Chayan sparks bidding war, sells for AU$5.6 million at Inglis Chairman’s Sale

Chayan cut through a softer market and turned the Inglis Chairman’s Sale into a 10-minute, 36-second battle between Coolmore and Yulong, eventually selling for AU$5.6 million at Riverside Stables in Sydney. The price made the daughter of I Am Invincible the most expensive lot ever sold at a Chairman’s Sale and the second-most expensive filly or mare ever sold at public auction in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, behind only Imperatriz at AU$6.6 million.

The result was the night’s clear headline, but it also stood apart from the broader tone of the auction. Inglis said the 2026 Chairman’s Sale catalogued 115 lots, of which 79 sold for a clearance rate of 73 percent and gross receipts of AU$39,085,000. Chayan led the supplementary session, which grossed AU$10,725,000 with an average of AU$1,072,500, underlining how much of the sale’s strength came from the very top of the market.

For Eric Koh, the sale delivered a windfall that dwarfed the AU$250,000 he paid for Chayan at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale just 16 months earlier. Koh said, “Unbelievable, I came here thinking maybe AU$3.6 million would be tops, at best, but to go beyond four, beyond 5, to 5.6 is unbelievable.” He added that it was his biggest result, but also “heavy-hearted” to lose a filly he believed had major upside.

That belief was built on more than pedigree alone. Chayan arrived at the ring as a Group 2 Reisling Stakes winner, having earlier finished second in the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude behind Streisand before running eighth as the favorite in the Golden Slipper. The market was not just buying a fast filly with black type; it was buying the possibility that she could still add to that record as a runner, or become an even more valuable broodmare.

The duel also reinforced the commercial reach of Coolmore and Yulong, two of the region’s most aggressive buyers when a premium female hits the market. In a catalogue where average and median prices were down from the year before, Chayan showed that blue-chip bloodstock still sits in its own lane. At the very top end, elite fillies with proven form, Group 2 ability and a deep pedigree continue to draw bidding wars that reset the ceiling.