Friday, 22 June 2012: Inglis will be adding another string to the bow of its world renowned Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale in 2013, with the addition of a “Blue Riband” Session to complement the overall growth of the sale.
The 2013 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale will be conducted over four days from March 4 to 7 at Oaklands next year.
Yearlings bred to excel over middle and staying distances will be invited to fill a selected number of entries in a “Blue Riband” Session to be offered within Session I.
To maintain a high standard, only 40-60 yearlings assessed to have the right credentials will make up the new prestigious section in 2013.
“Like the graduates that it unearths, the Melbourne Premier Sale keeps going from strength to strength each year. The new Blue Riband Session is set to further enhance the sale's position as world class,” said Inglis Melbourne Director Peter Heagney.
“With Victoria being the home of prized distance races such as the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate it makes sense to launch Blue Riband in Melbourne, one of several Inglis initiatives to be introduced by the company to provide greater support to breeders of quality middle distance and staying types.
“Premier is already well renowned as a leading source of champion sprinter/milers the likes of Black Caviar, Starspangledbanner, Sacred Kingdom and Weekend Hussler.
“The new Blue Riband Session will further highlight the sale's growing reputation as a source of outstanding middle distance and staying types the likes of Pinker Pinker, Fields Of Omagh, Littorio, Hollow Bullet and Arapaho Miss, plus South African Horse of the Year Igugu,” Heagney said.
“In addition to Premier's world bloodstock feat of posting an average increase for the third consecutive year in 2012, it is the only major thoroughbred auction to have achieved an increase in average in seven out of the last eight years."
South African buyers, such as Igugu's champion trainer Mike de Kock, flocked to Inglis Premier in 2012 purchasing 30 lots, and support for the new Blue Riband Session has already flowed in from across the Indian Ocean.
“The Blue Riband concept being introduced by Inglis will suit our South African buying requirements perfectly,” said de Kock.
“We try to target staying types. The Blue Riband concept will ensure a wider selection for us and attract more of our clients to the sale,” said Jehan Malherbe of Form Bloodstock, South Africa.
Inglis will not only be supporting the breeders of middle distance and staying types in the yearling sale ring, but also buyers of those horses, with discussions with race clubs underway to increase the number of 1600m to 2400m events in the $5 million Inglis Race Series.
“Australians are acknowledged as the preeminent producers of tough, precocious sprinter/milers. With unparalleled access to the best bloodlines from both hemispheres, breeders are in an enviable position with affordable tools to produce the world's best middle distance performers and stayers,” Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster points out.
“There is a huge amount of prize money dedicated to staying races not only in Australia, but with our largest trading partners and Inglis is delighted to increase its support of the production of horses suited to competition in those events."
