A filly and a colt both directly targeted at the Classic Yearling Sale to “stand out from the crowd’’ strongly rewarded their owners today as Inglis’ live sales season started on a positive note.
An Extreme Choice x Nais Ko filly of Newgate Farm, in partnership with Gooree, topped a successful opening day of trade at Riverside, selling for $425,000 to Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds.
She is the fourth foal of a winning three-quarter sister to Group I winning sprinter and sire Your Song from the family of 2001 European Horse of the Year Fantastic Light.
The filly was much talked about in the lead-up to the sale, given her sire’s extraordinary popularity and the filly’s impressive credentials.
And the result in the ring didn’t disappoint, with buyers flocking to bid on her before Star’s Vin Cox swooped late with one telling bid that will see the filly race in the famous purple silks with white stars.
“There’s a lot of competition out there and when you line up on one, you find plenty of friends lining up against you and that’s a good sign and was certainly the case with this filly,’’ Cox said.
“When there’s good action in the sale ring, it means people are bidding with confidence.
“She’s a glorious filly. I don’t think it was any secret that we liked her, we saw her four times here. She’s a strong, precocious looking type of filly, she’s got a good head on her in that she’s sensible and she looks like one that’s up and ready to roll.
“With Extreme Choice it’s just a case of you’ve got to get one. They’re rare commodities, they have that scarcity value and when you see a nice one, you’ve got to dig deep and put the seatbelt on and get in it.’’
Newgate’s Jim Carey was delighted with the outcome.
“It’s a fantastic result and she was a lovely filly. We’ve always had success here at Classic in the past and she’s a sharp, mature filly and we just thought it would be a good sale for her and it’s turned out that way,’’ Carey said.
“I think we’ve run out of things to say about the stallion, it’s common knowledge the amount of enquiries we’re getting about him from all around the world from some of the biggest breeders in the world, it’s a testament to the stallion and how good he is, he’s a freak.
“Like all his progeny, her temperament was unbelievable here all week. She was super busy, very popular, it was hot here at times during parades but she handled it with ease.
“We’ve got another Extreme [Choice] selling on Tuesday, have some nice ones going to Melbourne [Premier] and it’s been well documented we have a big draft of them going to Easter. He’s going to have a big year.’’
Today’s second-top lot was a Hellbent x Miramare colt of Riverstone Lodge, which sold to trainer Gary Portelli and Ben Vassallo of BK Racing for $400,000.
Riverstone’s Nick Taylor revealed post-sale that he was unsure which early season sale to target with the colt but was thrilled he chose Classic.
“It’s an amazing result,’’ Taylor said.
“He’s always been a quality animal and there was a temptation to head to the Gold Coast but we’ve always had really good success at Inglis Classic. After last year I was determined to bring a really nice horse to the sale because geez you guys get a lot of buyers here.
“There’s been a lot of foot traffic and for us, a busier sale than the Gold Coast and so many different faces, buyers at all sorts of levels were coming through and this colt just gathered momentum as the week went on.
“To get a result like this is just incredible, it’s massive for us.’’
Vassallo added: “I think he’ll be up and going early and that’s very attractive to buyers, which made him so popular and that final bid was going to bottom us right out, thankfully the others didn’t bid again.
“We’ve bought a very good horse off the same farm by the same stallion at this same Classic Sale in Savvy Hallie which is a G2 winner for us already, which helps a lot when you’re making a decision to spend this much money. We’re very excited that this is the right horse for us.’’
When asked on early plans for the horse, Vassallo quipped: “We can start with the Millennium and then worry about the Slipper after that.’’
At the conclusion of Day 1, the sale’s gross was $19,041,000 with a clearance rate of 80%.
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was pleased at how the sale had begun.
“We felt we had prepared well for the sale and the good footfall that we had through inspections was backed up by a day where there was good competition for stock at all levels of the market,” Hutch said.
“We typically get a fantastic crowd to the sale today and it was a day in keeping with the best traditions of this sale.
“To clear 80%, have a gross figure up markedly on 12 months ago and an average and median that held steady is very encouraging at this stage of the sale.
“I don’t think there is any disguising the fact that it is a buyer’s market in the sub-$100,000 price range but to their credit, vendors are meeting the market and buyers are responding well to that.
“Classic is widely regarded as the best value yearling sale in the Southern Hemisphere and I think buyers have taken note of that and don’t want to miss out, be it an Extreme Choice filly at the top of the market or any number of other yearlings across the board that have the potential to go and be very good racehorses for their owners.
“There’s plenty more opportunities tomorrow and we can’t wait to get back into it in the morning.’’
To enquire about a passed in lot from today’s action, contact Will Gardner on 0480 515 694.
The remaining two days of the 2026 Classic Yearling Sale will begin at 10am and will again be broadcast live on the Inglis website and Facebook and X pages via our Sale Day Live broadcast.
Coverage begins daily at 9.30am with the Preview Show.
To view the catalogue, CLICK HERE.
2026 CLASSIC SALE DAY 1 STATS (2025 in brackets)
Sold: 198 (177)
Clearance: 80% (73%)
Average: $96,167 ($99,952)
Median: $75,000 ($80,000)
Gross: $19,041,000 ($17,691,500)
