The Australian bloodstock market again defied the global trend of Coronavirus-inflicted economic downturn with some extraordinary results at tonight’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale.

There were four mares that sold for seven figures at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale with Queensland Oaks winner Youngstar the last to be knocked down fetching $1.4 million to the bid of Japanese breeder Katsumi Yoshida.

Coolmore’s Tom Magnier secured Group I winner Booker earlier in the Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $1.6 million and then later added Champion Sprinting filly Samaready to his tally for $1.8 million, both mares set to be covered by Triple Crown winner Justify (USA) in the spring.

Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds have had plenty of thrills from talented Foxwedge mare Noire and she gave then a fitting final hurrah at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale when selling for $800,000 to the bid of Japanese breeder Katsumi Yoshida.

The highest-rated sprinting mare in the world in 2018 on the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, In Her Time was a standout at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale fetching $2million to the bid of Newgate Bloodstock.

Written Tycoon’s brilliant Group I MRC Oakleigh Plate winner Booker was in hot demand at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale attracting spirited bidding before Coolmore’s Tom Magnier won the day with a successful bid of $1.6million.

Group II winning Zabeel mare Adrift was a highlight this afternoon at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale when fetching $700,000 for Segenhoe Stud when offered in foal to Fastnet Rock’s champion son Merchant Navy.

Plenty of interesting two year-old trials around the country in the past week so here are all the placegetters with their breeding and sale information.

Widden Stud had the honour of offering the first mare in foal to their exciting young sire Trapeze Artist and Samara Dancer (NZ) proved a popular commodity, secured by Victorian based Sheamus Mills Bloodstock/ Longwood Thoroughbred Farm for $750,000.

The first lot offered in the Inglis Chairman’s Sale this afternoon provided a good result for Willow Park Stud with Group I placed Perfect Rhyme selling for $375,000 with a positive test to Darley’s champion sire Exceed and Excel.

The Jockey Club board of stewards has announced that it has adopted a final rule limiting the annual breeding of individual stallions. The rule reflects The Jockey Club’s goal to preserve the health of the Thoroughbred breed for the long term and will apply prospectively to stallions born in 2020 or later. 

In defiance of the testing times of 2020, Sam and Libby Bleakley’s Highden Park has extended its journey of success this autumn with a brace of Australian results to reinforce its preeminent position as the pride of the Manawatu, and further elevate its status amongst the best producing thoroughbred nurseries of New Zealand.

Despite a standout season for The Oaks Stud’s flagbearer Darci Brahma, the Cambridge stud farm has elected to keep the service fees unchanged heading into the 2020 breeding season.

One of the world’s leading online bloodstock companies is branching out with the launch of New Zealand Bloodstock subsidiary gavelhouse.com in South Africa set for June.

Later this afternoon at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale, bloodstock investors will have the chance to bid on one of the best broodmare prospects to be offered at auction anywhere in the world this year in 2018 Group I Queensland Oaks winner Youngstar.

A good day at the office at Kembla Grange on Thursday for Godolphin and Kathy O’Hara who combined to win with the 2yo Snitzel colt Andermatt and the 3yo Epaulette filly Chanting who are both out of Darley Stud’s top broodmares who sadly died just over a month apart in 2019.

There are 84 mares going under the hammer in the Inglis Chairman’s Sale on Friday with a quarter of the catalogue having Group One performance front and centre including Slipper winners and Cup winners so here’s the list that fit the elite bill.

The majority of third season sires have had fee reductions for 2020 in light of the pandemic induced economic downturn rather than any perception of their merit as sires and among them is Hellbent, whose first two books of mares have given him a second to none chance to succeed.

One of Victoria's leading thoroughbred operations will present buyers with incredible opportunities following today's announcement of the Rosemont Stud Exclusive Online Sale on May 25 and 26.

It is an absolutely fascinating renewal Of The Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m) at Morphettville on Saturday with a couple of Mill Park graduates returning home as conquering heroes, a few fillies with strong staying credentials and a couple of colts with pedigrees that would not be out of place in derbies at Epsom or Tokyo.

Taranaki-based breeders Patrick and Kevin Landrigan celebrated a lucky pedigree update to his most recent gavelhouse.com buy just days after the sale courtesy of yesterday’s 10-length winner Aguante (Reliable Man) at Murray Bridge.

Once upon a time there was a stallion that could not get a good filly for love nor money.

The Group I SAJC Schweppes Oaks was run last week and won by Toffee Tongue, but there’s still the Group III SAJC Fillies Classic (2500m) to come in two weeks time and a couple of impressive winners at Murray Bridge are looking towards that goal.

