $400,000, that was just the best feeling, we took a deep breath and after that it was just fun.
"To have a judge like Guy (Mulcaster) buy a horse off us, we're stoked. It's unbelievable that Caspar (Fownes) was desperate to have the horse, he loved him. I guess it's a real credit to us that those sorts of judges want to buy a horse off us and hopefully we can find another one for them next year."
Hermitage agent Guy Mulcaster, who is also the main talent scout for trainer Chris Waller, said: "He really stood out.
"We identified him from the breeze-ups and then we saw him physically and he matched his breeze so it was a no-brainer for the Hermitage team to have a look at a horse like that, and they saw him this morning for the first time and loved him. It was a great result for them.
"When you saw him physically you could see there was a fair bit of improvement in him too so it worked out well."
Hunter's Lodge sold half of their eight lots for a combined AU$1,256,000, another highlight pinhook result coming when its AU$14,000 Inglis Premier purchase by Rubick out of Written Tycoon mare Aqueous made AU$160,000.
"I'm speechless," Cade Hunter said. "The result for the draft as a whole has just been unbelievable for our first year. It's overwhelming, we appreciate the support from everyone."
Eugene Chuang proved a major presence in the buyer ranks, signing for six lots worth a combined AU$2.585 million.
"The stock was very well prepared," Mulcaster said of the catalog as a whole. "When they're buying them at Easter or Melbourne etc, some of them are really nice horses that we already had notes on and they've all gone forward and I think their preparation for this sale is a testament to the vendors. There's so many people here."
Hutch added: "It was great to have Mr. Chuang here. He's been a very good patron of Inglis for a long time and had incredible success, both domestically and internationally. He's had a lot of success with yearlings from Inglis, and he came here and bought a number of nice horses today. He bought horses for which there was tremendous competition."
Chuang's Hermitage Thoroughbreds also signed the docket for the second top-lot, a son of I Am Invincible consigned by Crossley Thoroughbreds who sold for AU$675,000.
The colt breezed in :11.07 and is bred in the purple, being out of winning Exceed And Excel mare Maroon Bay, a half sister to group 1 winner turned sire Merchant Navy and Jolie Bay, the dam of multiple group 1 winner Joliestar, who will shoot for The Everest (G1) glory Oct. 18.
