Many vendors have been involved in New Zealand’s National Yearling Sale through a large part of its existence, boasting proud histories that span multiple generations and famed Southern nursery Inglewood Stud certainly fits that bill.
The North Canterbury operation is the oldest thoroughbred stud still standing a stallion in New Zealand. Still located in its original Ohoka property, it was founded in 1938 by New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ken Austin, who offered his first draft at the National Yearling Sale a couple of years later.
But Austin’s connection with the Sale dates back even further than that. He moved to New Zealand from Australia in 1932, having previously made annual trips across the Tasman to serve as auctioneer during the National Yearling Sale at Trentham, including the very first Sale in 1927.
Fast-forward to 2012, when Austin’s great-grandson Gus Wigley took over the running of Inglewood Stud from his father Nick – some 75 years after Austin first set foot on the property.
Gus and Bianca Wigley’s latest generation of Inglewood Stud started selling yearlings at Karaka in 2014.
Their drafts have produced $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) winner Velocious, Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) winner Ugo Foscolo and other black-type performers such as Secret Allure and last season’s Karaka Millions 2YO third placegetter Miss Ziggy. During that time, Inglewood’s yearlings have sold for up to $375,000.
“We’ve been through the history and I believe 1940 was the first time Inglewood Stud had a draft at the National Yearling Sale,” Gus Wigley said.
“Ken took about 20 drafts up to Trentham over the years, and Dad did his fair share after that as well, going right through to the early 2000s.
“Now Bianca and I have been going there since 2014. We’ve worked out that since we took over, our drafts have produced 110 runners and 26 of them have performed at black-type level. That’s a pretty good strike rate and something we’re quite proud of.
“We’re back at Karaka with a dozen yearlings this time around, so hopefully the pattern continues.”
That outstanding record has given the Inglewood team plenty of enormously satisfying moments over the last decade and a bit.
“Velocious was a really big highlight,” Wigley said. “There was a lot of hype and she was going into the Karaka Millions as the favourite. We’d been parading her half-sister all week and we were desperately hoping we’d get the result. That’s how it turned out, and then the guys that raced Velocious – Go Racing – stumped up and bought the half-sister as well. That’s probably been the highlight during my time taking yearlings to Karaka.
“But sometimes there’s ones that come out of the blue as well. We got good money for an Ancient Spirit filly now called Aspiritta in Book 2 of Karaka 2024 ($160,000), which far exceeded what we were expecting, and there was also a horse called Mystery Shot (Shooting To Win) back in 2018. He was from the first crop of Shooting To Win and was out of our stakes-performed mare Mystique.
“A couple of buyers really wanted him and went hammer and tong, and we got good money for him ($260,000). He went to Victoria and won seven races, including his first five in a row.”
Inglewood Stud’s Karaka 2026 draft is made up of 10 yearlings in Book 1 and two in Book 2.
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but I think this is the best draft of yearlings we’ve taken up to Karaka,” Wigley said. “It represents some decent investment in terms of service fees and the quality of mares that we’ve bought.
“We’re big fans of Harry Angel and have sent mares to him every season, so it’s been fantastic to see the success that his progeny have had. He’s gone from a A$16,500 service fee to A$66,000 and he’s likely to go even higher than that.
“We have two Harry Angel colts in our draft that we really like. One of them is a half-brother to Miss Ziggy, who ran third in the Karaka Millions 2YO last season, and the other is a full-brother to a colt that we sold a couple of seasons ago for $150,000. Eion Kemp bought him and later sold him for $800,000 at the Ready to Run Sale, and he’s been named Packing Glory and was a very impressive winner of his first start in Hong Kong on November 30.
“We also have a couple of Sword of State fillies who both look quite precocious.
“One that’s quite close to my heart is the filly by Street Boss out of Shuffled. She’s the only Street Boss yearling in the Karaka 2026 sale, and I’ve always been a massive fan of that stallion. He’s just about the best sire in Australia when you break down his numbers. He’s been a bit patchy with fertility so hasn’t had a huge number of runners, but he’s sired the likes of Anamoe along with this season’s top-class three-year-old colt Tentyris and three-year-old filly Tempted. This filly’s out of a full-sister to Ace High.
“Overall, I think it’s just a good, consistent draft. They all looked great in their parade today (Thursday), and I think it was the best turnout we’ve had for a yearling parade. There were lots of South Island trainers there and plenty of interest, so it all bodes well. We’re looking forward to getting back up to Karaka.”
Lots to Watch
Lot 124 - Street Boss x Shuffled filly
Lot 245 - Harry Angel x Zigwig colt
