Cover image courtesy of Inglis
On Thursday, the last of the breeze-up sessions will occur ahead of the 2023 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, an event that will next Tuesday mark the opening of the 2-year-old sales season in Australasia.
The Inglis catalogue, which advertises 226 horses all up, still has around 75 to breeze, all of which will gallop at Hawkesbury from Thursday morning. After that, horses will make their way to Riverside at Warwick Farm, with Ready2Race trade commencing on Tuesday, October 10.
It’s a fast time of year. The horses are fast and the ringside action fast, with the 2-year-old sales season something of a trade bubble of its own. There are specialist vendors and specialist buyers, and, at least for Hawkesbury trainer Blake Ryan, there are specialist horses.
Of the 19 juveniles he has consigned to next week’s catalogue, 18 were bought especially this year for the Inglis Ready2Race Sale. Last year, that figure was split evenly down his draft.
“I don’t know if it’s a false confidence, but this year, all bar one of the 19 horses in my draft were specifically bought for this sale,” Ryan said. “They aren’t horses that weren’t able to be sold as yearlings. In the whole draft, there is only one passed-in lot, and that’s the Yes Yes Yes gelding from Caesar’s Princess (Lot 39). He’s the only horse in my whole draft that was offered as a yearling and not bought by someone.”
“I don’t know if it’s a false confidence, but this year, all bar one of the 19 horses in my draft were specifically bought for this sale. They aren’t horses that weren’t able to be sold as yearlings.” - Blake Ryan
That’s unusual for Ryan in the years he has been a breeze-up vendor. In the past, COVID years included, his draft has been a nice cocktail of yearlings passed-in, pinhook options and specialist 2-year-olds.
“It affects my confidence with this draft this year because someone has liked these horses enough to buy them, so for lack of a better word, there are no rejects,” Ryan said. “It means they’re better horses to start with and that is really going to show next week, and it has already shown in the way they’ve breezed.”
Blake Ryan | Image courtesy of Inglis
Ryan has only a small number of horses still to breeze on Thursday. To date, the draft times have ranged from 10.36s. to 11.36s. However, the trainer says that buyers are less concerned these days about breeze times, which he’s glad about.
“There seems to be less and less importance on what times they run, and more on how they did it,” Ryan said. “People aren’t stupid; they’re not just looking at a figure anymore. So if horses breeze well and they’ve done it well, and they’re a good type and they vet well, horses will sell.”
“There seems to be less and less importance on what times they run, and more on how they did it. People aren’t stupid; they’re not just looking at a figure anymore.” - Blake Ryan
The Blake Ryan Racing draft will have 19 juveniles by 16 different sires. They range from youngsters by Calyx (GB) to those by proven juvenile sires Better Than Ready, Snitzel and Justify (USA).
“There will always be a market for a nice horse,” Ryan said. “So it’s up to us to bring a nice horse and market it sufficiently. Inglis is very good at doing that, and taking it from the personal view of my draft, we’ve got enough nice horses there to have an alright sale provided there are enough buyers there.
“After scratchings, we’ve got 19 left in the sale by 16 different stallions. We’ve got Champion First Season stallions among them, and horses that keep getting winners, like All Too Hard. There’s the first-season stallions too, like your Pieratas and Yes Yes Yes.
Blake Ryan's Lot 266 - Shalaa (Ire) x Tuusula (colt) had the fastest breeze-up time (10.36s) for his draft in the upcoming Inglis Ready2Race Sale | Image courtesy of Inglis
“We’ve got enough quality that we can be confident that, if there’s a market, we’ll be okay. I don’t think you’re going to know that though until 50 lots into the sale.”
Domestic metrics
Like any sale, be it yearling, juvenile or breeding stock, the 2-year-old sales this year will have plenty on their minds in the run in.
A fortnight after the Ready2Race event, Magic Millions will host its 2YOs In Training Sale on October 24, and New Zealand Bloodstock will follow on November 22-23 with its Ready to Run Sale.
Each will be confident of good results, as these sales have delivered in the past, but there are strong economic forces leaning on buyers this year. Interest rates, inflation, costs of living... these are all buzz-killers this year.
Hong Kong superstar Golden Sixty (pictured) was sold through the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale | Image courtesy of Trish Dunell
Ryan is concerned that there will be fewer syndicators buying horses this year, based on fewer syndicators buying yearlings at the later points of the yearling cycle earlier this year.
“It’s going to be very interesting to see how things fare,” the trainer said. “If the domestic market can hold up, things like the economy and the absence of Singapore, for example, will have minimal negative effect, less than what we’re expecting right now.
“But there are valid concerns. There were trainers who were very quiet at certain yearling sales this year because they didn’t have their earlier yearlings sold, and that was the same with your syndications. If these guys don’t have their earlier stock sewn up, I can’t see them being overly active at the 2-year-old sales.”
“There were trainers who were very quiet at certain yearling sales this year because they didn’t have their earlier yearlings sold, and that was the same with your syndications. If these guys don’t have their earlier stock sewn up, I can’t see them being overly active at the 2-year-old sales.” - Blake Ryan
Whether that happens remains to be seen. There have been years when similar concerns were on the table, only for the 2-year-old sales to deliver a whopper. For example, in 2021, the Inglis Ready2Race Sale had spent much of its build-up choked by COVID, but it still managed record benchmarks across average, gross and clearance. It delivered a 17 per cent year-on-year increase and a near 50 per cent leap in just two years.
