Online-only Inglis Easter yearling sale produces solid results

A $1.8 million Snitzel colt became the highest-priced horse ever sold in an online auction as the high-profile Inglis Easter yearling sale in Australia, conducted digitally due to the global coronavirus pandemic, recorded relatively solid results as it was keenly watched by the global bloodstock community.

Inglis reported that the two-day auction, conducted entirely online and via telephone bidding, grossed $68,060,500 – a substantial drop from $122,235,500 last year, which was the sale’s second-highest figure all-time and included a Southern Hemisphere record day of trade. One reason for the drop in gross was the buyback rate, which was 38 percent, compared to 14 percent in 2019.

The average price finished at a solid $318,040, down only 10 percent from $353,511 in 2019. The median price was $250,000, equal to the 2018 figure and down 4 percent from $260,000 last year.

“This has been the most remarkable sale on so many levels,’’ Inglis managing director Mark Webster said. “Not only has it been the first premium yearling sale anywhere in the world conducted in this format, it has been done during a global health and financial crisis with restrictive movements internationally and between states in Australia, making it hard and in many cases impossible for buyers to inspect stock in the lead-up to the sale. But with fantastic teamwork and solidarity between our vendors and Inglis, we have been able to make this work.”

The sale-topping Snitzel colt, whose price tag was about $1,116,450 in U.S. funds, was purchased by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier from the consignment of Sledmere Stud. He is the first foal out of the Fastnet Rock mare First Seal, Australia’s champion female sprinter.

“To be fair to Inglis, they made the week possible so that all the top buyers could access the sale, and they did,” Magnier said. “When you got to a horse like this, you knew all the top buyers were on him because Inglis had created the platform to allow that to be possible, so we knew he wasn’t going to go cheap.”

Six other yearlings sold for seven-figure price tags – three by I Am Invincible, and one each by Deep Impact, So You Think, and Zoustar. Japan’s late leading sire Deep Impact led all stallions with three or more lots sold by average price, with his three yearlings averaging $536,667 in local funds. The top U.S.-based shuttle stallions by average were More Than Ready (five averaged $286,000), Medaglia d’Oro (eight, $240,625), and American Pharoah (14, $233,929).