Johnny Collins: ‘I Bounce Out Of Bed Every Morning – I Love This Job’

No shortage of hard work and bundles of perseverance lie behind Johnny Collins's achievement in turning his Brown Island Stables into one of the finest nurseries of equine talent there is.

It is all the more remarkable in that he achieved this with no racing background and just his own eye and pocket to get the whole thing off the ground.

Competitive and ambitious, the 46-year-old counts several million euros worth of stock at his County Cork base, which is the culmination of over 15 years producing top-class horses over both codes.

And when it comes to identifying young stock, few do it better. Mshawish (Medaglia d'Oro), a dual Grade I winner and the best Flat horse that Collins has had through his hands, cost just $10,000 as a yearling at Keeneland but rocked into €170,000 at the Arqana breeze-up sale the following summer in 2012.

“You have to experience the disappointment for when they don't work out to appreciate the satisfaction for when it does,” – Johnny Collins

Then there has been mammoth success over jumps as well. Irish Champion Hurdle winner Petit Mouchoir (Fr) (Al Namix {Fr}) and Champion Bumper winner Relegate (Ire) (Flemensfirth) were the first big names to fly the flag in that sphere for Collins, who is now a regular sale-topping consignor at the major breeze-up and store sales in Europe.

With this year's breeze-ups on the horizon, Collins can count 24 2-year-olds to represent him from Dubai to Deauville. But it's not a case of just turning up. Oh no. Last year was forgettable to say the least as Collins took a haircut on a lot of his breezers and it was the stores that came to his rescue later in the spring.

It takes a certain amount of resolve to make this game pay. A great deal more of the stuff is required when things aren't exactly going your way. Taking his medicine is something Collins became accustomed to in the early days and, while success has been more plentiful in recent times, he has dealt with the disappointments the same right the way through: by building back bigger and stronger.

“My horses weren't good enough last year,” says Collins, straight to the point. “Even in tough years, if we had good horses and they performed well, we never had any trouble selling them. It's when your stock is below average, that's when you'll suffer.

“But, every now and then, you need a shake to keep yourself focussed in this game. That will open your eyes and remind you that it's not that simple. If it was only a matter of going around and buying them with your eyes closed, well then anyone could do it.”

He added, “You can get complacent at this job. You could think you can walk on water sometimes and that everything you touch will turn to gold. We didn't have a good year last year. Our first sale was our best sale at the Craven and after that we probably just held our own. I probably just about washed my face with the breezers. But then I'd a very good year with the stores.

“The one thing you wouldn't want to do when you've had a bad year is to go and change too many things. What we've done in the past few years in developing horses and the system here, it works, so there's no point in changing that. All that part of it is fine. We just didn't have enough good horses last year. It's all about the horses.”

An operation the size of Brown Island Stables is only ever a few bad years away from hitting the rocks. This is a ship that navigates the most unpredictable of waters and one that carries millions of euros worth of cargo. With so much at risk, one would forgive Collins for resembling a German Shepard with a headache on a mid-February work morning, but he and his loyal bunch of staff are unfailingly helpful.

One by one, 20 2-year-olds whizz up the grass gallop close to Collins's base, with crucial notes made on the closest thing he has to hand, which in this case is a white envelope.

“I like to see them dropping their heads there now and going about their work,” says Collins in between lots. “If they are doing that and trying for you, there's a good chance they will go the right way because they'll do the same in their races.”

In the group of workers we have colts by Twirling Candy and Blame, who are bound for the first breeze-up of the year in Dubai on Mar. 21. There's six for the Craven and the same number will go to Doncaster with the remainder being divided up between France, Fairyhouse and Newmarket.

Johnny Collins and Norman Williamson | Tattersalls

“When I started breezing horses, we were buying ready-to-rock 2-year-olds. They were little five and six-furlong horses. It's changed an awful lot now. Look at last year for example, an Irish Guineas winner [Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB})] and a St Leger winner [Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire})] came through the breeze-ups. It's amazing really.

