The highest-priced colt ever sold at an Inglis Ready2Race Sale topped a record day of trade that resulted in the biggest turnover in the sale’s history yesterday.
A Toronado x Baccarat Baby colt from Hunters Lodge sold to Hermitage Thoroughbreds for $900,000, helping the sale’s gross reach $19,054,000, eclipsing the previous record by more than $2.3m.
On a memorable day at Riverside, a record 64 lots realised $100,000 or more (up from 50 last year) while 39 sold for $200,000 or more (up from 28 in 2024), leading to a strong breeze up sale clearance rate of 75%.
The top lot – set to be trained by Caspar Fownes in Hong Kong – was arguably the most talked about colt on the complex in the lead-up to the sale, which Cade Hunter and Liam Ruddy of Hunters Lodge purchased together for $250,000 at this year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Today’s outcome blew the pair away in what was their first attempt as breeze up vendors.
“It couldn’t feel any better to be honest, it couldn’t have gone any better,’’ a delighted Ruddy said.
“I mean the whole draft has sold really well, the clearance rate has been good and everybody is getting a good return on investment so we’re really, really over the moon.
“We had the reserve on the colt at $400,000 so when the bidding opened at $400,000, that was just the best feeling, we took a deep breath and after that it was just fun.
“We were trying to keep track of who was bidding but there were so many bids coming from so many directions.’’
Hunter added: “I’m speechless. It’s so great to get a result like that. It’s a great feeling, an unbelievable feeling, especially with the bidding going up in $100,000 increments.
“The result for the draft as a whole has just been unbelievable for our first year. It’s overwhelming, we appreciate the support from everyone.’’
Guy Mulcaster, who has had a strong working relationship with Mr Eugene Chuang’s Hermitage operation for a number of years, said the Toronado colt “really stood out’’.
“We identified him off the breeze ups and then we saw him physically and he matched his breeze so it was a no brainer for the Hermitage team to have a look at a horse like that and they saw him this morning for the first time and loved him. It was a great result for them,’’ Mulcaster said.
“When you saw him physically you could see there was a fair bit of improvement in him too so it worked out well.’’
The colt was a super successful pinhook having been sourced from the Gilgai Farm draft at Inglis Easter for $250,000. He comes with a big pedigree as the first foal of Group III winner Baccarat Baby, a sibling to triple Group I winner Duais and Group II winner Philia.
Today’s second-top lot was an I Am Invincible x Maroon Bay colt of Crossley Thoroughbreds, which also sold to Hermitage Thoroughbreds for $675,000. He too was sourced from Inglis Easter for $375,000 and is a full brother to stakes-winner Ebhaar with Everest contender Joliestar also in the family along with Group I winner Merchant Navy.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I can’t really put it into words,’’ Crossley’s Mitch Pearce, who offered the colt on behalf of a client, said.
“This colt has paraded beautifully all week, he’s a vendor’s dream.
“Liam Howley has prepared this guy all the way along, I’m just the lucky guy standing here talking about it. I just can’t wait to watch his racetrack future.’’
Mulcaster added: “The stock was very well prepared overall here. When they’re buying them at Easter or Premier etc, some of them are really nice horses that we already had notes on and they’ve all gone forward and I think their preparation for this sale is a testament to the vendors. There’s so many people here.’’
The top lots were two of six purchases for Hermitage for a total spend of a sale-high $2,585,000 while Tal Nolen was leading vendor, selling all 15 of his draft for a gross of $2,188,000.
“Unbelievable really,’’ Nolen said.
“Inglis did an amazing job getting the buyers here, it’s been a phenomenal sale, the foot traffic all week has been unbelievable.’’
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was ecstatic with the outcome of the auction.
“We felt before the sale that we were better prepared than ever before, in terms of our work with both vendors and buyers, which in turn bred a level of confidence that the sale would go well,’’ Hutch said.
“That was a very, very strong breeze up sale. You only need to look at the buying bench – great international support with buyers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines etc but also good domestic support from the likes of Waterhouse/Bott, Price/Kent, Ciaron Maher, Bjorn Baker, Darby Racing, Archibald Racing, James Harron, Matthew Smith, Triple Crown, Lloyd Kennewell etc – and the fact it ended with a gross that eclipses the previous record for the sale by over $2.3m coupled with a really strong clearance rate, it’s a quite exceptional outcome.
“Inglis has made huge investment in this sale format year after year for over a decade and we feel that the market is evolving nicely. The sale is the best of its kind in Australia by an insurmountable margin and ultimately the objective is to make it the best 2YO Sale in Australasia.
“As ever, we are incredibly grateful for the support of our vendors in particular, who put a huge amount of work into preparing for this sale and so it is satisfying to be able to deliver such a positive result.
“Clearly there is room for further improvement in the format of the sale that will in turn bring about even better results in the future. Work on the sale for 2026 starts tomorrow, but tonight we’ll enjoy what has been a good day today.”
To enquire about a passed in lot from today’s sale, contact Inglis’ Sinead Flannery on 0416 243 696.
Buyers’ attention now switches to the online sphere with the Inglis Digital October (Late) Sale, which will open for bidding from 3pm tomorrow.
Among the catalogue of 292 lots is a winning half sister to Saturday’s G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Autumn Boy, Stakes-winning colt Amazing Eagle and high-class colt Emirate.
To view the Inglis Digital website CLICK HERE.
2025 INGLIS READY2RACE SALE (2024 stats in brackets)
Sold: 122 (95)
Clearance: 75% (64%)
Average: $156,180 ($164,289)
Median: $100,000 ($100,000)
Gross: $19,054,000 ($15,607,000)
