Chayan shatters Chairman's Sale record at A$5.6 million for Coolmore

Tom Magnier paid A$5.6 million for Chayan at Riverside Stables in Sydney on 7 May 2026, and the result did more than set a new Inglis Chairman’s Sale record. It put a hard price on the market’s appetite for premium fillies with racing class, residual broodmare value and the kind of pedigree that can move breeding valuations in a single bid.

The Coolmore Australia boss prevailed after a late duel with Yulong for the four-start filly, who was offered as the final lot of the night and closed the sale in dramatic fashion. Inglis called it one of the most extraordinary scenes ever seen in a sales ring, and the outcome backed that up: Chayan became the most expensive lot ever sold at a Chairman’s Sale, easily surpassing Bella Nipotina’s previous A$4.2 million benchmark.

Chayan’s rise in value has been striking even by bloodstock standards. The daughter of I Am Invincible out of the Snitzel mare Lubiton had been bought as a yearling for just A$250,000 at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. On the track, she earned her price with substance, not hype, winning the G2 Reisling Stakes at Randwick before finishing eighth, beaten less than four lengths, in the G1 Golden Slipper at Rosehill.

That profile helps explain why Magnier was willing to stretch so far. Chayan is now the second most expensive filly or mare ever sold publicly in the Southern Hemisphere, behind Imperatriz at A$6.6 million, and her result reinforced a long-running truth of the regional market: when the right female horse shows both speed and pedigree, buyers at the very top end will still pay extraordinary money.

Magnier also confirmed that Rob and Annabel Archibald would remain Chayan’s trainers, a sign that Coolmore sees immediate racing value before any future breeding decision. The filly’s commercial upside is obvious, but the sale still reads first as a racing purchase, with elite broodmare potential waiting further down the line.

The Chairman’s Sale itself backed up the strength of the upper market. It was the 10th edition of the event, nine lots sold for at least A$1 million, and Yulong led all buyers by gross spend at A$8.45 million across eight lots. Beneetta topped the other mares at A$1.9 million to Yulong, while Inglis chief executive Sebastian Hutch said the catalogue carried a higher proportion of quality breeding stock available to the Australasian market than ever before. That combination of depth and headline power made Chayan’s price look less like a fluke and more like a signal.