22nd October 2025
Well, well, well…
Australia’s most important (and televised) sprint has been run and won, and Ka-Ching!
What a spectacle it was, not only on the day, but in the lead-up to the race, with rumours galore.
Read into it as you may, but Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) put up a Timeform figure of 128, down from his personal best of 135 earlier this year.
This did not detract from his performance to travel and beat Australia’s ‘First Eleven’.
Side note: Bring on the Ashes! Weee arrreee thhheee…
Where Are the Two-Year-Olds?
Of interest last week was a two-horse two-year-old race in Victoria on Saturday and the inability to put a field together at Wednesday’s Warwick Farm meet, the next scheduled two-year-old race after the Breeders’ Plate and Gimcrack (run on 4th October) in Sydney.
Is it a case that two-year-old racing is losing its shine?
Or is it simply that, on mass, horses are being given more time to develop, a flow-on from having been purchased ‘on the tick’ and not being named or pushed until fully sold down?
Or is it that the average price tag on yearlings has ballooned over the last decade and no one wants to bust up a Porsche 911 on a joy ride?
What’s interesting to note is that the number of horses catalogued in 2024 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and the Inglis (Classic, Premier and Easter) was up 7.1%, yet the number of two-year-olds that ran was only up 3.2%, supporting the fact fewer two-year-olds are running.
Furthermore, less than one in three yearlings catalogued at the aforementioned sales ran at two last year.
That figure ticks up to about three in every four by the end of their Classic season.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but rather a nod to ‘patience’ and, hopefully, having sounder horses in the long run.
The Everest is a testament to that, showcasing sound, durable, hardened sprinters alongside some promising three-year-old speed.
This Week We’re Buying – The Autumn Sun Colts
Up until the beginning of this season, the sex tally of stakes winners read 7:2 in favour of fillies.
Fast-forward three months, and with a Caulfield Guineas winner (Autumn Boy) in the bag, the market will show a complete about-face in 2026, with yearling colts having only averaged A$132k compared to fillies at A$220k this year – trading at a 40% discount.
Well played to those that kept the faith!
This Week We’re Selling – The Pattern
If you’re selling something this week, it would again have to be the Australian Pattern.
Three races were run on Saturday at Randwick with the incorrect (marked-up) black-type status, a head spin for anyone that reads a program or pedigree and once again completely undermining bloodstock values. Or, is that the aim?
To those abroad that read this piece, apologies.
One day, we will have an overhauled, modernised benchmark that gives you some confidence both investing Down Under and wanting to buy our bloodstock to breed from.
Until then, opportunities are aplenty and the pie is very big, you just have to remain, patient.
Get in touch, to invest.