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The three-day Inglis Classic Sale will kick-off at 10am Sunday.
Inglis will host its first live auction of the year in Sydney early next week and while the yearling sale boom period appears over, the odds are still short that the Classic Yearling Sale will produce some star performers.
From The Everest winner Classique Legend to Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare, the three-day offering has featured a range of stars who could have been bought for not much money, which has significantly bolstered the sale's representation.
Pride Of Jenni, She Will Reign and Extreme Choice are among the others who could have bought out of the sale in recent years and Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch is proud of what the sale has become.
"There is an ever-increasing respect among buyers for this sale based on the consistent success of graduates," Hutch said.
"When a sale produces a good horse and it can be a tempting for people to classify it as a fluke, but this sale has consistently produced good horses over a number of seasons now and I think that's really endeared the sale to any number of buyers and it will be reflected this week."
Just under 800 lots will be offered across Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with selling commencing at 10am each day.
Australia's established star stallions are all represented but a feature of Classic is always the first-season sires represented with particular interest in this year's crop given their good results at Magic Millions in January.
Home Affairs produced the $3.2 million sale-topper, who set a new Magic Millions record, and that Coolmore stallion has a dozen lots to be offered, including a filly out of Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Nechita.
Stay Inside, who also had a seven-figure product on the Gold Coast, has 18 youngsters to be offered, while Capitvant has 14 and Pinatubo and Tiger Of Malay 12 each.
"There'll be lots of different people here, we've got a good local buying bench, people travelling from interstate and plenty of people from overseas," Hutch said.
"It's a sale that buyers form Hong Kong have been particularly lucky at and I expect them to be well engaged in the sale, certainly more so than they have been with any other sale to this point so far this year."
Last year's Classic figures were down slightly on 2023 and Hutch said the results on the Gold Coast and at Karaka late last month indicated Inglis will have done well if they could match 2024 in what he described as a buyer's market.
"I think everyone's expectation at the turn of the year was that the market would be more challenging than what it was in 2024, that in itself was perceived to be a market that had its challenges, and I think so far that is the way it has played out," Hutch said.
"We're not going to be immune from that, but we expect that the horses that jump through all the hoops in terms of physical inspections, pedigree and vet inspections will sell well and it will be a buyers' market at the value end of the market."