“The yearlings were a great trade last year and it was hard to get them. I bought five at Book 2, two at Fairyhouse, two at the Somerville Sale, two at the Orby and the lads helped me out with six from America.”

The lads, as referenced by Collins, are international bloodstock agent Chad Schumer and his European representative Nancy Sexton, who have helped him to source stock from America while he was unable to travel to the States.

He continued, “I like a horse with a bit of strength and a bit of movement. There probably are sires who I wouldn't buy the progeny of because they haven't been lucky for me or they aren't commercial enough but I do try and go to the sales with as open a mind as possible. I'd cast a broad net and would look at as many as I could at a yearling sale.

“You can't overthink it, either. When you've your bundle of horses bought, you can only do the best with the horses you have. Of course it gets to you when they're not progressing the way you'd like them to be. For me, the beauty of it with the breezers is that I have a bunch of National Hunt horses to sell every year as well. So, even if you didn't have a great year with one code, you would be hoping to have a better year with the other. I'd be telling you a lie if I said that, coming close to the sales, there isn't an odd night where I'd be lying awake in bed thinking about it all. Of course there are.”

Collins endured his share of sleepless nights at the start. Whilst riding trackwork in America, he began to trade a few horses on the side but, by his own admission, was forced to learn by his mistakes.

“I went buying horses not really knowing what I was doing,” he explains. “I knew how to ride a horse but that was as far as it went. I had to make all of my own mistakes. I was at this a good while before I started making money. But, if you can sustain it, you won't keep making those mistakes. It would sharpen up your ideas and you won't make the same mistake twice. You get to look at your mistakes all year. Now, I wouldn't always buy a horse with perfect conformation but I'd know now what I could live with and what I could work with.”

So, when did the tide turn?

“For the first five or six years I really struggled. Even though I sold a couple of good horses, I was only barely making ends meet. The year I sold Mshawish, I also sold a horse by Street Boss, who made around €260,000. That really got the thing going.”

He added,  “I was only making enough to survive and that was with no staff. Hopefully we can keep it going now. It takes a while to break into it. You've to make a lot of mistakes and you need connections, too. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to build up a relationship and a bit of trust. It's easy to break it then as well.

“With the best will in the world, you can never be sure what a horse will do when it's put to the pin of its collar. You could have a horse working well but he might not deliver on a racecourse. That happens to trainers as well. You could genuinely think you have a good one but they let you down. Horses have a habit of doing that.

“When push comes to shove, they might not have the heart or the mind to go through with it. That's why it's so satisfying when they work out because, you know, everything is on the line as a trader. You have to experience the disappointment for when they don't work out to appreciate the satisfaction for when it does.”

Like most people who are good at what they do, Collins lives for his work and that passion fuels a hectic but rewarding lifestyle surrounded by horses.

“I love it. I enjoy this job, I must say. I like bringing on young horses and watching them progress. Even the National Hunt horses, I love bringing them on as well. And if they go on to do well for the next man, it's just a great feeling. That's what defines success for me but, at the same time, you can't do it if it's not financially viable.

“Especially when you start off, you need to have good results in the sales ring to keep the whole thing going and to develop the business. Luckily enough, we've sold a few nice horses but you're always looking for the next Cheltenham winner or the next good horse on the Flat.”

He added, “When you have the operation built up, bar you have it in your head to scale down, you have to buy the same amount of stock each year if you want to keep the same number of staff and the thing going the way you have it.

“Look it, I'm happy with the way I have it. As long as I have enough help, I've no interest in scaling back. I wouldn't see myself slowing down ever, as long as my health allows, because I do live for it. I could retire if I sold all my stock but it wouldn't make me happy.

Johnny Collins with his son Daniel | Barbara Collins

“You could kick up your feet but what would you do then? I'm a late starter with regards to my family. My wife Barbara and I have a son, Daniel, and he's only 18 months old.

