By Les Young , Acting Executive Officer, Thoroughbred Breeders NSW Ltd
The catalogue for the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale has a well deserved international reputation for bringing together the best of the best each year but the 2017 auction on April 4, 5 and 6 in Sydney is arguably the most select ever with 480 of the finest youngsters to be offered.
It will truly be a sale to remember as it is staged in Inglis’s 150th year in business and will be the last Easter sale at their historic Randwick stables which are being relocated to an even better facility at Warwick Farm racecourse.
Featured will be no fewer than 129 siblings to stakes winners including 39 Group 1 winners such as Flying Artie,Extreme Choice, Divine Prophet, Hong Kong champion Able Friend, Abbey Marie, English, Preferment, champion Dundeel, Star Witness, Shooting To Win, Honk Kong star Werther, Cox Plate winner Shamus Award and the outstanding filly Yankee Rose.
British racing great Frankel (Galileo) will have three colts on offer, three times champion US sire Tapit also has three lots listed to sell and there are single lots by leading European sires Sea The Stars and Shamardal, a former shuttler to Australia.
On paper, two of the Frankel colts could be contenders for top priced honours following Frankel’s strong debut with his first Northern Hemisphere runners in 2016.
Lot 102 is a half-brother to stakes winners Fenway and War, now at stud in Victoria, from the wonderful Denise’s Joy family of Tuesday Joy, Sunday Joy, More Joyous and Don’t Doubt Mamma.
The other Frankel colt with an exciting pedigree is Lot 292 from stakes winner Precious Lorraine (Encosta de Lago), a member of the family of three times champion sire Redoute’s Choice.
While these overseas-conceived yearlings will be keenly sought after many buyers will be even more interested in acquiring a son or daughter of the best, proven Australian and shuttle sires Redoute’s Choice (36 lots catalogued), Snitzel (44 lots listed), Sebring (35 lots), Fastnet Rock (27 lots) and Medaglia d’Oro (26 lots) not to mention one of 33 youngsters from the second crop of champion Pierro whose first two-year-olds this season are showing much promise.
Pierro’s old racing adversary All Too Hard is also well represented at Easter where you will also find plenty of other yearlings by leading stallions Choisir, Exceed and Excel, deceased High Chaparral, Hinchinbrook, I Am Invincible, Lonhro, More Than Ready, Not a Single Doubt, Stratum and Written Tycoon as well as lots by champion New Zealand sire Savabeel and rising star Tavistock.
Progeny of 10 well credentialed first season sires have also made it into the elite Easter catalogue – Camelot, Dawn Approach,Declaration of War, Dundeel, Epaulette, Fighting Sun, Fiorente, Shamus Award. The Factor and Zoustar – which adds great interest and in some cases their stock will sell more cheaply than youngsters by the established stallions.
Of the 480 lots at Easter, some 146 are out of stakes winning mares, among them Group 1 winners Gondokoro, Samaready, Secret Admirer and Steps in Time and to illustrate the pedigree quality available is the fact that 304 of the 480 lots contain black type under their first dams.
While Easter has the highest average price of any Australasian yearling sale buyers with more limited budgets should not be deterred as there are always plenty of nice horses which sell for $100,000 or less and Session 2 on the final day will have a number of opportunities.
The Australian Easter Yearling Sale is the ultimate showcase for the quality produced by NSW breeders and for our major stud farms such as Arrowfield, Coolmore, Edinglassie, Emirates Park, Gooree Park, Kia-Ora, Newgate Farm, Newhaven Park, Segenhoe, Turangga, Vinery, Widden (also celebrating its 150th anniversary) and Yarraman Park as well as boutique operations like Cressfield and Milburn Creek Stud.
If you want to select your next racehorse from the best of the best, be sure to be at Randwick on April 4, 5 and 6.
