Hong Kong Jockey Club’s drive to increase its horse population to arrest declining field sizes and wagering turnover is set to be in evidence at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale in Sydney.
However, Inglis Bloodstock chief Sebastian Hutch warns that the potential for growing demand from Hong Kong buyers may not necessarily lead to competition trickling down to other horses.
With a catalogue of 196 horses, before withdrawals, the stringent criteria in terms of veterinary clearances and horses’ physical attributes required by Hong Kong owners and trainers for them to bid on horses.
Sha Tin-based Mark Newnham, Ricky Yiu and Hong Kong rookie David Eustace are among the trainers who have flown in for the Inglis sale, the first of three conducted in Australasia over the next five weeks, while members of the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners’ Association are also in attendance at Inglis’ Riverside Stables adjacent to Warwick Farm racecourse.
There are 1281 horses registered with Hong Kong trainers but with more meetings scheduled, particularly with the addition of Conghua in mainland China from 2026, additional numbers are required by the Jockey Club.
“You know they run a managed population in Hong Kong and they have a focus on quality, you know they have standards that they're not prepared to compromise on and a system that upholds those standards so you know trying to find horses that hit the bullseye for Hong Kong isn't an easy thing to do,” Hutch told The Straight.
“But I feel like we've consolidated a group of horses that have the potential to make good appeal to what feels like a strong Hong Kong representation for the sale.
“We've got a significant group down here as part of the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association for the sale, some of whom are existing buyers, others who are potentially first-time buyers.
“Hopefully we can have those people have a good experience and have it be something they want to participate again in the future.”
The horses to go under the hammer on Tuesday breezed up at either Wangaratta in Victoria, Hawkesbury in NSW or Taupo in New Zealand with the 200m gallops recorded and timed.
The data and vision allows buyers to assess the respective merits of each horse before inspections are undertaken at the sales complex.
“I think this sale format more than any other allows for the application of certain amounts of data and scientific research in terms of stride pattern, stride length, etc,” Hutch said.
“You know there are variables that seem to be more commonly spoken about in the context of this sale in the last number of years and I think that's something that'll be applied by a certain number of buyers.
“But what's enjoyable about this, in the same way people select yearlings, is there's a bit of an intuition about studying how a horse breezes and having a feel for how it's really gone and I think there are some benefits to be garnered from the relationships that people have with particular vendors and just a familiarity with how certain people prepare certain horses.”
The top-end of the market may hold up, with Hong Kong buyers and leading Australian trainers such as Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald, Ciaron Maher, Lindsay Park and Bjorn Baker casting their eye over the Sydney stock, Hutch says the clearance rate will largely be dependent on the vendors’ willingness to part with their horses in certain price brackets.
It’s a metric Hutch is hopeful Inglis can improve on from 2023 where 51 per cent of horses found new homes on the day of the sale.
“Two years ago we'd have felt like a really strong group of nice horses at the top end of the market and last year, for whatever reason, things just didn't quite line up in the manner that we were hoping it might,” he said.
“It feels like it should be a little different (on Tuesday). There seems to be a broad cross-section of people interested in those really nice horses, and with good reason, because there’s a good correlation between those horses going on and doing well in the racehorse later on.”
The Inglis Ready2Race Sale will start at midday.