“I've a lot of friends working in jobs they don't like. They get up every morning to go to work and it's a struggle. I bounce out of bed every morning to go at this. It's not like work at all. It's very enjoyable.”

Facing the reality that comes with preparing over 120 horses for resale and the need to clear a couple of million euros annually to keep the business afloat would be enough to make most people baulk. Not Collins, whose search for a star–and to make a few quid along the way–sustains him.

“There was an old man I used to drink with below in the pub in Middleton, Denis Twomey was his name. He's since passed away but he used to have a great saying, and it stuck with me.

“He'd say, 'There are 20 years to come and there are 20 more to back it, now where is the man who can tell the man who wore the ragged jacket?' Every time I'd see Denis, I'd ask him to say it for me. No matter how many times I'd heard it before, I loved listening to it. It's a great saying, you know, and it's very true.”

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Record-Breaking Rebound At Doncaster

DONCASTER, UK–Look, we all know to refrain from any bold pronouncements in such an uncertain world. But the same market that was last year first to be broadsided by the pandemic has now made consecutive statements: first one of cautious optimism and now, remarkably, one of record-breaking confidence. For if we left Newmarket last week reminding ourselves that a single swallow does not a summer make, then flight after flight seemed to fill the air at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale.

Whatever the ups and downs that inevitably still await, make no mistake. This was a huge day not just for the breeze-up sector, not just for the auction house, but for the whole bloodstock industry in Europe. Even in the absence of important recent investors, the prospect of a return to the racetrack appears to have opened the sluice gates on pent-up demand for one of the great joys of the life we all want to retrieve: the Thoroughbred racehorse.

Of course, there has never in history been a horse sale where every single vendor skipped away like Morecambe and Wise at the end of the show, and there were duly one or two consignors still grumbling about their fortunes. As prospectors and vendors basked in glorious spring sunshine, however, only the deserted benches around the sales ring told of the lingering impact of Covid. For if obliged to keep their distance indoors, then bidders were found themselves frantically congested in terms of competition.

Comparisons with the auction salvaged here last July (amalgamated with Arqana) would be pretty pointless, but the fact is that this sale outpunched even the buoyant returns of the preceding couple of years, when the sector overall had been riding a sustained bull run.

Perhaps most heartening of all, as at the Tattersalls Craven Sale which last week opened the European calendar, was the median. There really was a solid spread of business, and those perennial complaints about the soft centre of the market were silenced here. A median of £34,000 compared with £26,000 in 2019, and £25,500 the year before. The £48,590 average, equally, exceeded £45,750 two years ago and £40,058 in 2018. And if it's the home run you're after, then the 15 six-figure sales notched on Thursday compared with 11 in 2019 and 13 the year before. Overall business of £6,219,500 represented a 22% gain on 2019 while the clearance rate, as has become commonplace in the Covid economy, was again very purposeful at 89%.

Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent was rightly ecstatic. “This is an incredible business and today has been an amazing day,” he said. “To have the ability to hold the sale on its original date and at its intended location was the first success. To then smash all records is something that we couldn't have envisaged in the lead-up to this sale, and the results are very positive for the industry and for our loyal vendors who really backed us with some very nice horses.

“This sale has a brilliant record on the track and has produced five Royal Ascot winners since 2016, a fact that was not lost on buyers at any point today. We would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who purchased today, and we are sure that we will see many of them at Royal Ascot in eight weeks' time. In 2016, we saw two colts who shared the sale topping price–Prince Of Lir (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})–who went on to win the G2 Norfolk S. and Listed Windsor Castle S. that year.

“We hope that that is a good omen for this sale and we would also like to extend a big thank you to our vendors, who provided us with a catalogue of real depth to market to our international audience, whilst we would also like to thank Doncaster Racecourse who produced superb ground to show our breezers to maximum effect.”

