Cover image courtesy of Inglis
An oft-repeated word around the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale is that it’s a trade sale, suited to syndicators who on-sell to clients, for trainers looking for a horse to trial and flick on, or for breeze up sale buyers. It’s regularly said that Classic is a ‘type’ sale and a good physical will sell but the rest will struggle to find homes.
Since ‘type’ is a judgement call made by buyers based on their own preferences, no data can ever determine the truth of this idea, but a quartile analysis of the sale results can show if vendor expectations align with buyer assessments.
Five year figures
The Inglis Classic Yearling Sale has changed format during the period of our analysis with 2021, 2022, and 2023 including a highway section, which was integrated into the main sale from 2024 onwards. However, the number of lots at the sale hasn’t changed aside from small annual fluctuations, so TTR included the highway lots into the five year analysis.
Lot 707 - The Autumn Sun x Talimena (colt) realised the top price of $520,000 at the 2025 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale | Image courtesy of Inglis
The key indicator of stability is that the median has remained static at $70,000 for four of the five years, sliding up to $80,000 in 2022 only. The average has risen three per cent from 2021 to 2025, from $90,191 (2021) to $93,442 (2025) with the highest average occurring in 2021.
The number of lots has hovered around 800, from 803 in 2021 to 806 in 2025 with a peak of 830 in 2023, but the clearance rate has dropped steadily each year from 92 per cent in 2021 and 2022 to 83 per cent in 2025. Compared to other yearling sales, this remains an excellent clearance rate.
The top priced lot has also remained static, sitting around the $600,000 mark with minor fluctuations each year.
| 2025 | 806 | 85 | 582 | $ 70,000 | 81% | $ 93,442 | $ 54,383,000 | $ 520,000 |
| 2024 | 808 | 87 | 608 | $ 70,000 | 84% | $ 92,566 | $ 56,280,000 | $ 600,000 |
| 2023 | 830 | 63 | 661 | $ 70,000 | 86% | $ 93,877 | $ 62,053,000 | $ 550,000 |
| 2022 | 810 | 70 | 680 | $ 80,000 | 92% | $ 107,660 | $ 73,209,000 | $ 825,000 |
| 2021 | 803 | 96 | 648 | $ 70,000 | 92% | $ 90,191 | $ 58,443,500 | $ 625,000 |
| Five Year Percentage Growth | 0% | -13% | -11% | 0% | -14% | 3% | -7% | -20% |
Table: A five year look at the changes across key metrics at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Quadrant analysis of the sale
By breaking the sold prices from Classic into four quadrants, a deeper analysis can be done of the different sectors of the market. The top 50 per cent of lots sold by price in each of the past five years has grown in average by six per cent from 2021 to 2025, while the lower two quartiles have shifted at a different rate. Quartile three, the 25 per cent of lots below the median, has grown by two per cent, while the bottom 25 per cent of the market has fallen by six per cent.
This is also shown by the gap between the average price in the top quartile and the average price in the bottom quartile. The gap has grown by seven per cent, from $166,000 to $179,000 in 2025, and this represents the shifting in the market towards the top end.
| 2025 | 582 | $ 70,000 | $ 203,042 | $ 97,711 | $ 53,486 | $ 23,486 | $ 179,556 |
| 2024 | 608 | $ 70,000 | $ 192,566 | $ 93,257 | $ 57,059 | $ 27,382 | $ 165,184 |
| 2023 | 661 | $ 70,000 | $ 204,177 | $ 93,042 | $ 54,033 | $ 25,346 | $ 178,830 |
| 2022 | 680 | $ 80,000 | $ 227,735 | $ 111,441 | $ 63,353 | $ 28,112 | $ 199,624 |
| 2021 | 648 | $ 70,000 | $ 191,759 | $ 91,420 | $ 52,590 | $ 24,994 | $ 166,765 |
Perhaps this means that good types sell better, assuming good types are the top end of the market (which is not a straightforward assumption given the impact of pedigree on price).
| Five Year Percentage Growth | 6% | 6% | 2% | -6% | 7% |
Table: A year by year quadrant analysis of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Buyer behaviour change, falling number of individual buyers
One of the more troubling pieces of data from the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale is the falling number of individual buyers over the last five years. The number of lots sold at this sale has fallen 11 per cent in the past five years, but the number of individual buyers has fallen 22 per cent (from 403 in 2021 to 330 in 2025).
Livia Wang and Craig Rounsefell at Inglis Classic in 2025 | Image courtesy of Inglis
The number of individual buyers who purchased one lot at Classic has fallen 30 per cent from 274 in 2021 to 211 in 2025 – and this is also a relative fall across the number of buyers with 2021’s single lot buyers representing 68 per cent of all buyers, but in 2025, the single lot buyers represented 64 per cent of all buyers.
Because of this, the number of lots purchased per buyer has increased for 1.61 to 1.76.
| 2025 | 806 | 582 | $ 70,000 | 330 | 1.76 | 211 | 64% | Darby Racing, NSW | 11 |
| 2024 | 808 | 608 | $ 70,000 | 353 | 1.72 | 214 | 61% | Domeland Pty Ltd, NSW | 13 |
| 2023 | 830 | 661 | $ 70,000 | 394 | 1.68 | 256 | 65% | Legend Racing Pty Ltd, VIC | 7 |
| 2022 | 810 | 680 | $ 80,000 | 390 | 1.74 | 257 | 66% | Kavanagh Racing , VIC | 14 |
| 2021 | 803 | 648 | $ 70,000 | 403 | 1.61 | 274 | 68% | John Foote Bloodstock, HONG KONG | 9 |
| Five Year Percentage Growth | 0% | -11% | 0% | -22% | -30% |
Table: Five year trend of buyer activity at Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Vendors remain static
The average number of vendors over the past five years at Classic is 74.4, and this has fluctuated a little each year but essentially remained static. In 2021, there were 76 vendors, in 2025, there were 73. The high was in 2024 with 79 and the low in 2023 with 69.
| 2025 | 806 | 582 | $70,000 | 73 | Arrowfield Stud | 40 | 35 |
| 2024 | 808 | 608 | $70,000 | 79 | Widden Stud | 56 | 42 |
| 2023 | 830 | 661 | $70,000 | 69 | Widden Stud | 56 | 48 |
| 2022 | 810 | 680 | $80,000 | 75 | Newgate Farm | 58 | 49 |
| 2021 | 803 | 648 | $70,000 | 76 | Arrowfield Stud | 46 | 43 |
Table: Five year trend for vendors at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Stallion numbers are stable
Again it’s a story of stability when it comes to stallion numbers. The number of stallions represented at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale has remained static over the last five years, almost to the point of ‘hmm, let’s check this data again’ with 110 stallions represented in 2021, 2023, and 2024, and 107 sires in the other two years.
| 2025 | 806 | 582 | $ 93,442 | 107 | Zoustar | $ 283,333 |
| 2024 | 808 | 608 | $ 92,566 | 110 | Alabama Express | $ 275,000 |
| 2023 | 830 | 661 | $ 93,877 | 110 | Extreme Choice | $ 324,167 |
| 2022 | 810 | 680 | $ 107,660 | 107 | Extreme Choice | $ 352,857 |
| 2021 | 803 | 648 | $ 90,191 | 110 | Fastnet Rock | $ 230,000 |
Table: A five year look at the stallion representation at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Over the past five years, proven stallions have led the ‘by average’ statistics, except in 2024 when Alabama Express led with his second crop of yearlings.
In 2025, Zoustar was on top with three yearlings sold at $360,000, $290,000 and $200,000 for an average of $283,333.
