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| Staff Writer |
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Strong, well-curated catalogues and maximising profits for their vendors is a time-honoured and celebrated tradition at Inglis. Through encouragement from the top team at Inglis, Bloodstock Manager Chris Russell ventured confidently into auctioneering. Russell’s work over the year -inspecting and reporting on horses coming up for auctions, developing a deep personal connection with Inglis vendors and their horses and then curating sale catalogues - helps amplify his auctioneering talents.
A family-run business, Inglis started off by selling farm products in 1867. Soon after, the business grew and began selling a variety of animals, horses, cars, and other machines at various locations all across Sydney. In 1906, the bloodstock business got its start in rented space at Randwick's Newmarket.
As the breeze-ups for the company’s next sale – the Inglis Ready2Race Sale at Riverside Stables on October 10 - get underway, we chat exclusively to Chris Russell on all things horses, auctions and, of course, Inglis. Here, Russell discusses his auctioneering style influences and inspirations, his passion for horses and what lies ahead for him in the world of bloodstock.
Chris has been involved in the horse racing industry for many years. He took inspiration from his father, who was a successful jockey in Australia. He originally wanted to be a jockey himself but that didn’t work out as anticipated due to weight. He was determined to forge a career in the industry however and embarked on numerous work experience placements which led to a place at agricultural college Marcus Oldham where he completed a Diploma in Horse Business Management and employment within an auction house.
Spending so much time in and around sale, Chris had never envisaged himself as an auctioneer. It was at the urgings of his colleague and friend, Grant Burns, to give it a go and Chris thought to himself “why not? What have I got to lose?”. Having a go at a few sales early led to his selling career really taking off when afforded the opportunity by Inglis over 10 years ago to sell full time.
That exceptionally fast-paced talking that is heard at auctions was a difficult skill to acquire. After all, it’s not a particularly natural speech method. Chris states that when he first started auctioneering, he practised whenever he could, whether it was in the shower or when he was in the car. Chris remarks that, whilst daunting at first, he actually prefers to auctioneer than to speak in public. Whilst selling, you can ‘hide’ behind your patter whilst thinking of things to say, listen to the auction clerk or the vendor or thinking about what the next increment he will take will be. The patter acts as a filler in between selling the horse or infirming the buying bench.
Selling Amongst The Fig Trees
Chris stated that some of his fondest memories of auctioneering come from selling at Inglis’ old complex at Newmarket in Randwick where the grand old fig tree stood. This tree stood out the front of the auction ring and was an iconic place in Australian Racing and Chris feels lucky enough to have brought down the gavel on the last ever yearling offered in an Easter Sale at that complex before the company relocated to Riverside at Warwick Farm. Chris has a terrific photo of that moment that was taken by a colleague. Whilst Chris said that he would also love the chance to sell overseas, selling at the rings at Newmarket and Riverside will also be a highlight.
When it comes to the best racehorse, he believes he sold off, Estijaab comes to mind. Chris says that she was one of those rare horses that just did everything, bred exceptionally well, sold well at auction, and performed on the racetrack: “She was a Snitzel filly. The sale was at Newmarket and she was in the Arrowfield draft and if I recall correctly, she made about $1.7m. She had a marvellous pedigree. Obviously, she went on to have great success, winning multiple races including the Golden Slipper.”
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When prompted about what makes a good racehorse, unfortunately, there’s no hard and fast answer. Chris does look for some physical attributes like a big hind quarter, a good mover, good length of rein and good depth of girth, etc. However, not before stating there are a lot of intangible qualities like their head and heart which are hard for us to measure.
It seems hard to think COVID-19 was good for anything given the pain and suffering it caused. However, Chris firmly believes that due to the lack of physical real-world auctions during that time, Inglis Digital took off: “It helped us grow that side of the market. We were reduced at one stage to holding our Easter Sale, the pinnacle of the sale calendar in Australia, as virtual sale and it was certainly bizarre and interesting to be selling to a camera lens rather than a packed room. It was necessary for the ‘show to roll on’ for the bloodstock industry and trading stock online become the only vehicle to do so so it really catapulted Inglis Digital into the big time and many 7 figure horses have been sold on there over the last few years”. While he’s thankful for the technological advancements in those parts of the industry, he still believes it requires a human touch and doesn’t believe that computers or AI will take his job of assessing bloodstock just yet.
Touching on the Inglis Ready2Race auction at Riverside Stables in Sydney on October 10, Chris details that there were over 220 horses in the catalogue. While he didn't reveal any singular horse that he was excited to sell off, he states that it is a fantastic catalogue with many exciting horses coming from New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand. The sale has gone from strength to strength over the last 5 years or so with many graduates becoming top racehorses which is testament to the quality of the preparers and educators of these horses. The catalogue this year is sure to contain many more Libertads, Democracy Manifests, Netoyers, Wishful Thinkers as some of the previous top class graduates of the sale.
For anyone wanting to get into the industry like Chris, he believes that getting exposure to as many people and different parts of the industry as a good starting point. “Working for an auction house, the business is more a people business that a horse business. It’s important to work hard, to listen and learn and be personable.” Chris stated that he is very lucky to work with the incredible team at Inglis which are all very passionate about the industry.
“Downtime? What’s that?!” echoes out. Understandably, Chris doesn’t have much free time as the industry, as everyone know, is 365 days a year. Whilst being his occupation, Chris said he is lucky to work in an industry that is also his hobby which, at times, can make it feel less like work. However, when he truly gets time off he tries to unwind by playing a round of golf or by going fishing which are two passions of his.
By Dean McHugh