Numbers down at Inglis Easter Yearling Sale

The Inglis Easter Yearling Sale closed on a satisfactory note Thursday

afternoon. Although just four horses fetched

A$1 million or more compared with a stellar 28 yearlings two years ago, and the

sale's figures are down slightly from

2009, there are encouraging signs in a new-look buying bench and spoils shared

among boutique farms rather than

major stallion operations.

Inglis Managing Director

Mark Webster acknowledged that while the sale lacked the heavy-duty, top-end

purchasers of recent years such as

Sheikh Mohammed's agent John Ferguson and Nathan Tinkler's Patinack Farm,

domestic buyers, supported by a broad

international bench, had buoyed results.

"Overall we are down 8 percent on last year and, while it's not what we

might have hoped for, it's not too bad

given we still had an average topping A$220,000," Webster said. "It's a sale

where you could say buyers won on some

lots and vendors won on others. It's a totally different mix in terms of the

buyer line-up for this sale than we had two

years ago. I think it is a challenge for not just Inglis as a sales company, but

for the industry as a whole to find new

buyers who are prepared to buy at the top end of the market."

Thursday's highest price -- and the second-highest of the

sale -- was achieved by Hip No. 448, a

A$1.3-million daughter of Zabeel purchased by Victorian owner/breeder Peter Carrick's Lakeview Resources. Carrick swooped to purchase

the strongly

made daughter of Gin Player (Defensive Play) as the third session steadily

gained momentum. The bay, offered

by Rich Hill Thoroughbreds as agent, is a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner

Zarita (Pentire);

Joy and Fun (Cullen), who recently won the Al Quoz Sprint (UAE-G3) in

Dubai; and Group 2 winner Run Like the Wind (Pins).

Carrick admitted that he would not have inspected

the filly had trainer Lee Freedman

not persuaded him to do so.

"Zabeels have never been the style of horse I have jumped into; I have leaned

more to precocious, speed-type

horses," Carrick said. "Lee introduced

the horse to me and I would not have pulled the horse out, I would not have seen

her -- Zabeels are not the type I

generally buy, but we have been looking for a serious broodmare page and this

was just a standout. This was the filly

of the sale, without doubt. Once you have got your mind made up on what you

want, it doesn't matter what you pay

and, in the end, whether this filly is successful in racing or not, she is going to

be a classic broodmare. The win of Joy

and Fun in Dubai just put the icing on the cake for me."

A plumber for 37 years, Carrick's previous successes on the track include

Group 3 winner Kaphero (Danzero).

"I raced Kaphero and took him all the way to the stallion barn,

and I still own 25 percent of him

with Adam Sangster," Carrick said of the Swettenham Stud-based horse. "I have

been buying horses since 1986, but

got serious in 1998."

The filly was sold by Rich Hill Stud on behalf of breeder Scott Williams. Rich

Hill's John Thompson said he and

Williams had arrived in Australia hoping to receive around A$600-A$700,000, but

it soon became apparent she was

going to be very keenly sought after.

"There's such a big build-up with a filly like this and she's been hugely

popular on the grounds, but you still have

your doubts until the bids actually come, so it's a fantastic result," Thompson

said. "It's a great result for Scotty and it's

Rich Hill's first million-dollar yearling, so it's very satisfying and a huge

thrill. She is just a lovely filly, and I wish her

new owners the best of luck with her."

Trainer John Hawkes, flanked by sons Wayne and Michael, was leading buyer at the

sale with nine purchases for a gross of A$4,085,000.

"There is

value for money here," Hawkes

opined. "Overall, it is a bit more of a buyer's market than a seller's market;

we are pretty happy with what we have got, anyway."

Angus Gold's Shadwell Australasia has steadily increased its Australian

portfolio after beginning successfully with

imported horses such as Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1) winner and Australian Horse of

the Year Jeune (Kalaglow), and Gold signed for 12

horses for an aggregate of

A$3,815,000. Trainer Paul Messara was another relative newcomer to the leading

buyer list with 11 purchased for

A$3,430,000.

Easter perennial Adrian Nicoll of BBA Ireland signed for eight for a total of

A$3,125,000.

"We

have been able to purchase good

individuals with huge pedigrees and a great amount of salvage value, and

compared with what some of these could

have made a few years ago, I think they are all very good value," Nicoll said.

"The market is patchy, but it is still

actually quite hard to buy the nice horses. We have been beaten a lot of times,

as well as buying what we did. I think

everyone is focusing on the same type of horses, but I think the ones falling

through the cracks are struggling,

obviously, that is why the pass-in rate is higher.

"On the whole, I thought it was a good catalog coming in, and there were a lot of

nice horses here. I haven't concentrated

on colts so I can't comment on that side, but on the fillies side we had as many

on the list as we would normally have."