Following two year old racing is a bit like watching little kids blowing bubbles at a birthday party! A perfectly formed sphere appears, and oooh look! it's going higher than the others (squeals of excitement) and then oh - it hit the clothesline.
Each season, there are so many well bred babies stepping out and every one of them is a week to week proposition. It's difficult enough to line up the exposed two year old form in one state - but when big riches are on offer and they descend from everywhere like seagulls onto a hot chip, it's nigh on impossible.
That's the scenario with our race this week, the $2 million RL Inglis Millenium.
A big field of sixteen Inglis sale graduates will fly over the 1100m at Royal Randwick, click here for the Sale Mail.
This bevy of youngsters from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and NZ will be racing for glory in what is now Australia's third-richest juvenile race.
Only the Magic Millions 2YO Classic at $3 million and the Holy Grail, the $5 million G1 Golden Slipper, offer more prize money.
So it's a big deal. In 2021, the Inglis Millennium became the first ever auction house-restricted race to have part of its prizemoney count toward the Golden Slipper order of entry, which further ups the stakes in this juvenile thrill-fest.
Before the race was altered and upgraded, it was known as the Inglis Classic with a purse of $250,000, and was run over 1200m.
The inaugural Inglis Millennium took place in 2019 and could not have had a more worthy winner!
The outstanding Dundeel colt Castelvecchio ( a $150,000 Classic yearling) emerged triumphant and would go on to take the G1 Champagne Stakes at two, before becoming a dual G1 winner at three and a memorable runner up to the Japanese star Lys Graceiux in the Cox Plate.
Castelvecchio now stands at Arrowfield on a fee of $49,500 and is a G1 sire. He set the bar very high, but the roll call of Inglis Millennium winners which followed him makes for good reading!
In 2020, Prime Star (Starspangledbanner) - a $55,000 Classic bargain - got the money, defeating none other than future superstar Bella,Nipotina! Prime Star would go on to win more than $1.8 million
2021 saw Profiteer ( Capitalist) scorch to victory by five lengths. The $165,000 Classic purchase placed at G2 level next start, earning more than $1.5 million in just nine outings.
Profiteer stands at Newgate Farm and his first crop son Star Of Jamaica ( an $85,000 Inglis Classic buy for Munce Racing) is down from QLD to tackle this race and is well in the market.
Profiteer's daughter Profitabelle ($100,000 Classic) is first emergency and will gain a start. The Bjorn Baker trained filly drew the coveted barrier 1.
2022 was the year of Xtravagant Star (Xtravagant)
The $150,000 Premier yearling, a daughter of the brilliant Kiwi-bred sprinter miler Xtravagant who stands at Newhaven Park, went on to place at G3 level and earn $1.4 million. She was sold from Newhaven to Astute Bloodstock /Widden Stud in 2023 for $450,000 at MM Gold Coast Broodmare and last year foaled a Zoustar colt.
2023 saw the glamour Justify filly Learning To Fly take the Inglis Millenium having won the G3 Widden Stakes. Bred by Coolmore, she was a $900,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Kia-Ora stud. The blueblood blitzed them in the G2 Reisling before her Slipper hopes were dashed by injury / lost rider. At three Learning To Fly was runner up in the G2 Light Fingers and G1 Robert Sangster Stakes, retiring with the record 7 - 3-2-0 and more than $1.7 million in the kitty. She is yet to produce her first foal.
Coolmore will offer Lot 293, the full sister to Learning To Fly, at Inglis Easter. You'll need the deepest of pockets to pick up that one.
The 2024 Inglis Millenium hero was Fully Lit (Hellbent). This $60,000 Classic bargain has now had 14 starts for trainers Waterhouse and Bott and has earned more than $1.8 million. He would have pulled off an all the way upset win in the 2025 G1 Epsom Hcp too, if not for Autumn Glow!
Last year Rivellino (Too Darn Hot) came with a blinding burst of speed down the centre of the track to win.
A $180,000 Classic buy for trainer Kris Lees / Baden Bloodstock, the handsome colt won the G2 Skyline at his next start and produced a barnstorming run from the back of the field for 4th in the Golden Slipper. Rivellino was runner up in the G2 Callender-Presnell last season. The well bred entire has current earnings of just under $2 million from only 10 starts and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for him.
The runner up to Rivellino in the Inglis Millenium was the fine filly Within The Law (Lucky Vega), a Yulong-bred $30,000 Classic buy who went on to win the G2 Sweet Embrace and place in both the G2 Percy Sykes and G1 Champagne at two. At three she was runner up to the outstanding Apocalyptic in the G1 Flight Stakes.
Yulong got the opportunity to buy back into the star they bred when unreserved shares in Within The Law were offered through MM Digital last November. Still a young horse, there may be more big wins in store for the Bjorn Baker trained daughter of Lucky Vega.
So! Restricted beshmichted, this is a very good horse’s race and whoever emerges from the pack to win it this year must be considered a serious threat in anything and everything going forward.
Naturally the big stables have deployed some of their best juvenile firepower and with a full field the race is packed with intrigue.
Click here for Breeding to Win - 2026 Inglis Millennium for our tips in a tough race.
