‘Vendors are having to work a bit harder’ - market correction evident as Inglis Premier draws to conclusion

Progeny of versatile stallions Pierro and Toronado rounded out the final session of the 2023 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale on Tuesday, jointly topping day three at A$400,000 (£222,000/€250,000), but it was the overall correction to the market which had industry figures talking.

The main 615-lot Premier Session generated more than A$58 million in turnover in two-and-a-half days, with another A$5.5m spent in Inglis’ Showcase Session on Tuesday, breaking the A$60m barrier for the third time in the Victorian sale’s history.

That said, vendors found the market particularly difficult in comparison to the unprecedented demand of the past two years, with the aggregate down A$20m year-on-year across the two books and a more cautious approach from buyers having an effect on the average, median and clearance rate. 

The Premier Session averaged A$135,671, the median was A$100,000 and the clearance rate was 79 per cent, compared to last year’s A$158,094, A$140,000 and 90 per cent.

Tuesday’s Showcase Session, which was topped by a A$160,000 Lonhro colt from the Supreme Thoroughbreds draft, averaged A$40,500 at a median of A$36,000 with a clearance rate of 73 per cent. 

In closing out the main session of the Victorian March sale on Tuesday, it was agent Olly Koolman who bought a A$400,000 son of Toronado, the equal highest-priced lot on the third and final day.

Koolman is an unabashed fan of the Swettenham Stud stallion and he waited until day three to sign for the sire’s most expensive yearling sold at the 2023 Premier sale, on behalf of a Hong Kong client.

The Toronado colt is the second foal out of Mojo Moon, who won over 1,850 and 2,000 metres.

Koolman said: “I bought Senor Toba here at this sale four years ago and so he means a fair bit to me, the horse. I think he’s a great stallion, he puts great bone and strength into horses. 

“He can get over a bit of a trip, but they’ve got a turn of foot and I just think this horse will be perfect for what we are looking for and that’s a 1,600- to 1,800-metre horse for Hong Kong eventually.”

Senor Toba, who was a Group 3 winner and Queensland Derby runner-up in Australia, has also won multiple Group races in Hong Kong for trainer Caspar Fownes, who is currently campaigning the gelding in Dubai.

Koolman, meanwhile, has been actively sourcing horses, including a A$300,000 Justify colt at last year’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, for a client with an owner permit in Hong Kong, with the early management of the horse undertaken at Warwick Farm with trainer David Pfieffer. 

“He is a very passionate racegoer and he’s got some dreams and we’re about to make it happen,” Koolman said of his client.

The half-brother to Senor Toba by Harry Angel is also destined for Hong Kong after he, too, brought a$400,000 on Monday from the Mill Park Stud draft.

Asked about the overall market at the Premier sale, Koolman said: “I think the vendors are having to work a bit harder than they are used to, which doesn’t worry me so much. 

“I haven’t found it too difficult to buy a nice horse and we’re going home pretty satisfied.”

Trilogy in Hickmott’s corner 

Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Robert Hickmott also welcomed a well-bred “staying filly” by Pierro into his yard on Tuesday, after going to A$400,000 for the last Premier Session yearling to go through the ring.

In a boost to Ballarat-based Hickmott, Trilogy Racing’s Jason and Mel Stenning plus Sean and Cathy Dingwall, who also experienced their first Premier sale at the helm of Blue Gum Farm, will remain in the well-bred filly after they purchased her last year as a foal.

Hickmott said: “Obviously she was the last horse in the P1 sale. She is a lovely filly who Jason and Sean bought as a weaner for A$400,000 and they were quite happy to stay in her.

“They bought her more as a racing proposition. She looks a staying type, although [her half-sister] Fiesta was a very sharp mare. She has got a bit of staying quality about her and given all the time in the world we’ll be able to produce her on the track.

“She’ll have five weeks out before she heads to the breakers and that will give her a nice springboard into her racing career.”

The ninth foal out of Now Now, she is a half-sister to four winners including Star Thoroughbreds’ Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed mare Fiesta, who realised A$1.35m at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

Bred by Fairhill Farm’s Mike O’Donnell, the filly was sold at last year’s Inglis Australian Weanling Sale to Trilogy.

Importantly for the new partners in Blue Gum Farm, the Victorian stud was crowned the leading Book 1 vendor at Premier for the fourth time in five years with 28 yearlings changing hands for A$4.62m at an average of A$165,000, led by a A$500,000 Zoustar colt who was bred by the stud’s former owners Philip and Patti Campbell.

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