Adopting the same catch me if you can tactics that saw his half-brother Trap For Fools capture the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes, the Lindsey Smith-trained Too Close The Sun led at every call in Wednesday’s $225,000 Listed Sungold Milk Warrnambool Cup (2350m) to credit his sire, the former Her Majesty The Queen colour-bearer, Carlton House (USA) with his first stakes-winner.

What a grand money-spinner the five-year-old Squamosa gelding Order Of Command is proving to be for connections.

The current 125 Lot gavelhouse.com auction is brimming with opportunities for breeders featuring 53 broodmares plus Mapperley Stud’s Group One performing son of Pentire, He’s Remarkable.

There is plenty to like about the two fillies that fought out the finish of Wednesday’s $90,000 Callaghan Motors VOBIS Gold Strike (1000m) at Warrnambool.

Sun Stud has announced reduced fees for 2020 on an opportunity packed roster featuring a broad selection of proven and promising sires covering a wide range of bloodlines.

The progeny of regally-bred stallion Raise The Flag continue to make an impact on staying and jumping features in Australia.

Unique times call for unique innovation and Southern Highlands based Lime Country Thoroughbreds have risen to the challenge with all 16 mares in their draft for the upcoming Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale online provided with ‘Legwork Done Documents’ and if you’ve not yet seen them yet, then you really should!

Yarraman Park have announced their 2020 service fees, I Am Invincible will stand at a fee of $190,000 (plus GST), a reduction of $35,000 from last season.

The Eureka Stud stallion roster for the 2020 season offers breeders all that they are looking for with a choice of proven, pedigree and physique. As a stud we are extremely proud of the stallions we have on offer, and we will continue to support breeders like we have done in this business for the past 85 years.

We are excited to confirm that our two resident stallions, Power (IRE) and Neorealism (Jpn), will again serve at Oaklands Stud for the 2020 season.

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable were hoping to be winners over the jumps at Warrnambool on Tuesday with Geelong Cup winner Runaway, but the exciting jumper had to play second fiddle to a blueblood in the $135,000 Sovereign Resort Hurdle (3200m).

The rise of Pierro as a future super sire and the service fee announcement this week for his first son to stud Pierata got us thinking as to the whereabouts of his first Group I winning colt Levendi.

Exciting breeding prospect Empress Ali is headed to Victoria after topping today's Cornerstone Stud Unreserved Reduction Sale when selling for $220,000.

Brilliant Group winning 2-year-old McLaren (Bay 2016, Exceed And Excel-Serenada) has been retired to stud and will commence stallion duties at Riverdene Stud, Wagga Wagga, this coming breeding season.

It’s always great when a plan comes to fruition, especially one that was made six months ago.

Vinery Stud has announced its explosive Group 1 winning sprinter Exceedance will join the roster and stand at a $38,500 service fee in 2020.

The Group I BRC JJ Atkins has been reduced in distance this year to 1400m and will be run at Eagle Farm on June 6 and two interesting unraced nominations both won trials at Randwick on Tuesday morning.

Has Damian Lane found his next Lys Gracieux? It is early days yet, but this daughter of Deep Impact could not have been any more impressive on Sunday as she heads to the Japanese Oaks.

It was always going to happen, a horse called Social Distancing, and we saw her in action at the Randwick trials on Tuesday morning.

It was an emotional day on Saturday for the team at Cambridge Stud.

Newgate are delighted to announce their 2020 stallion lineup which will include three new highly commercial sires in Brutal, Cosmic Force, and Tassort. 

In a year where the resilience of breeders is likely to be tested in New Zealand, Westbury Stud have taken a positive approach to the troubled times when announcing their roster and fee structure for the upcoming season. 

The bar is set high for Golden Slipper winners that go to stud and all are afforded great opportunity from the get go, but some do better than others and a substantial fee increase this year for Pierro would suggest many breeders believe he has the potential to go all the way and emulate the success of legendary Golden Slipper winning Champion Australian Sires such as Marscay, Flying Spur and

The Fung family are delighted to announce that outstanding Gr.1-winning sprint sensation PIERATA will headline the Aquis stallion roster in 2020.

The Bel Esprit mare Loveyamadly really is the gift that keeps on giving for Peter Creighton’s United Syndications.

If you believe Darley’s Group I winner Impending is poised to be the next Lonhro son to make it big as a sire, then you need to look hard at these two lovely mares offered in the Magic Millions Cornerstone Reduction.

Grandview Stud stallions Whittington and Under The Louvre continue to provide breeders with exceptional value with their 2020 service fees announced today.

Yulong have announced the fees of 2020 stallions Alabama Express and Grunt (NZ), both Group I winning sons of champion sires.

