In 2016 the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale was another bumper year with 467 yearlings sold during session 1, recording $51,728,000 in gross sales, an increase of 15% in comparison to 2015. Additionally the average price obtained increased considerably on prior year sales jumping from $95,886 to $110,767 – that’s a solid 16% increase.
Snitzel proved to be the king of the sires topping the aggregate sales by selling 22 of 24 lots for a grand total of $3,947,500. This included the sales topping colt by Beauty World to a Chinese buyer for $700,000. That’s back to back for Snitzel at the Melbourne sales who also provided the top result in 2015. Other well performing sires included the likes of So You Think, Smart Missile, All Too Hard and Sebring who all cracked the $2,000,000 barrier for aggregate sales.
When comparing sires’ results on a straight multiple of service fee with three or more sold, Zoffany and Magnus both took the honors here with 10.63 and 10.0 times respectively. If we compare this to the Magic Millions earlier in the year, five horses cracked double digit returns as a multiple of service fee. These trailblazers included I Am Invincible (18.8), Delago Deluxe (15.4), Starspangledbanner (13.6), Love Conquers All (11.5) and Reliable Man (10.4).
In regards to the first year sires, Squamosa and Niagara both had impressive returns on their service fees with returns of a factor of 20 and 15 respectively. Dalakhani, Reliable Man and Delago Deluxe also showed strong results as first year sires with returns of six times their advertised service fee. In this instance no minimum amount of horses sold was taken into account.
Over the course of the sales 12% of the 532 lots put through the ring were passed in. Interestingly, first year sires accounted for approximately 9% (8) of the total horses passed in whilst the second year sires accounted for approximately 34% (22). It should be noted however that second year sires did provide a higher proportion of the total lots offered.
The big buyers this year were McEvoy Mitchell Racing Pty Ltd, China Horse Club Racing Pty Ltd, John Foote Bloodstock/Darren Weir Racing who all added over $1m of new bloodstock to their stables. The international buyers figured prominently with many horses being sold to the likes of Malaysia, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Ireland, the United Kingdom & China.
Blue Gum Farm were 2016’s biggest sellers, selling 27 of 30 through the ring for an impressive $4,710,000 aggregate. They comfortable eclipsed 2015’s biggest seller Eliza Park International who came in next with $3,055,000 in aggregate sales. Other strong results were secured by the likes of Supreme Thoroughbreds, Arrowfield Stud, Rosemont Stud and Swettenham Stud who obtained sales in excess of $2,000,000 for their efforts – certainly no mean feat.
A further breakdown of the Melbourne’s Premier Yearling Sale can be downloaded here.