Hong Kong Jockey Club Buys Lots 246 and 618 for AU$440,000

The Hong Kong Jockey Club strengthened its juvenile pipeline at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale at Riverside Stables, Sydney, spending AU$440,000 on two colts it sees as aligned with Hong Kong racing demands. The purchases at the three-day sale held 8-10 February included a Per Incanto colt and a Written By colt, bought with clear intent to add proven speed and potential stallion value to the Club’s roster.

Lot 246, a brown colt by Per Incanto out of New Status Quo (by Ocean Park), cost AU$300,000, a figure sources convert to about HK$1,647,000. Lot 618, a bay colt by Written By out of Ajay’s Ace (by Charm Spirit), was secured for AU$140,000, roughly HK$769,000. The combined outlay of AU$440,000 equates to approximately HK$2.41 million, reflecting the Club’s continued willingness to invest in selected yearlings at southern hemisphere sales.

The appeal of Lot 246 is plain in the sire line. “Per Incanto, a reliable source of winners in Hong Kong, topped by nine-time winner Duke Wai and eight-time winner Wood On Fire. His top progeny at present is Raging Blizzard, who was second to Ka Ying Rising in the 2025 HK$28 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m),” the club noted. That lineage suits Hong Kong’s emphasis on speed and early maturity, and the brown colt’s Ocean Park dam line adds depth for middle-distance prospects if connections choose that route.

Lot 618 taps a different but complementary profile. Written By is a young stallion whose leading sons in Hong Kong include Steps Ahead (three wins) and Super Sixty (two wins), and in Australia he has sired stakes winners The Novelist, Ripcord and Straight Charge. The bay colt offers the Club a chance to follow a rising sire whose early crops have already produced black-type performers.

Sale-room colour underlined the competitiveness of the Inglis Classic. Buyers such as Mick Price and groups like the Equine Growth Fund took aggressive stances; Mick Price said of a separate buy that “I had some very good notes on him from the start,” while Equine Growth Fund founder Stefan Pardi noted, “I've got my money in the Equine Growth Fund too ... so I align myself with my investors and have skin in the game.” Trainer Fownes was quoted discussing logistics in general terms: “We’ve got clients all over. It’s a case of whether we keep the horse here for a preparation in Australia, or if he comes up to Hong Kong as a late 2-year-old or not.” The coverage did not specify which colt that remark referred to.

For Hong Kong racing fans and industry observers, the buys signal two things: the Club continues to prioritise speed-oriented pedigrees that have produced multiple winners in Hong Kong, and it will keep sourcing yearlings in Australia to feed a demanding domestic program. Next steps will be the horses’ preparations and whether they are primed in Australia or shipped as late 2-year-olds to Hong Kong racing, with their early campaigns offering the first real test of these targeted investments.