Tally Ho Splits Top Lots

Horses run no faster or slower because of their price, as we know, and the petrified 2020 market here duly produced a £28,000 winner of the G3 Molecomb S. And it was the man responsible for that coup, Michael O'Callaghan, who for a long time topped proceedings here with the £210,000 he gave for lot 118, a colt by Twilight Son (GB) presented by Tally Ho Stud.

But the consignors, who had a remarkable day even by their standards, had an equivalent trick up their sleeves with the very last animal into the ring: a son of Galileo Gold (GB) who joined his draft companion at the head of the day's business with a £210,000 docket signed by Armando Duarte.

Both were apt measures of the Tally Ho genius. The Twilight Son colt was picked up for just €28,000 from Olive O'Connor Bloodstock as a short yearling at the Goffs February Sale of 2020. If you think about everything that has happened since, this really was a “touch” that seemed to bring things full circle.

“He was my pick of the sale, by a long way,” said Michael O'Callaghan, who credited namesake Roger for his endorsement of the colt. “He's from a great hotel that we've been extremely lucky with. I saw him at home three weeks ago, loved him, and he couldn't have come more highly recommended. He took the preliminaries so well, he walked round the parade ring like an old handicapper. Though hopefully that's the last time he looks like one of those.”

The Curragh trainer, back on a happy hunting ground, laid out over £500,000 for six purchases in all, including a £140,000 Footstepsinthesand (GB) colt presented as lot 151 by Woodtown House Stud. He had failed to meet his reserve at €29,000 at Goffs only last autumn. “He's a lovely horse, I saw him at the Curragh three weeks ago and have been admiring him since the online sale at Goffs,” O'Callaghan said. “I probably should have bought him then. But he did an excellent breeze here.”

Duarte, for his part, had saved his best until last. His purchase will be staying in England, but no more could be disclosed at this point. Though he conceded that Galileo Gold has achieved limited commercial traction, this lad belongs to his first crop and he clearly retains every right to make himself fashionable where it counts.

“And the mare has produced quite a good stakes horse,” he noted, referring to Acklam Express (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who had actually supplied a Group 1 update when placed in the Al Quoz Sprint since the publication of the catalogue. “He breezed very well, looks ready to run, and fits the bill as one that might have Ascot potential.”

Through the card Tally Ho sold 15 animals for £985,000 at an average £65,667.

McGivern Deserves Pinhook Of The Day

It's not hard to see where the Kodiac (GB) filly who came here from Derryconnor Stud might have found the resources to punch above her wait. Consignor Katie McGivern has been in the wars this spring but her fighting spirit evidently rubbed off on lot 154, who she bought for just £13,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Yearling Sale and turned into the fastest of all the breezers clocked here on Tuesday. That earned her a £180,000 docket signed by Oliver St. Lawrence on behalf of KHK Racing.

“I'm speechless, even though I can't stop talking,” said McGivern with an excited laugh. “I couldn't believe it when they kept going after £100,000. This is a life-changing result. I had no-one call and ask me for a half, so I actually own her outright. We're desperate for a straight gallop, so I suppose it'll have to go towards that.

“I love a Kodiac filly anyway and the first dam was two-for-two, one rated 90 and one rated 80, so she was a no-brainer if nobody wanted her on looks. She was a little small, and I had her vetted–which I never do–just to know that it was only her size that would be against her. Her homework has always been very good and consistent, but you still need luck on the day, you need them to keep straight and so on, and the rider did a great job.”

She may be indebted to the wit of auctioneer Nick Nugent for goading an extra bid or two as the impetus began to slow. “Come on,” he chided from the rostrum. “Do you want to be Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin?”

Mission control will now be the yard of Robert Cowell, whose brief was intimidatingly simple. “A fast, sharp Ascot 2-year-old,” St Lawrence said. “Katie says five or six furlongs, so we have a choice between the Queen Mary and the Albany. She's not the biggest but she's built like the proverbial brick 'outhouse', looks like a colt, and Robert loved her the moment he saw her. Times are important but I couldn't care whether they're first or 20th, you're only talking hundredths and what counts is that they look the business when they're doing it.”

