A strong return at the annual Inglis thoroughbred auctions continued with the 2011 Melbourne Autumn Yearling Sales coming to a close on Monday at Oaklands with reported profits on par with 12 months ago.

Session one saw 247 yearlings sold for a total of $2,832,250 at an average price of $11,511, followed by an additional $980,500 traded in Session two.

The profitable second session was in part thanks to the Supplementary Catalogue that turned over $238,250 on Monday at an average of $11,345.

“This sale made a 23% gain in average last year and to all but hold those figures is a very pleasing result for all concerned,” Inglis Director Peter Heagney said.

“The supplementary catalogue did very well and it was satisfying to see buyers waiting until the end of the day to bid on those lots, where they sold up to $52,500.

“The final clearance rate from the two days will be comfortably beyond the 80% mark, so all in all, it’s been a solid sale year again this year.”

There were a total of 469 lots on sale over the two days.

Overall the autumn yearling sale at Oaklands was topped by a filly by Group 2 winner Written Tycoon from Bluebird mare Turtle Dove who was prepared for sale by Eliza Park and went for $80,000 to EBA Victoria on Sunday.

The filly is a half-sister to 2005 BMW Queensland Derby runner-up Lords A Leaping.

The second-highest price lot sold on Sunday was Makybe’s Nadeem colt, bought by Matthew Williams for $62,000.

Of the yearlings sold on day two, the lot that fetched the highest price was a bay Favelon colt.

Related to Blue Diamond winner Wager, the colt was sold to Australian Thoroughbreds for $60,000.

Victorian trainer Mick Price made the second largest purchase yesterday paying $52,500 for a Blue Gum Farm colt that shares the same sire as the mighty Black Caviar, Bel Esprit.

Later in the day a General Nediym colt from Three Bridges also cracked the $50,000 mark.

Deemed the ‘bargain’ sale of the country, the Inglis Melbourne Autumn Yearling Sale has seen greats such as Grand Journey, Broadway Harmony, Pompeii Ruler and Grand Britannia sold for a song at its previous auctions.

The most notable Inglis Melbourne Autumn Yearling graduate of recent times was superstar mare Black Caviar.

The next major Inglis auction will be the Scone Select Yearling Sale running on May 12 and 15, 2011.