The Darby Racing team is dedicating the latter part of this week to exploring Inglis’s Riverside Sales Complex, aiming to uncover future stars at the Classic Yearling Sale. If the 2025 group performs as well as last year’s selections, they will have done an excellent job.
Led by Scott Darby, the team is inspecting more than 800 yearlings in this year’s Classic Sale, a market that has been pivotal in establishing Darby Racing’s success.
At previous Classic Sales, Darby Racing secured top performers at bargain prices, including Golden Slipper runner-up and dual Group 1 winner Yankee Rose for just $10,000 and Golden Slipper champion She Will Reign for $20,000.
Last year, Darby Racing purchased eight horses from the Classic Sale, three of whom will line up in Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium at Randwick.
Among them, Lucky Vega filly Within The Law was acquired for $30,000, while Cool Aza Beel colt Cobra Club and Crown The King, a son of Time To Reign, were each purchased for $70,000.
Regardless of Saturday’s results, Darby sees the presence of three runners in the race as an encouraging sign, especially given last year’s renewed focus on finding early-maturing prospects.
“We’ve been known for our two-year-olds but I think in the last few of years we’d veered a little bit away from that, not by design, and I said at the start of last year we need to really hone in on those sharp horses again,” Darby said.
“They’re not easy to find because they’re the types – especially if they’re by the right stallions – that make the big money, those the early, forward, sharp-looking horses that everyone’s looking for.
“That’s why the Classic Sale suits us well. We’re looking for that athlete whose pedigree is not quite everyone’s cup of tea, which you can get at a cheaper price.”
This year’s Classic Sale begins at 10 a.m. on Sunday and runs through Monday and Tuesday.
Within The Law, trained by Bjorn Baker, has already made a significant impact in the Inglis Sale Series, capturing the $500,000 Inglis Banner at Flemington on November 9 and following up with a win in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick on December 14.
These victories have positioned her as the sole contender for the $2 million Inglis Triple Crown bonus, awarded to any horse that wins either the Banner or Nursery, the Millennium, and the Inglis-sponsored Group 1 ATC Sires’ in April.
The Yulong-bred filly, out of the Dundeel mare Contract Signed, has drawn one of the widest barriers in a field of 16 plus four emergencies for the 1100m contest, but Darby remains optimistic.
“We’ve labelled her the Yankee Rose-type, more so on the front that she doesn’t really show you a huge amount in trackwork,” Darby said.
“If you watch her trials, she’s a bit unassuming but come raceday, when the pressure goes on in that last 200 metres, that’s when she comes to the fore.
“That was the hallmark of Yankee Rose and that’s where I compare them.
“I’ve had a lot of bad luck lately drawing inside gates – not that I really wanted to draw near the carpark – but I envisage she might get in the three-wide running line with cover and if she does happen to get that run I think she might just peel to the middle and be too strong for them.”
Within The Law’s Inglis Nursery victory came at the expense of Cobra Club, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt who was making his race debut. By So You Think out of Venom, he has exceeded Darby’s initial expectations.
“His trials were OK, he’d drawn poorly in the Nursery and he was fighting a little bit of shin soreness going in – it was 50/50 whether he even went there – so his effort was huge,” Darby said.
“Adrian said, off his work, it’s hard to get too enthusiastic but he was kind of like that last time in, so he might just be a raceday horse.
“From the gate – he’ll come into eight if there are no scratchings – he might be able to topple the filly if she gets into trouble out there.”
Cobra Club shares a stable with Crown The King, a son of Time To Reign, who carried the Darby Racing colors to victory in the 2019 Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes before finishing fifth in that year’s Golden Slipper.
Crown The King last raced on October 5, finishing second over 1050m at Doomben. He has since trialed twice in the past fortnight, including a sixth-place finish at Rosehill on Monday in a heat featuring leading Golden Slipper hopefuls North England, Bel Merci, and Pallaton.