Nay, Not Too Bad

An opening bid of £150,000 appeared to suggest that all the pre-sale talk about lot 74, a No Nay Never colt presented by Willie Browne, was going to be matched by ringside deeds. In the event, then, Browne permitted himself mild disappointment when Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock was able to secure an animal he prized so highly for 'just' £200,000.

“A little bit of an anti-climax, with all the action I had on him,” admitted the Mocklershill maestro, who presented the colt for breeders Meadowcourt Stud. “In a real strong market maybe he could have made a bit more. Listen, it's a fine price, but he's potentially very good. I haven't had one as good for a couple of years. Hopefully he's the real deal: he has lots of speed, but he'll stay too.”

If he's right, then what kind of bargain did Paul Nataf strike when acquiring the dam, an unraced daughter of Mastercraftsman (Ire), for just €11,000 through Baroda Stud at Goffs last November? Besides this colt she has just a yearling filly by Gleneagles (Ire), and she was sold with a Ten Sovereigns (Ire) cover.

“He's for a new owner who asked for one good colt out of the breeze-ups,” explained Brown, before putting in a call to John Gosden. “I thought he did a phenomenal breeze. There are some nice horses here, very forward, and for me he was the pick. Because while I think he can be a good summer 2-year-old, he has plenty of scope and I think he can train on as well. To be fair to Willie, he saw me drooling over the horse on Monday and he was very high on him.”

Cowell Sticking To Royal Formula

Robert Cowell is hoping that history will repeat itself after giving £170,000 for a Kodiac colt consigned as lot 52 by Bansha House Stables. That is precisely what he did here five years ago, virtually to the day, and two months later he had won the G2 Norfolk S. with Prince Of Lir (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).

The Newmarket trainer signed for the colt in the company of Tim Palin of Middleham Park, who will race him in partnership with another client, Tom Morley. Whether or not he can emulate Prince Of Lir at Ascot, the hope is that he will prove a longer-term project.

“Ascot is the dream, but it's not the be-all and end-all,” Cowell said. “He has plenty of size and substance. He's not just a little 2-year-old, I hope he would have a lot more to him than that. We were looking for a nice fast horse that can hopefully repeat the kind of success we had with Prince Of Lir. We know he comes from a very good outfit, and he's a lovely specimen, with a good walk on him, and a great action. So all the stars aligned.”

It's certainly a brisk pedigree. The dam, a daughter of sale graduate Dream Ahead, has made a good start with her only runner to date being Operatic (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), a dual winner at two last year; while the second dam is dual Group-winning sprinter Lidanna (GB) (Nicholas)–who holds down the same spot in the pedigree of G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Wizz Kid (Ire) (Whipper).

Con Marnane was delighted by the dividend on his £46,000 investment in the same ring last September.

“Over the moon,” the Bansha House consignor said. “We bought him off Plantation Stud and he's turned into a gorgeous horse, and it's a proper page. The sister is very talented, she was impressive in her two wins and the ground was very heavy when she was well beaten in the listed race at Newmarket after that. She could still be a very nice filly this year.”

As one of the stalwarts of the sector, Marnane was relieved by the buoyancy of trade, having candidly drawn in his horns in restocking.

“We're way down [in numbers],” he said. “We were just too scared and said we would only buy really nice yearlings. And thank God we did. I must thank our regular customers, because it's them that are coming back to us again and again. England is going to be back to normal way before other countries, so it's a pleasure to be here. In Ireland we've hardly sharpened the needles yet.”

Dance Continues Comeback Spree

The same family produced a good yield on lot 96, a May colt by New Bay (GB) who made £120,000 for Gaybrook Lodge Stud having been found by M.C. Bloodstock in Book 1 at Tattersalls last October for just 40,000gns. He's a half-brother to Wizz Kid, whose relationship to Robert Cowell's new Kodiac is noted above, and joins the team of breeze-up recruits being dynamically assembled by Manor House Stud.

