Toronado leading sire by average after first day
Swettenham Stud shuttler Toronado (High Chaparral) finished the first day of the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale as the leading sire by average with four lots selling by the son of High Chaparral (Sadler's Wells) for a total of $520,000 at an average of $130,000.
The most expensive of the four lots by Toronado to sell on Wednesday was a colt who sold early in the day, as Lot 10, for $300,000. Offered by Bell River Thoroughbreds, the colt is out of the unraced Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock) mare Ain't She Smart, a half-sister to the Listed winner Ain'tnodeeldun (Dundeel) and he was bought by POB Bloodstock.
Trilogy Racing was the leading buyer, spending $821,000 on nine weanlings, while Peter O'Brien's POB Bloodstock two purchases cost $620,000.
Fairhill Farm sold 20 weanlings for $1,768,500 at an average of $88,425 and by average, Bell River Thoroughbreds, led the way having sold four lots for $415,000 at an average of $103,750.
Fairhill Farm's Mark O'Donnell said they have never been as busy with parades.
"It's been organised chaos,'' O'Donnell said.
"We did 70 cards today which is phenomenal alone for a sale day but prior to that, we've done 2205 individual parades. It's enormous, massive interest and it's all thanks to Inglis. It really is.
"It's been a fantastic couple of days, it was almost embarrassing because we couldn't cope with the numbers that wanted parades, the demand was just overwhelming. It was as busy as humanely possible, busier actually.''
During Wednesday's session 170 lots were sold for $8,650,000 compared to last year when 197 lots were sold during the Select Session for $8,643,000. The average for the day was $50,882, up 16 per cent from $43,873 last year and the median was up 25 per cent to $30,000 compared to $24,000 during last year's Select Session. The clearance rate this year was 78 per cent.
"Time and time again today there were weanlings that just soared past the expectations of vendors and it made for an excellent day,'' said Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch.
"Some of the prices achieved today were nothing short of extraordinary, which is confirmation that all the right buyers are here and really I just wish we had more really good weanlings here.
"The market knows what it wants and if your weanling doesn't meet the necessary criteria, the market is unforgiving, but I expect clearance to improve as vendors look to meet the market tomorrow.
"There will be plenty more opportunities tomorrow for buyers and the expectation is for another day of robust trade with plenty of opportunities for buyers to get involved at all levels.''
The second and final session of the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale begins at 10am on Thursday.