The Group I SAJC Robert Sangster Stakes (1200m) last Saturday marked the end of the road for quality sprinting mare I Am Excited with her co-owners and breeders Bell River Thoroughbreds announcing her subsequent retirement via Twitter.

The tragic loss of Cambridge Stud’s Tavistock last year means breeders will no longer be able to utilize a super successful nick that was highlighted last Saturday by Toffee Tongue.

The equal highest priced yearling by Hong Kong champion Akeed Mofeed (GB) opened his account with a stylish win at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Group II winning sprinter Cosmic Force has been retired and will stand alongside his sire Deep Field at Newgate Farm this spring at a fee of $16,500.

The decision to send champion Victorian sire Written Tycoon as a rising 18 year-old to Arrowfield Stud probably surprised a few people and shocked Victorian breeders, but from a purely pedigree perspective it might be the best thing that has ever happened to him.

Race favourite Toffee Tongue had plenty of international supporters during the running of Saturday’s Gr.1 Australasian Oaks (2000m), none more so than thoroughbred enthusiast Edmund Wong, who was cheering hard from his home in Hong Kong as the daughter of Tavistock claimed her maiden victory in the blue riband event .

Second behind his stablemate, the subsequent The Showdown winner Khoekhoe, at Echuca, the Matt Cumani-trained Coup De Tonnerre did the right thing by punters when breaking his maiden over 1400 metres at Bendigo on Sunday to credit his sire Night of Thunder (IRL) with his sixth Australian winner.

Renowned West Australian owners breeders Bob and Sandra Peters have enjoyed phenomenal success this season, but not even they can afford to keep every single mare they own, so two are to be offered at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale by Holbrook Thoroughbreds as agent and one of those is a full sister to Saturday’s Group I SAJC Schweppes Oaks winner Toffee Tongue.

When the hammer comes down on a big priced yearling that you sold for a fraction of the price as a weanling, it feels like you have been subject to the ultimate personality test.

What better way could there be to end a champagne day’s racing at Morphettville on Saturday than watch the cult hero Jungle Edge gallop his opponents into the ground in the Group III DC McKay Stakes (1100m).

Talented Pierro filly Rocha Clock showed her true form at Randwick on Saturday signalling the potential of Black Type to come.

Move over Con Te Partiro (USA), you are not the only mare to win a Group 1 this season after retiring to stud as Will Clarken’s $22,500 Inglis Digital purchase Bella Vella led all the way under Todd Pannell in Saturday’s Group 1  Robert Sangster (1200m) at Morphettville.

Despite being the only maiden in the field, punters threw their support behind Chris Waller’s Group 1 ATC Oaks runner-up Toffee Tongue in Saturday’s Group I Schweppes Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville and came up trumps.

Third behind glamour fillies Funstar and Probabeel in the Group I ATC Surround Stakes at the start of the autumn, quality Deep Field filly Xilong proved the worth of that form when scoring a thrilling win in the $175,000 Group II SAJC Euclase Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday.

After beating just one home in each of her past two starts in benchmark races, only the true believers stuck with the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Shrouded In Mist who was only entered on the whim of her owner in Saturday’s Group II Queen of the South Stakes at Morphettville.

We have been singing the praises of Waikato Stud’s Ocean Park all season and one that has played her part in his breakout season is the four-year-old mare Oceanex who proved too strong at the end of the 2500 metres of Saturday’s Listed Port Adelaide Cup at Morphettville.

A first-up winner at Ballarat on March 23 before a tough win on a heavy track at Caulfield a fortnight later, the Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained filly Forever Free took the step-up to stakes company in her stride in Saturday’s Listed AAMI Queen Adelaide Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville to keep her record at a perfect three for three.

Away Game is not the only talented Snitzel two year-old filly in the stable of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace with progressive filly Macroura going two for two when saluting at Randwick on Saturday.

The day after it was announced Written Tycoon was moving to Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley, the champion Victorian sire gave us a ‘One to Watch’ at Pakenham.

Third in the Group I ATC Flight Stakes last spring behind Funstar and Probabeel, Dissident filly Foxborough has always shown a touch of class and she proved a class above her rivals in the $72,250 Murrumbidgee Guineas (1600m) at the Wagga Cup meeting on Friday.

Yulong is excited to announce that Group 1 WFA-winning 3-year-old Alabama Express will be joining Grunt on the Victorian farm’s progressive stallion roster this season.

After racing on speed, Jess Taylor set the tough mare House Of Cartier to an all-out drive turning for home in Friday’s Listed Navigate Advisors Wagga Cup (2000m) and despite treading water in the closing stages had enough in hand at her ninth stakes attempt.

