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A look back on a successful Inglis Easter Yearling Sale
Inglis has stopped short of declaring the 2024 Easter Yearling Sale the best ever, but it acknowledges the place it occupies in the history of Australian bloodstock sales.
The Sydney sale was the stage for history when Lot 391, the first live foal from legendary mare Winx sold for $10 million – the world record price for a filly – which gave the numbers a good kick-along, but she was not the only outstanding result.
The 445 lots offered grossed $150,855,00 at an average of $429,786 with a $300,000 median.
The clearance rate ended at 79 percent, which was fractionally down on 2023's 84 percent, when 422 yearlings were offered.
Last year's gross was $139,290,000 with an average of $386,917 with a $280,000 median.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said that while Winx's filly, who is by Pierro, might have been the headline act, the sale produced many other good results.
"Today was a day the Australian industry can be proud of," Hutch said after the sale.
"To have every major television network, every major newspaper, so many national radio stations here at Riverside (and) the images and vision from today that are going around the world paints our industry in a magnificent light and I'm really proud that we have helped play some small role in that.
"This year's Easter Sale will go down most likely as the second best in history, I mean an average of almost $430,000 is extraordinary (with) a gross of over $150m.
"They're numbers we couldn't have dreamed about but what it means is a lot of breeders and vendors are going home happy and I'm delighted with that."
Coolmore sold both the Winx filly and the second highest-priced lot of the sale, the I Am Invincible-Booker filly who sold for $3m, and not surprisingly ended the sale the leading vendor by aggregate ($27,615,000) and average ($862,969).
The syndicate of China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Racing and Trilogy Racing bought 11 horses, as did Dean Hawthorne and KPW Bloodstock, and – outside Woppitt Bloodstock, owners of the Winx filly – were the leading buyers on aggregate after spending $9,165,000.
Zoustar ($18,720,000) edged out I Am Invincible and Snitzel for top honours in the leading sire by aggregate, while Zoustar's $693,333 average was also the greatest of any stallion who sold multiple lots outside Pierro ($1,935,000 av).
