Two Bays Farm owner Ross Ferris celebrated his best moment in a sale ring today when his Zoustar x Nudge filly sold for a day-high $850,000 at the Premier Yearling Sale.
On a buoyant opening day of trade at Oaklands - that ended with all year-on-year metrics significantly improved on last year’s strong opening day - it was the Nudge filly that created fireworks late in the afternoon.
A conglomerate of Chris Waller, Guy Mulcaster, Mathew Becker and Ozzie Kheir teamed up to secure the filly, which was offered by Two Bays, who bred her in partnership with Elizabeth and Rick Treweeke.
A stunned Ferris couldn’t believe the post-sale scenes, that saw he and his filly (pictured) the centre of attention.
“I’ve never had this experience before, people shoving microphones in front of my face from all angles, it’s quite unbelievable,’’ Ferris said.
“It’s the highest priced horse we’ve ever sold, we’re just over the moon.
“You dream about this. It’s not even just about the final number, it’s about doing something really well and it being recognised by the industry and the buying cohort as well.
“The accolades need to go to the bidders and underbidders, we’re so thankful they were so strong. I think the filly had more than 250 inspections during the week, she was just flat out and took it all in her stride.
“Congratulations to Inglis, the sale is getting better every year. We’re happy to make this our home as a vendor, we like to support this sale, it’s our local sale, it really suits our farm, we’re very much on the southern tip of Australia and it gives our horses a bit more time to put their best foot forward.’’
Group One Bloodstock’s Mat Becker said the filly’s attitude was what attracted him to her above anything else.
“We saw her very early on in the week and went back and saw her every day and she’s not turned a hair, she’s done a lot of parades and been a very busy filly and in our eyes, the filly of the sale. We’re thrilled to be able to bring her home,’’ Becker said.
“We identified her and thought ‘there’s no better judge of a Zoustar filly than Guy and Chris’ so we reached out to them to see if they wanted to do something and they loved her as much as we did.
“Chris also trained the mother so they know the family. It’s a great cross, Zoustar over Fastnet Rock mares, it’s the right mix and she was just a beautiful physical, big, strong and had really great movement.
“She wouldn’t have been out of place at Easter with the best fillies.’’
Today’s second-top lot was a Ghaiyyath x Dom Perion colt which sold early in the day as lot 19 to Lindsay Park and Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for $520,000.
The colt – a half brother to G1-winning Inglis graduate Extra Brut - was offered by Stonehouse Thoroughbreds on behalf of Andrew and Bek McDonald.
Stonehouse’s Ryan Arnel was thrilled with the result.
“These are the horses you dream about. They’re exciting and nerve racking at the same time,’’ Arnel said.
“These are the dreams we all work toward. Andrew and Bek, they’re small breeders with only a couple of mares, in Shepparton, and here they are at the big dance and they’re emotional, very emotional.
“They bought the mare for $6000 at Great Southern in foal to Domesday – which turned out to be Extra Brut – so it’s just been an absolute roller coaster for them.
“It’s one of the best results we could hope for. Arguably some of the best trainers in Victoria were on him, this is why we do it.’’
Lindsay Park’s Ben Hayes added: “We loved him, obviously. We had to put in a couple more bids than we wanted but we really wanted him.
“The page is nice, Extra Brut was super but we also just really liked him as a type, as an athlete so it’s really exciting.
“He just did everything right all week, we watched him through the whole process, he’s quiet, his temperament is great, we’re stoked.’’
At the conclusion of Day 1 the sale average sits at $157,590 with a median of $130,000 and gross of $30,730,000 – all significantly improved year-on-year figures.
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted with how the day played out.
“That was the best renewal yet of ‘Sunday Funday’ at Oaklands,” Hutch said.
“It was extraordinarily busy here. There were cars as far as the eye could see in the carpark, the auditorium was packed, the lawns outside were filled with families and kids and the atmosphere was fantastic.
“It is one of the most enjoyable sale days of the year and the results are very positive.
“We felt that the success of the sale last year gave us good momentum in consolidating this catalogue through the spring and the feedback from buyers in the lead-up was very encouraging in terms of their perception of the horses here.
“The market is not easy and the margin for error for vendors and breeders is small, but the appetite for nice horses that vetted well felt particularly strong today and it’s always the sign of a good sale when buyers are going home frustrated at not having bought what they wanted, which seems to be the case for many today.
“There is another nice group of horses to offer tomorrow and we are looking forward to what will hopefully be another good day.''
To enquire about a passed in lot from today’s action, contact Britt Hussey from the Inglis bloodstock team on 0409 333 823.
The remaining two days of the 2026 Premier Yearling Sale begin at 10am at Oaklands and will again be broadcast live on the Inglis website, X and Facebook pages via our Sale Day Live coverage, from 9.30am both days.
To view the catalogue, CLICK HERE.
PREMIER DAY 1 STATS (2025 in brackets)
Offered: 256 (252)
Sold: 195 (179)
Clearance: 77% (71%)
Average: $157,590 ($146,240)
Median: $130,000 $ ($100,000)
Gross: $30,730,000 ($26,177,000)
