Inglis is backing in the reputation of its marquee Easter sale to be sustained, while putting forward its smallest catalogue for the sale in eight years, with 421 yearlings to be offered across two days in April.
The 421-lot catalogue is a substantial shift from the 500 offered in last year’s Easter Sale, which was dominated by the $10 million paid for the filly by Pierro out of champion racemare Winx.
That once-in-a-generation event won’t be repeated in 2025, and Inglis has opted for an even more select catalogue this year, backing in the sale’s reputation for offering ‘the best of the best’ when it comes to pedigree and type.
“The sale is about marrying elite, physical specimens together with good pedigrees. It's October Book One in Australia. It's (the) Book One at Keeneland of Australia. It's Fasig-Tipton, or Saratoga in Australia. It's proper stuff,” Sebastian Hutch, Inglis Bloodstock CEO, said.
“There are no half measures. It's very legitimately the best of the best. I think the perception of the sale as that has stood the test of time.
“I think when people see the book and then see the horses in March and April, they'll feel the same way about it.”
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In a quality over quantity model, within the confines of a two-day sale, such fluctuations in numbers are not uncommon, although a 15.8 per cent reduction in the space of a year is at the more extreme end.
Historically it will be the fewest horses Inglis has ever offered over Easter, although the sale had a secondary session included before 2018. In 2017, the elite book of the sale featured a catalogue of 403.
One of the challenges faced by the Australian market in terms of top end sire talent is that the last three champion Australian sires Snitzel, I Am Invincible and Written Tycoon, are all now over 20, and even when the current yearling crop were conceived in 2022, were generally having their books reduced.
Zoustar dominates, both commercially and in terms of on-track performance, when it comes to the next generation of proven stallions, but below that point, there is a lack of depth, evident in the numbers at Easter.
Between them Snitzel (45), I Am Invincible (32), Written Tycoon (10) and Zoustar (36) make up 123 of the 421 horses to be offered, or 29.2 per cent.
So You Think has 33 yearlings catalogued from what was his biggest crop, but beyond that, Home Affairs (28), Too Darn Hot (18) and Wootton Bassett (17) are the next best represented, all which are in the early stages of their careers.
The pattern is compounded by the fact that Extreme Choice, Australia’s most expensive sire of 2022, is fertility limited. The Newgate sire has 13 yearlings of his 2023 crop of 52 in the 2025 catalogue.
2025 Easter catalogue, most represented sires
The challenges in the top-end sire environment were acknowledged as a contributing factor to the book size by Hutch, but he also feels that the quality of mares with progeny in the sale has risen significantly.
“I think the mare quality through the book, whether it's in terms of good race fillies or proven producers, is probably as strong as I can ever remember it being,” Hutch said, referencing the fact that 228 horses in the sale are either progeny of stakes winners or siblings to stakes winners.
“I sent the index to somebody the other day and the person said they couldn't remember skimming to an index or a catalogue where 80 per cent of the mares meant something to them without seeing the pedigree, just in terms of name recognition.
“I take a nice amount of confidence from that.”
Among the list are brothers to Group 1 winners Switzerland, Militarize, Ozzmosis, Forbidden Love, Tofane and Super Seth, sisters to Wild Ruler, Climbing Star and Gypsy Goddess and half-sisters to She’s Extreme, El Castello, Artorius, Zougotcha and Profondo.
But the Inglis Bloodstock CEO is adamant that Easter is about far more than just black-type on the page.
“I've heard comments in the past about it being all about pedigrees. I think that's a bit disingenuous to the sale,” he said.
However, in a more circumspect market, pedigrees and potential residual value seem to have become a greater focus in the past 12 months.
Bren O’Brien
That is best exemplified in the fillies market. As recently covered in The Straight, for the first time, the recent Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale saw fillies average more than colts. That fillies-over-colts statistic has been in play at the previous three Easter sales.
“Fillies have been particularly well sought after and we have particular investors who will just target that sale with the objective of buying nice fillies and it's something we look to work hard to satisfy,“ Hutch said.
“I think people are confident about selling that profile of stock at Easter knowing that the people will be there to buy them. And I don't think that's going to be any different in 2025.”
What is interesting is that Inglis has not made a concerted effort to boost the number of fillies available. Across the past four editions of the Easter sale, the percentage of fillies catalogued has been very consistent at around 44 per cent.
This year there are 187 fillies and 234 colts.
The commitment to quality over quantity and not “just filling boxes” has held true across the past few years, says Hutch.
“It's about identifying what we think are appropriate horses to place in that market and working with vendors to identify what they think are appropriate horses that can be well found in that market,” he said.
Bren O’Brien
Hutch also said the fact that such high-quality fillies are offered to the Australian market, as opposed to overseas, where many are retained as yearlings, is not to be underestimated.
“There is still a significant consolidation of quality stock which really doesn't happen on the same scale almost anywhere else in the world,” he said.
“Aushorse produces statistics every year to demonstrate the fact that there is more access to quality stock in Australia than what there is anywhere else in the world and that's more pronounced at Easter than at any other sale.
“It takes tremendous confidence from the people who own that stock to pitch that stock into the market and they continue to do it at Easter and they continue to support it again in 2025.”
The increasingly competitive nature of Australia’s breeding stock sales market is another reason why well-bred fillies are in such demand.
“We talk about people trying to start a dynasty at Easter. Well, you know, it's based on good reason,” Hutch said.
He is hoping for that to include a substantial international buying bench, lured both by the opportunity above and the historically low Australian dollar.
“I think that (the exchange rate) is a factor that is in the minds of people. We spend a lot of time canvassing international interest in our sales and looking to develop international participation,” he said.
“People who come here have a tremendous experience with the racing product on the whole and there are lots of people working towards cultivating more and more international investment.”
“We're hoping that we'll have significant international participation in April, but work on that is ongoing. It'll be ongoing right up to the start of this year.”
The Easter Yearling Sale will be conducted on Sunday April 6 and Monday April 7.
2025 Easter catalogue, most represented vendors