Pinhooks proved extraordinary, with Ryan selling a Flying Artie colt for $220,000 after it had cost him just $20,000 as an Inglis May Yearling Sale graduate. And, with a clearance rate that sailed past 80 per cent, in hindsight there was no cause for concern.
But that’s the thing about hindsight... it’s best turned into foresight with insight, which is where Blake Ryan is this week.
The Flying Artie x Stryking Debut (colt), now named Outpacer, Blake Ryan sold for $220,000 at the 2021 Inglis Ready2Race Sale | Image courtesy of Inglis
“I tried to do less and less of the breeze-up sales because I’m trying to be a racehorse trainer,” he said. “But I started doing this before I started that, and this year I’ve had a lot of existing clients wanting to push on into the 2-year-old sale. I’m not ever going to say no to them because they’re clients who support me with racehorses.
“So, I’ve ended up with nearly 20 in the draft again, and I’m confident this year, probably more confident than I was last year. We‘ve bought the nicest horses we could buy and they’re coming to this sale. If people are there and willing to spend money, we’ll be okay.”
What about Singapore?
One of the casual talking points of this year has been the absence of Singapore in the Australasian juvenile sale market. In June came the shock announcement that the Singapore Turf Club (STC) would be closing Singapore racing in October next year, with near to zero promise of it ever returning.
Traditionally, the Singapore market has been a strong one for the Australasian juvenile scene, and that’s been the case for a long time.
At the 2022 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, a total of 32 horses were bought by Singapore-based buyers. Seven of those were from the draft of Blake Ryan Racing. However, taking the 2021 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, only two horses were bought for Singapore from the 185 catalogued.
“That 2021 sale was a record sale where the domestic market was very strong,” Ryan said. “So I think the domestic market will have a much stronger influence on the sale this year than anything like the absence of Singapore.”
On Wednesday, we caught up with David Chester, Magic Millions’ international sales manager. He was in a Singapore cab on his way to the airport, next stop the Philippines. About 60 per cent of Chester’s interests at this time of year is garnering support for the Magic Millions 2YOs In Training Sale. The rest is about brand awareness of Magic Millions, a company that has supported the Asian racing product for decades.
David Chester at the Selangor Turf Club last week
When it comes to the Singapore presence on the Gold Coast this month, all is not lost, according to Chester.
“We still have Singapore owners confirmed for our sale who are looking to buy to race in Australia,” he said. “They’re hoping that something might happen up here in Singapore before or even after October next year, whether it be an extension or something else will be developed where these owners and trainers can race their horses.
“A handful of trainers have already indicated they’re going to go to Malaysia to train, so they’re coming to buy horses for Malaysia. Singapore is not all lost, despite the club closing sooner or later. The buyers are not all lost to us.”
“We still have Singapore owners confirmed for our sale who are looking to buy to race in Australia... Singapore is not all lost, despite the club closing sooner or later. The buyers are not all lost to us.”- David Chester
Chester has a number of Singapore trainers confirmed for the 2YOs In Training Sale, and if there’s a dearth in the wake of the STC closing, he has been trying to fill it with Malaysia and the Philippines, among other markets.
Last week or so, he was at the Selangor Turf Club outside of Kuala Lumpur, cheering on the Magic Millions-sold horses in the Magic Millions 2YO Sale Trophy. Shortly, he will do the same in the Philippines with the Magic Millions Stakes Race for 3-year-old and older sale graduates.
“With Singapore closing next year, we’ve got to look for new markets,” Chester said. “We’ve concentrated a little bit on Malaysia in the past, but Singapore has been so strong over the top. Selangor traditionally has been New Zealand-orientated, but in the old days we used to get most of our Asian business from Selangor.”
David Chester presenting the Magic Millions sponsored trophy at the Selangor Turf Club last week | Image courtesy of David Chester
Magic Millions will welcome Korean buyers back to its juvenile sale this year for the first time in a long time, and the company is working hard to facilitate buyers with new strategies.
“With Cameron Croucher at Equine International Airfreight, we’ve come up with a good incentive on the transport,” Chester said. “Transport is one of the biggest killers, not just to Malaysia but all over. Airfreight has gone through the roof.
“To get a horse to the Philippines is about $13,000, and regardless of whether they can afford it, their racing doesn’t warrant spending $12,000 to ship a horse from Australia.”
Singapore trainer Ricardo Le Grange with a Justify (USA) 3-year-old purchased from the Yulong draft at last year's Magic Millions National Yearling Sale
Chester and Croucher have come up with a very competitive rate if Malaysia can buy 18 horses at the 2YOs In Training Sale. The price to get those horses from Australia to Malaysia will slide from about $13,000 per horse to $10,000, which is attractive.
“I’m very confident they will buy 18-plus horses at our sale,” Chester said. “We’ve got 20 to 30 horses in this catalogue this year that are probably better than anything we’ve ever had in the 2-year-old sale, and overall, I’m quietly confident that the 2-year-old scene won’t be as bad as people might be expecting this year.”
