COOKING IN MELBOURNE

Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale
(Photo : Inglis Bloodstock)

INGLIS MELBOURNE PREMIER YEARLING SALE
Oaklands Junction
3-6 March 2013

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOMake no mistake, these guys have got it right. Thirty-two South Africans at the Melbourne Premier Sale tells you the marketing efforts of Team Inglis are working, and in terms of our country at least, they’re working better than anywhere else. That’s just about as many as the total attendees we used to attract to the Ready To Run in the early years, and it may pay to borrow the services of the much-liked man behind it all, Simon Vivian, to help us get our own back at the National Yearling Sale. It’s not just a matter of propaganda though; when it comes to service, these guys measure up to the best practice of any industry anywhere.

Of course, it helps when the treasures we’ve taken home include the likes of Igugu, Le Drakkar, Hollywoodboulevard and Rio Carnival. But when you think that this week alone, our countrymen splurged more than R20million on Aussie bloodstock, you understand: these fellows have unlocked the code to our wallets. Another way of looking at it, is that with the horses we’ve picked, Summerhill has become the victim of its own successes.

To compound matters, it’s become increasingly competitive down under, not only with the sale itself reaching new heights, but because we have an appetite for much the same horses, South Africans are competing among themselves. Pile on an exchange rate which has moved from the mid “fives” when we initiated our programme a few years back, to beyond nine to the Australian dollar today, and you begin to ask whether there remains a margin in your endeavours. On the evidence of this week’s sport, it is apparent there are still many who clearly believe there is.

On another topic altogether, but in a field just as close to our hearts, last evening Cheryl and I were treated to a meal for the ages. Capetonians already know the sensual pleasures of a visit to the One And Only’s Nobu restaurant, and we sampled the Melbourne version right here in the excellent Crown Hotel. On a rare visit to Australia, the Japanese icon, Nobu Matsuhisa was on hand to autograph his cookbook for the Hartford restaurant. And in a goodwill gesture many of you will recognise, he signed it off “From one champion team to another”.

www.inglis.com.au

GODOLPHIN MILE 2011 : FINAL FIELD

Imbongi - South Africa
(Photo : Hong Kong Jockey Club)

US$1,000,000 GODOLPHIN MILE (Group 2)
Meydan, All-Weather, 1600m
26 March 2011

FINAL FIELD

#	Horse	Kg	HR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	MUFARRH (IRE)	57.0	112	1	R Hills	Ali Rashid Al Raihe
2	CONVEYANCE (USA)	57.0	113	2	R Mullen	Satish Seemar
3	PREMIO LOCO (USA)	57.0	119	3	G Baker	Christian Wall
4	AS DE TREBOL (USA)	57.0	110	4	O Peslier	Mauricio Delcher
5	IMBONGI (SAF)	57.0	113	5	C Soumillon	Mike de Kock
6	RED JAZZ (USA)	57.0	120	6	M Hills	Barry Hills
7	CROWDED HOUSE (GB)	57.0	112	7	J Rosario	Benjamin Cecil
8	ZAFEEN SPEED (GB)	57.0	111	8	W Smith	Musabah Al Muhairi
9	MAKE MUSIC FOR ME (USA)	57.0	113	9	M Smith	Alexis Barba
10	I WANT REVENGE (USA)	57.0	110	10	R Dominguez	Richard Dutrow Jr
11	HEARTS OF FIRE (GB)	57.0	112	11	J Murtagh	Ibrahim Al Malki
12	RILEYSKEEPINGFAITH (GB)	57.0	115	12	A Ajtebi	Mahmoud Al Zarooni
13	SKYSURFERS (GB)	57.0	115	13	L Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor
14	LE DRAKKAR (AUS)	57.0	113	14	C Lemaire	Abdulla bin Huzaim

INGLIS : A FAR CRY FROM ENGLAND

Inglis Yearling Sale, Newmarket, Sydney, 1906
(Photo : Inglis)

INGLIS MELBOURNE PREMIER YEARLING SALE 2010

A couple of years ago, two of the world’s best known horse auction houses teamed up in a cross shareholding arrangement in their respective businesses. Tattersalls in England was founded as long ago as 1766 by Richard Tattersall, who staked his claim to a prime piece of real estate in the heart of what was to become racing’s headquarters, in Newmarket, England, which had been proclaimed thus by Charles II, ruling monarch of the time.

The Inglis family were Scots migrants to Australia in as 1867, and they too, staked their claim to what has become one of that country’s landmark horse auction sites, based at the Australian version of Newmarket, on the doorstep of Royal Randwick racecourse in Sydney.

The contrast in the racing economies of England and Australia right now is as stark as the contrasting styles of the auctioneers of these two grand institutions, and last week in Melbourne we were treated to a display of some of the finest bantering in the world. You’d be tempted to suggest that it was the auctioneers that lifted the sale some 35% beyond last year, but we’d need to remember that these self-same men were on the podium at the 2009 version as well, so you’d have to give credit for the years result to an already bubbling Australian economy.

Those that know the Aussies on the sports fields, know their spirit, and that when their tails are up, they’re hard to stop. It was like that in Melbourne this last week, where anything decent posted healthy gains over last year’s business. The clearance rate (79%) could’ve been better, though, as some vendors were clearly carried away with the euphoria of what people are prepared to pay for their moment of glory.

The Summerhill team has become a regular “shopper” at the Premier Sale, and we’ve seen a leapfrogging in the quality of the catalogue over the past few years. This was the venue which produced Cape Guineas (Gr.1) hero, Le Drakkar, two years go, and it was good to see the Form Organisation and Hassan Adams hard at work upholding South Africa’s reputation for big spending. Jehan Malherbe and his sidekick, Dean Kannemeyer, were twice beaten on the top colt and the top filly (at Aus$400 000), but they probably found better value shopping in the $200 000 range.

Our team were probably fortunate in securing three outstanding prospects, for the variety and flair they will provide when they come under the hammer at November’s Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.

The Aussies know how to look after their customers better than any nation on earth, and it’s a tribute to John Messara’s foresight that he’s managed to turn Aushorse, the commercial branch of their Thoroughbred Breeders Association, into a wallet- wrenching machine which compels you to spend your money.

Aushorse is run by erstwhile Federal Minister of Agriculture, Peter McGauran, and its “public” face, Rowena Smith, a recent visitor to Summerhill, alongside Inglis’ indefatigable Simon Vivian and never-give-up Bloodstocker, Paul Guy.