That historic Middleham farm, freshly acquired for the revamped John Dance operation, was the top buyer at the Craven Sale last week with eight lots for an aggregate 1,035,000gns. The Classic quality of this colt's sire obviously balances out the family speed and the purchasing strategy duly looked consistent with the £140,000 acquisition of lot 76, who was certainly not a standardised, sharp-and-early type off the “Donny” conveyor belt.

This was a colt by Kingman (GB) out of a sister to Group 1 winner Jan Vermeer (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), therefore a half-sister to another Ballydoyle high achiever in Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He was pinhooked by Mags O'Toole out of Book 2 last October for 87,000gns.

“He was just very young-looking,” explained Oak Tree's Norman Williamson. “But he's a May foal and it's very hard to get your hands on a Kingman. He took his prep extremely well. He'll be a horse for later, maybe you'd see him September time, but to me he has a big future: we can all see how well-bred he is, and he's a tall, beautiful horse that should grow into something special.”

Manor House Stud ended the day with half a dozen new recuits at an aggregate £690,000, and the others did fit the traditional profile for this sale: a £120,000 Kodiac (GB) filly consigned by Powerstown Stud as lot 140, great work on a £33,000 punt here last year; a £100,000 Dark Angel colt from Malcolm Bastard, lot 166, found at the Orby for £45,000 by Richard Ryan; and, within the space of five minutes, £120,000 and £90,000 for two sons of the ubiquitous Mehmas (Ire) respectively consigned as Lots 124 and 126.

Mehmas is a prolific young stallion in every sense, duly the most represented in the catalogue with 17 entries. The market's pick at £150,000 turned out to be lot 41, the first foal of a Shamardal half-sister to Signoff (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), a dual group winner in Australia, the pair out of another group winner in Circle Of Gold (Ire) (Royal Academy). This is the family of G1 St Leger winner Rule Of Law (Kingmambo), and Tom Goff duly hopes that this filly, presented by Glending Stables, will have more in her favour than the trademark precocity of her sire.

“She's from an extremely good farm,” the Blandford agent stressed. “And I thought her the best filly here by a country mile. She did a lovely breeze and I'd be very hopeful that besides having the class and speed to be a good 2-year-old, she would also have the scope and quality to go on next year. So I hope she won't just be one of those one-hit wonders, while I also hope she can be precocious enough too. The sire's obviously on fire, and she's out of a Shamardal mare, and goes back to a lovely Robert Sangster family.”

Goff could be no more specific of her destination than to say that she would be trained in Newmarket.

Roderick Kavanagh, her delighted consignor, has expanded to a draft of 14 breezers in his fifth year since inaugurating the Glending wing of his family's Kildaragh Stud. “She had great motion,” he said of a filly recruited via the Sportsman's Sale here for £25,000, signed for by Peter and Ross Doyle. “And she has been a joy ever since, straightforward all the way through. The Shamardal mare has been a great help and, though you dream of it, this was beyond all expectation.”

Collins Glad To Take The Blame

Pinhooking from the American market continues to yield great results for those of sufficient enterprise and this was an especially good day for Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables.

He pulled off one of the touches of the day with a colt by Blame signed for by Chad Schumer at Keeneland last September for just $14,000. Here he realised £175,000 from Rabbah Bloodstock, who had earlier given £78,000 for a filly (lot 90) by the same sire in the same draft. Rabbah have proved a conspicuous inconvenience to anyone trying for nice American types at both the breeze-up sales in Europe so far.

“This was the last horse into the ring in Book 3,” Collins remembered of lot 172. “Travel was obviously difficult last year, but maybe that meant there weren't quite as many people going. But I've been going a long time and could hardly miss it, could I? I have sold two G2 Norfolk winners from America, Bapak Chinta (Speightstown) and South Central (Forest Camp). This was a nice square horse when I bought him and he's a nice square horse now.”

