'It really has been a week we dream about' - Inglis celebrate as the curtain comes down on recording-breaking breeding stock sale series

Former Chris Waller trained dual city winner Zelify emerged as the top lot at the Australian Broodmare Sale which brought the curtain down on a bumper week of bloodstock trade for Inglis at Riverside.

Only 106 lots were catalogued for the sale, with 53 sold and 30 passed in by Friday night.

The average stood at A$66,170, up from A$59,729 last year, but with just 83 mares put through the ring compared to 189 in 2024. The clearance rate was around 64 per cent, down from 70 per cent in 2024, with a gross of A$3.5 million compared to last year’s $7.9 million. The median was up A$1000, at A$46,000.

Inglis were delighted with this week’s record-breaking Sydney Breeding Stock Sale Series, which also included the Australian Weanling Sale on Monday and Tuesday and Thursday night’s glitzy Chairman’s Sale, the company’s top-end mares auction highlighted by the purchases of Bella Nipotina for A$4.2 million and Amelia’s Jewel for A$3.8 million.

Bella Nipotina: multiple Group 1 set a new auction record when selling for A$4.2 million at the Inglis Chairman's Sale on ThursdayCredit: Inglis

A combined A$77.06 million was traded between the three sales, smashing the previous record for the week of A$65.97 million set in 2023.

The weanling sale had a record gross of A$19.31 million and a record top price of A$775,000 for a colt by Too Darn Hot out of the Group 3-winning juvenile Enbihaar.

The Chairman’s notched its highest gross of A$54.43 million, a record average - for a southern hemisphere mares’ sale - of A$706,883, a new high top price of $4.2 million, and a record 14 seven-figure lots.

“To gross over A$11 million more than the record for this week of sales is really quite incredible, let alone the fact that turnover increased $17.5 million year-on-year off what was a very successful series of sales last year too,’’ Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said.

“It really has been a week we dream about – fabulous catalogues, enthusiastic buyers, happy vendors and a great spectacle all round.

“The amount of people who have said that Thursday night’s Chairman’s Sale was the best horse sale they’d ever been to in their lives, it’s very satisfying for the entire Inglis team who work exceptionally hard to ensure our clients have a memorable experience when doing business with us.

“A mention must go to the connections of both Bella Nipotina and Amelia’s Jewel, to have been entrusted by them to sell their darling mares was truly a great honour and to achieve special results with them both was something our whole team got incredible satisfaction from.

“I can’t stress enough how grateful we are to all the vendors, breeders, owners and buyers who have supported the week and made such positive results possible.’’

Zelify was purchased for $280,000 on the final day of the Inglis breeding stock sale in Sydney on Friday

Offered by Lime Country Thoroughbreds, Zelify, who went under the hammer carrying a foal by Vinery’s red-hot first-season sire Ole Kirk, was knocked down to Queensland’s Omen Bloodstock for A$280,000.

The seven-year-old won four of 16 starts, including at Canterbury and Doomben, and has had one foal, a yearling filly by Pierro. 

“It’s been a great week for us,’’ said Lime Country’s Jo Griffin. “This mare today, we brought her to this sale to stand out and she certainly did that.

“She was part of our trading partnership and unfortunately that’s the way it is, we have to roll them through as part of the agreement every two to three years. We’ve got a lovely Pierro filly out of her that we’ll be offering next year.”

Two six-year-old mares shared the second rung at Friday’s Australian Broodmare sale, at $200,000.

Goffs London Sale 2025

Read More

‘It was a stressful time to say the least’ – a remarkable chapter in Ruling Court’s rise from €2.3m top lot to 2,000 Guineas hero 

Half-brother to champion juvenile Vandeek to debut for Coolmore at Naas on Saturday 

Wootton Bassett to stand in Australia for a record-breaking fee of A$385,000 

Don’t miss ANZ Bloodstock News

Subscribe for the latest bloodstock news from Australia, New Zealand and beyond.

Good Morning Bloodstock is our unmissable email newsletter. Leading bloodstock journalist Martin Stevens provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday