Five Questions With Brett Gilding

April 4, 2022

Ahead of Inglis 2022 Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the most important thoroughbred auction in the Southern Hemisphere, we caught up with Brett Gilding – Senior Bloodstock Consultant, New Zealand and South Africa representative & Auctioneer. 

1. What is your earliest or favourite memory of horse racing?

Watching Castletown in 1994 win the Wellington Cup at Trentham Racecourse as a five-year-old.

Trentham Racecourse is located in Wellington, New Zealand.

2. What does a day in the life of Bloodstock consultant entail?

The focus each day for the first six months of the year is on our next sale, whether it be a yearling sale, digital sale, or The Chairman’s Sale. Most of our time is spent promoting each sale, recruiting buyers, inspecting the stock we are about to sell, and running the actual auction itself. In the second part of the year, the focus is around recruiting yearlings for the following year. We spend most of our time inspecting the yearlings on farms around Australia and New Zealand, hopeful of finding the next Home Affairs, or million-dollar yearling. Add in the digital sales which go every fortnight and the Ready2Race Sale in October, it is full-on all year round.

3. How did you end up where you are in your career and what’s your favourite thing about it?

After completing the Horse Business Management course at Marcus Oldham College, working on some amazing stud farms in the UK and then for trainer Kelly Schweida in Brisbane, I got a job with Bloodstock.com.au selling horses online. Inglis bought that company and I eventually I moved into the Inglis Bloodstock team in Melbourne. I love auctioneering and my favourite thing is when a smaller breeder gets a big result in the sales ring.

4. what do you look for in a horse when you’re at the ingls easter yearling sales?

I love a yearling with plenty of strength that is nicely balanced.

5. If you had one tip for an aspiring bloodstock consultant, what would it be?

Do as much work experience as you can in as many different areas within the industry. I am also a big fan of Marcus Oldham College and programs like the Godolphin Flying Start, they can open plenty of doors for you.

6. Bonus question: If you were a racehorse, what would you be called?

Quiet Time