One of the best judges in the business had marked out the Jimmy Creed colt in the same draft as his pick, and Edgar Byrne was of like mind in giving $135,000 for lot 158, a $30,000 yearling at Keeneland. The colt will be joining Soren Jensen in Denmark.

“I've waited all day for him, so on a nice sunny day I've been walking my box,” said Byrne. “He's an extremely nice horse that came highly recommended by Johnny. They will have the dirt option out there if they need it, because Malmo is only down the road, but he obviously breezed very well on the turf here.”

Another transatlantic success, albeit in a much lower register, was a colt from the fourth crop of Carpe Diem picked up by Jim McCartan of Gaybrook Lodge for just $3,000 at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington last October. True, this was scarcely in the league of McCartan's legendary coup with Willie Browne at Arqana four years ago, when a $15,000 Street Sense colt evolved into a €1.4-million juvenile. But $52,000 from David Redvers for lot 21 still represented a fine percentage yield.

“It cost more to get him home than to buy him,” McCartan said. “I bought him at the end-of-year sale there and he was just a little bit backward, he needed to furnish a little. But he took his preparation very well and developed all the way through and turned out a very nice horse who could gallop well.”

Bringing American pedigrees into a notoriously parochial market has its obvious dangers, but the devotion of so many prospectors to breeze data means that the way the model functions can redeem any uncertainty even about dirt stallions. But then Carpe Diem is the only son of Giant's Causeway to have won a Grade I on dirt, and damsire More Than Ready resembles that legend in having established his versatility in different racing environments.

“He was a very good individual, to be fair, with a lot of More Than Ready about him-and I've been lucky with that horse,” McCartan said. “Most of the time you do need a [familiar] sire but there are an awful lot of horses to choose from, 4,000 or so at Keeneland, and if you're prepared to work hard you might come across one or two.”

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American Pharoah, Hard Spun Juveniles Strike Big At Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale

A colt by exciting young sire Night Of Thunder was the star turn at the sun-drenched Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale when selling for 575,000 guineas (US$748,927). A total of 70 lots sold for 6,649,500 guineas ($8,660,855) at an average of 94,993 guineas ($123,728) and a median of 61,000 guineas ($79,457).

Brown Island Stables' Johnny Collins was celebrating after his Night of Thunder colt lit up the ring when selling for 575,000 guineas ($748,927) to Tom Biggs of Blandford Bloodstock. It was a notable pinhooking triumph for Collins who had purchased the colt for £72,000 ($89,319) as a yearling.

“I had one by Night Of Thunder last year and really wanted to get another to join the team,” said Collins after the sale. “He went through very early, looked like an April 28 foal, and was only 15hh high – he is a 16hh horse now! The time delay this spring has probably helped him, but he has always been a powerful galloper.”

Of his sire, Collins added: “Who could have foreseen what he would achieve? He has got better books coming forward and he really is taking himself up into the higher brackets.”

Tom Biggs saw off the efforts of underbidder Mark McStay and David Redvers after an intense bidding battle to secure the colt and explained;

“He will stay in Newmarket. It was a little more than we had wanted to spend, but you have to pay for this sort of horse. He is a lovely horse, he did a very nice breeze and his sire is doing so well.”

The sale-topping colt is out of Thurayaat, a granddaughter of the Oaks and 1,000 Guineas winner Midway Lady who also produced an Oaks winner herself in champion 3-year-old filly Eswarah.

Internet Bid Triumphs for American Pharoah Colt

Bids rained in from outside the sale ring from the socially distanced Tattersalls audience for Star Bloodstock's American Pharoah colt but it was an internet bid that won the day at 400,000 guineas ($521,050). The successful purchaser was Simon Chappell, who said;

“I know the guys at Star Bloodstock and they've been telling me this colt is a good horse all year. At 400,000 guineas there was no way I was letting a horse like him slip through the net. He's by the sire of the moment in American Pharoah, he did the third-fastest breeze and has a massive stride, so I used the internet bidding system and bought the horse. He'll be going into training with Simon Crisford.”

