A Wootton Bassett filly from Alma Vale topped a robust day of trade at the HTBA Yearling Sale that finished with “stronger than expected’’ figures across the board.
In a Southern Hemisphere sales season which has seen many auctions struggle to show year-on-year increases, today’s HTBA sale is the third consecutive Inglis yearling sale to enjoy financial growth following successful renewals of the Premier Yearling Sale and Easter Yearling Sale.
Today’s auction was topped by a $140,000 Wootton Bassett x Zezolla filly (pictured), whose racing name will include the word ‘Jenni’, having been purchased by Cape Schank Stud’s Tony and Lynn Ottobre.
The Ottobre’s name all their horses after their late daughter Jenni, with their star Pride of Jenni herself a graduate of the Inglis Classic Sale.
“She’ll be definitely named Jenni of some sort. A lot of [the naming process] has got to do with the name of the dam or the sire but I’ve already got a Wootton Bassett filly running around the farm who’s going to be named Jenni Bassett so we might have to use the dam with this one,’’ Tony Ottobre said.
“This filly, she’s a nice athletic build and that’s what I’m looking for.
“I’m really happy with that. We had a good look at her and she scoped well, she X-rayed fine so she’s certainly worth a chance.
“I’ve purchased horses for the Inglis Race Series and I thought I’d come out today and have a look to see if I could find the diamond,’’ added Ottobre, who won a $100,000 Inglis Xtra Bonus with Jenni Intiba at Pakenham in January.
Alma Vale’s Verna Metcalfe was delighted with the result.
“That’s a really good price, we’re really rapt with that, we didn’t think she’d bring that much,’’ Metcalfe said.
“She’s gone to a great home with Tony Ottobre too so it couldn’t be better.
“She was reared at Yarraman and we just prepped her for the sale and she did everything right and thrived during the prep. She’s got a really lovely walk on her and is just really professional.’’
Today’s second-top lot was a St Mark’s Basilica x Kristy Lee colt from Bowness Stud, which sold for $130,000.
Bowness’ James Daly purchased Kristy Lee for $35,000 at the Australian Broodmare Sale in 2023 – in foal to St Mark’s Basilica – and couldn’t have been happier with the price the ensuing foal realised at Riverside today.
“It’s a tremendous result for the stud. He’s an outstanding colt which had paraded well here all week and we’re just thrilled with the result,’’ Daly said.
“We bought the mare in foal because he (St Mark’s Basilica) was a first season sire and we’ve got a great result here today because he really stood out. It’s fantastic.
“It's good to stand out at a sale. He was really popular all week, was well paraded and handled himself well and sold accordingly. That said, when we got here I’d hoped he’d maybe get $50,000 but he paraded like a horse that was worth a lot more so to get $130,000 is huge for us.’’
In total today’s sale grossed $4,471,800 – (a 52% year-on-year increase) – while the average ($22,471) and median ($16,000) also enjoyed 16% and 60% gains respectively.
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was very pleased with how today’s sale played out.
“For the last few years, we have seen an increasing trend of supply exceeding demand in this part of the market across a broad cross section of sales, so to produce results like these today, particularly in terms of the clearance and median, is very satisfying for our team,” Hutch said
“As has been the case all year, we worked hard in advance of the sale to consolidate as strong a buying bench as we could for the sale and it’s been very effective again, with a strong clearance and good competition, particularly for those lots that met the expectations of buyers and vetted well.
“Nicky Wong, to his credit, got on a plane a few days after the Easter Yearling Sale to travel to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Korea to canvass buyers for our sequence of sales through this period and that trip has already paid dividends, with excellent participation from Philippines-based buyers today in particular.
“We also had particularly strong participation from a number of buyers who will look to trade through our market-leading 2YO Sale back here in October and I think there are a lot of encouraging signs for that sale at this time.
“I must also thank vendors for their support of the sale and their willingness to meet the market in the majority of instances.
“While we are pleased to have been able to facilitate a market that exceeded the expectations of just about everybody, there is no disguising the challenges faced by breeders in this part of the market, where returns for many would be failing to meet the costs of production.
“This is an important sale in terms of providing a broad cross section of participants to a viable live sale market in which to participate and I think today demonstrates that there is a robust market here for quality stock at this stage of the season.”
To enquire about a passed in lot from today’s HTBA Sale, contact Sinead Flannery from the Inglis bloodstock team on 0416 243 696.
Attention now switches to Inglis Digital and the April (Late) Online Sale, which is now open for bidding.
The capacity catalogue of 554 entries is highlighted by a share in Champion sire Zoustar, dominant last start winner Natural Laws – which has a Hong Kong Rating of 64 and has been fully vetted in line with Hong Kong Jockey Club protocols - seven lightly raced Godolphin 3YOs, two breeding rights in leading sire Bivouac and unreserved dispersals from the Estate of Howard Blight and Fieldhouse.
The final countdown of bidding for the Inglis Digital April (Late) Sale begins from 10am Wednesday.
To view the catalogue, arrange finance or participate in the auction CLICK HERE.
The Inglis Breeding Stock Sales Series then takes centre stage with a week of action in Sydney starting with the Australian Weanling Sale (May 5 and 6) followed by the Chairman’s Sale (May 8) and Australian Broodmare Sale (May 9).
Almost 800 lots have been catalogued for the week, which is headlined by the Chairman’s Sale where some of the most sought-after fillies and mares of the year will be offered including Bella Nipotina, Amelia’s Jewel, I Am Me, Estriella, Tiz Invincible, Too Darn Lizzie, Royal Merchant, Semana, Coco Sun, Makarena, Dancing Alone, Grinzinger Belle, Mumbai Muse etc.
To view the catalogues CLICK HERE.
2025 HTBA YEARLING SALE STATS (2024 in brackets)
Offered: 247 (202)
Sold: 199 (151)
Clearance: 81% (75%)
Average: $22,471 ($19,430)
Median: $16,000 ($10,000)
Gross: $4,471,800 ($2,934,000)