Tough two-year-old filly Away Game is one of the favourites to win a Group One weight for age race this weekend but it hasn’t ended well for those who’ve gone before.

The last surviving founder of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, Charles Roberts, has passed away.

The Esplin family’s talented sprinter Office Bearer is off the mark as a stallion with the Pat Farrell-trained One To Remember leading all the way in a 2yo maiden at Muswellbrook on Friday.

Highview Stud announced that Group I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (1600m) winner Wrote will stand for an unchanged fee of $5,000 + GST in 2020.

Vinery Stud’s first crop sire Headwater has an exciting prospect in the Toby and Trent Edmonds-trained colt Wisdom Of Water.

Stakes racing in Adelaide on Saturday has the potential to put the spotlight on a several key lots being offered at the Magic Millions online Cornerstone Stud Reduction with bidding now underway and scheduled to conclude on May 5.

Scenic Lodge has pledged its ongoing commitment to the WA industry by keeping all service fees at the same level as last year.

Widden Stud have announced its 2020 service fees for their quality roster of 10 stallions with reductions across the board to assist breeders through these difficult times.

The roster of stallions standing at Woodside Park Stud in 2020 includes G1 winning and G1 producing sire, Foxwedge, Tosen Stardom, a dual G1 winning son of world Champion sire Deep Impact plus Invincible Spirit’s highest rated two-year-old, Cable Bay and Written Tycoon’s fastest son at stud, Rich Enuff.

The largest catalogue in Inglis Digital’s history concluded this evening, with a record gross of $4.14 million and 420 lots sold, for a clearance rate of 77%.

80 Years of breeding thoroughbreds is something special. COVID is not what we call special but it has created a special environment.

An under-estimated sire, an appealing quartet of in foal mares and a history making sale for Magic Millions spell opportunity.

Mark Webster has agreed to terms to extend his tenure as Inglis Managing Director for a further three years.

As the then head trainer for Godolphin, John O’Shea put the polish on the striking High Chaparral )IRE) entire Contributer (IRE) when he made a winning Australian debut in the 2014 Group III Coongy Handicap at Caulfield so it’s fitting that O’Shea should have the honour of training  Contributer’s first winner.

Arrowfield Stud today announced its 2020 Stallion Roster in what Chairman John Messara describes as "unprecedented circumstances in Australia's history."

Woodside Park Stud are delighted to announce, that in a strategic alliance with Arrowfield Stud, Victoria’s Champion Sire Written Tycoon will stand the 2020 breeding season in the Hunter Valley at a of fee of $77,000 (inc. GST).

A Queensland campaign is now in the offing for promising Tavistock filly Sky Horse after her two-length victory over 1600m at Sandown on Wednesday.

The racing industry lost an unsung hero last week with the sad passing of pedigree expert Diane Neylon. A true treasure to all that study and respect the influence pedigrees have on the Sport of Kings. She will be warmly remembered for recommending some of the finest matings, advising on many successful purchases and offering proven advice on breeding theories throughout her life.

The late Steve Brem told the story about his first meeting with the star racehorse and champion broodmare Hunza, who is the fifth dam of a filly vying to become the 100th stakes-winner for the great Savabeel in Saturday’s Group 1 Schweppes Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville.

Chatswood Stud enters it's 49th year of operation in 2020 and dictated by market forces, we will be reducing our Service Fees.

Coolmore have announced fees on their 2020 roster for Australia with champion sire Fastnet Rock taking top billing at a fee of $165,000 inc. GST.

Redoute’s Choice supplied two impressive winners at Warwick Farm on Wednesday and interestingly one was out of a VRC Oaks runner-up and the other out of an ATC Australian Oaks winner.

With Sir Prancealot (IRE) about to have his first crop of runners in Australia next season, Cornerstone Stud believe now is the time to be investing in his progeny.

Two fillies, both by first season sires, who did not carry the support of their respective stables at their career debuts, fought out the finish of a 2yo maiden over 1050m at Balaklava on Wednesday.

Co-trainer John Symons expressed disappointment that the Group 1 JJ Atkins has been reduced in distance from 1600m to 1400m at Eagle Farm in June after his promising Snitzel colt Thunder Mania made a winning return over 1200 metres at the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday.

After his Group I Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) triumph at Sha Tin on Sunday, seven-year-old triple Group I winner Mr Stunning has been retired.

Since changing their business model to creating quality broodmare prospects rather than producing yearlings, South Coast bloodstock enterprise Bell View Park has achieved remarkable success making their entries for the upcoming Inglis Chairman’s Sale a must inspect for serious investors.