The colt was bought as a yearling by Byron Rogers and Newminster Pinhook for $170,000 and was prepared for Star Bloodstock by Johnny Hassett.

“He has always shown us a lot,” said Rogers. “When we let them off in March and asked the draft to point their toes a little bit, he always went well. He is a very quick horse, he breezed as we expected he would.”

The colt is from the second crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, already the sire of seven stakes winners, and is the second foal out of the stakes winning mare Harlan's Honor whose only runner to date has been stakes-placed in the U.S.

Cool Silk Partnership Strike for Hard Spun Filly
 
The Cool Silk Partnership and Peter Swann have enjoyed great success buying at the breeze up sales with Stroud Coleman's Matt Coleman and the team struck the winning bid of 375,000 guineas ($488,476) for Mocklershill's popular Hard Spun filly.

“We really liked this filly and waited for her. She is a lovely horse and travelled over well. She has only done her prep since March and has handled it well,” Peter Swann commented. “She might end up going abroad, we have just sent Midnight Sands to Brendan Walsh in the U.S. This filly will have some resale value too.”

Of the breeze-up sales, Swann added: “We like to buy at the breeze up sales as you get to see how the horse is mentally dealing with training. At the sale we look at times and strides and everything really, we have Matt with us and James Given to vet, but we also like to see the horses in the yard and see their characters. I think the market has been quite strong, we were underbidder on the Twilight Son filly. As the breeze ups have been so late this year we have had to be patient, but we hope we have bought a classier type.”

Consignor Willie Brown of Mocklershill said: “I am flabbergasted! She is a lovely filly, a seriously good filly, and has been very busy since we got here. She has been training well and only arrived with us on March 2. Then the only sale open was Goresbridge, but with the delays, and as she was working so well, we entered her here on a wild card.”

The filly is out of the Grade 3 placed Lemon Drop Kid mare Lemonette from a deep American family.

Chairman's Statement

At the conclusion of the 2020 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony commented;

“First and foremost we would like to pay tribute to each and every individual who has worked so hard to make sure that the 2020 Craven Breeze Up Sale took place under almost normal conditions, albeit more than two months later than intended. In particular we should recognise the patience and commitment of the Breeze Up consignors who have worked with us every step of the way and have adapted to the challenges that the global pandemic has thrown at people in every walk of life. None of us can pretend that the past few months have been easy, but in these times of adversity it has been even more pleasing than usual to see so many of the consignors well rewarded. A clearance rate of 83 percent, an average price nudging 100,000 guineas and a top priced colt matching last year's highest priced colt, are very respectable statistics and reflect the outstanding professionalism of the Breeze Up consignors who, as ever, brought a fine collection of 2-year-olds to the Craven Breeze Up Sale.

“We should equally recognize the huge contribution made by today's purchasers. They have yet again demonstrated the enduring appetite for quality European thoroughbreds and the esteem in which the Craven Breeze Up is held. Even in these extraordinary times we have had buyers active from all corners of the world including Australia, Bahrain, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Qatar and Spain and the domestic demand has also exceeded expectations. Obviously the highlight was Johnny Collins' spectacular pinhooking triumph with his outstanding 575,000 guineas sale – topping Night Of Thunder colt, but there were numerous other success stories and we can be confident that there will be plenty of 2020 Craven Breeze Up graduates performing at the highest level.

“We are expecting international travel restrictions to be eased in the near future, which will be a great relief, and as we look forward to the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up and July Sale it has also been encouraging to see the new internet bidding facility being widely used by buyers at all levels of the market. We have done our best to explore every possible way for buyers to participate at our sales in these unusual times and it has clearly been well received.”

The next sales at Tattersalls are the Guineas Breeze Up Sale and July Sale which takes place from July 8 – 10.

The post American Pharoah, Hard Spun Juveniles Strike Big At Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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