Newgate Farm will make its debut as a vendor at the 2026 Inglis Ready2Race Sale, with Managing Director Henry Field identifying the two-year-old sales market as one of the biggest areas of potential growth in the Australian bloodstock industry.
Newgate will offer a handpicked draft of five two-year-old geldings at the October sale, while also approaching the market as a buyer through its colt syndicates.
“We strongly feel that of all the segments in the Australian bloodstock marketplace, the Ready2Race Sale has got the greatest potential for growth,” Field said.
“This concept has worked incredibly effectively in Europe, North America and New Zealand, and it’s never really quite taken off in Australia.
“However, we’ve observed in the last few years that the level of consignor has improved exponentially and the quality of horsemen getting these horses ready to sell is very high.”
The decision follows a significant rise in the quality of horses emerging from the Australian Ready2Race market.
The 2025 Inglis Ready2Race Sale has already produced three stakes winners and 17 individual winners from a crop only recently turned three, headed by Group 1 JJ Atkins winner Tron Bolt.
Tron Bolt was the $900,000 sale-topper in 2025 before establishing himself among the leading two-year-olds of his generation. Other recent Ready2Race graduates include multiple stakes winner Hard Kick and stakes-winning Wild Ruler filly Queen Regent, while Group 1 winner Libertad is another graduate of the sale.
For Field, those racetrack results provide the most important validation of the concept.
“The most important thing is that the proof is in the pudding,” he said.
“We saw a better quality of stock in the market last year. We saw Tron Bolt, who looks like a superstar, Hard Kick, who is an incredibly talented multiple stakes-winning horse, and Queen Regent, who won a Listed race at Scone.
“Given the phenomenal results that have come out of last year’s sale, any serious Australian domestic player that isn’t giving this market full consideration and not working the sale is doing themselves and their clients a massive disservice.”
Newgate knows that lesson firsthand. Having missed Tron Bolt as a buyer at last year’s sale, Field confirmed the Newgate team will be working the 2026 catalogue from both sides of the market.
“We will certainly be working the sale as a buyer from our colt syndicate’s perspective. We missed a very important horse last year, Tron Bolt, by not working the sale and we won’t be making that mistake a second time.”
Newgate’s first Ready2Race draft has been assembled specifically for the sale rather than comprising horses redirected from other programmes.
The five geldings are by Bivouac, Brave Smash, Capitalist, Cosmic Force and Russian Revolution, with each selected specifically for the Ready2Race format.
“We’ve handpicked five horses and gelded every one of them. I want to be clear that these horses were bought specifically for this sale,” Field said.
The draft was broken in by respected horseman Blair Richardson before being prepared for the breeze-up by Stephen O’Halloran, with Newgate approaching the process as a long-term investment in the sector.
“Every part of the process, we’ve aimed for best practice,” Field said.
“If we break even, that’s okay, but my goal with this draft in year one is to sell a good horse. That’s how I’ll quantify success.
“I’m genuinely more interested in selling a good horse than I am in making money initially, because we’ll make the money in five years if we can sell a good horse.”
That philosophy reflects Newgate’s intention to establish a meaningful presence in the Ready2Race market rather than treat the 2026 draft as a one-off exercise.
Field believes Australia has the horses, horsemanship, racing industry and buying power required to develop a two-year-old market capable of competing with the established breeze-up sectors internationally.
“There’s absolutely no reason why Australia should not have the pre-eminent breeze-up style sale in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.
“Sydney has got the facilities, the expertise, the finances, the buying bench, the domestic racing, plus the timing with Everest week as a showpiece.”
For Newgate, the opportunity is ultimately about identifying another pathway to source, develop and sell elite racehorses.
With the quality of graduates rising, stronger consignors entering the market and Newgate participating for the first time as both buyer and vendor, the 2026 Inglis Ready2Race Sale represents the beginning of what the farm believes can become an important new arm of its bloodstock business.
