There were plenty of interesting stories to come out of last week’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale, but one of the most fascinating was the blurring of the line between racehorse trainer and bloodstock agent.
In times gone by, a trainer put the polish on a filly and turned her into a valuable Black Type winning commodity before handing the job of monetizing her into a broodmare prospect to a bloodstock professional.
Usually a commercial stud farm with a long list of contacts was given the task on the assumption they were guaranteed to eke out the best possible financial result in the open auction scenario of the public sale ring.
Our champion trainers Ciaron Maher and Chris Waller have now realised the process isn’t that hard given they already have a lot of the same contacts involved in their racing stable, so why have your owners pay a middle man commission when you and your team can do that job yourselves.
The leading vendor at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale was Ciaron Maher, who offered eight mares and sold the lot for $12.7million with highlight horses the sale-topper Bella Nipotina ($4.2million), Estriella and Tiz Invincible, who both sold for $2.8million, plus Semana who made $1.55million.
He tested the water at this sale in 2023 selling Swats That for $900,000 and last year at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale sold eight mares for $3.4million with his best result Ruthless Dame sold for $2million.
This year Ciaron Maher has focused on Inglis Chairman’s, while Chris Waller has sent the mother lode of his mares to Magic Millions after testing the water as a vendor last year selling Tutta La Vita at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $3.2million and then Madame Pommery at the Gold Coast for $2.7million.
Chris Waller Racing will offer 17 mares at the Gold Coast and they include the two mares most likely to top the sale in Zougotcha and Atishu, so there is a strong likelihood he could finish as the leading vendor.
If that scenario comes to pass we will have a situation where our two most elite breeding stock sales have been topped by our champion trainers and that is something unique to Australia in terms of global racing and bloodstock.
Footnote: For regular listeners of our Tara Talks Racing podcast, this topic would have been great food for thought, but my running mate Clocker is on holiday in Europe so our podcast is also on a short break for now.
