Online selling
Virtual
REALITY There was some trepidation ahead of the virtual edition of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale but following its success confidence now runs high that it has helped set a template for those sales to come worldwide Words: Nancy Sexton
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Shuttler Zoustar enjoyed a good Inglis Easter Sale as the sire of this A$1.1 million colt
INGLIS/WIDDEN STUD
T
he international bloodstock community was united in its interest last month as the sales calendar ticked towards one of the flagship auction events of the southern hemisphere season, the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. No longer was the Sydney-based sale just a barometer of the health of the Australasian yearling market or an appreciation of elite southern hemisphere stock. With the world under the fearful grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, its move to a virtual auction with online bidding saw it suddenly become a forerunner of potential events to come, its performance an indication of how a luxury market could withstand the outside economic turmoil. As the bidding closed on Lot 514, the last of 345 horses to go through the virtual ring during two marathon sessions of selling on April 7-8, Inglis officials could take satisfaction in an international renewal of the Easter Sale that for the most part exceeded expectations. When all was done and dusted, a total of A$68,060,500 had been traded on 214 yearlings from buyers across Australasia in addition to those situated in Britain, Ireland, Japan, Macau and Hong Kong. The aggregate made for painful reading when judged against last year’s gross of A$123,375,500 as did a clearance rate of 62%, but both
THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER
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28/04/2020 15:01
