Nonetheless the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, after a fairly quiet start, rallied powerfully to complete what has been an extremely strong British cycle in the breeze-up calendar, registering an 18% hike in average from 35,678gns to 42,145gns and a new record in turnover.

This catalogue traditionally invites a slightly longer view than the earlier auctions, and a gratifying case in point was the Zoffany (Ire) colt found by Cormac Farrell at Fairyhouse last September for €55,000.

Brought here as lot 301, he had put a few eyeballs on stalks with the time he clocked the previous day, not least in view of the sturdy German blood clustering down the page. But he corroborated the impression made on the Rowley Mile with his languid stride round the ring, forcing Richard Hughes (with Ted Durcan alongside) all the way to 200,000gns to bring down the gavel.

“I think he might be a freak,” Farrell said. “He can do sectionals like a six-furlong horse, not one that should be wanting a mile and a half. He's a big rangy horse, nearly 16.2, but he just had this insane foot, it didn't make sense, particularly as we thought a bit of the other horses we had, the Kodiacs and the 'Starspangleds', and he could keep up with them. So he could just be exceptional.

“We'd just been nursing him along, he was raw and we minded him really, went very steady. It was only a month ago that we asked him to show us what he could do, and it came so natural to him that we only had to do a couple of gallops. It sounds silly, but we did come here thinking we might be able to top the sale. You never know until you get the breeze out of the way, though, so it's great that he's done what we hoped he would.”

Farrell acknowledged that the colt had not been an obvious type for the job.

“We thought we'd given plenty for him, at the time,” he admitted. “He was a big raw yearling, and people laughed when I said we were going to breeze him. And I could see why: in December he looked like an overgrown yearling still, but he has thrived since.”

He was delighted, moreover, to hear that his new trainer did not intend to press on with the horse immediately.

“We'll probably turn him out for some May grass,” Hughes confirmed. “I think six weeks will do him good and then we'll get him in and look to get him ready for an October maiden. He shouldn't be able to do what he's doing, really, at this time of the year, it's almost odd with the backbone of his pedigree a top-class German staying family.”

Sure enough, the colt is out of a sister to two most accomplished stayers: Getaway (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) won group races in Britain, France and Germany; while G1 Italian Oaks winner Guadalupe (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) has herself delivered two elite winners.

200,000gns for lot 301 at the #TattsGuineas Breeze Up Sale

This colt, by the late Zoffany, was a €55,000 yearling and was sold by C.F Bloodstock to @RHughesracing / @TedDurcan pic.twitter.com/ku9SjvfdN7

— TDN (@theTDN) May 4, 2023

The Main Talking Points

• Turnover for both sections of the sale reached a new high, for an aggregate 7,468,000gns on the day. Tally-Ho meanwhile continued their exceptional spring, leading consignors in processing eight juveniles for 438,000gns–highlighted by a 150,000gns Farhh (GB) colt (lot 309) sold to Rabbah.
• One of the principal services of the breeze-up sector is to bridge the abyss that has culpably opened in recent years between dirt-bred American horses and the European circuit. The latest imported pinhook to impress buyers with her speed over the turf was a brilliant effort, a Congrats filly brought here by Katie Walsh of Greenhills Farm as lot 308. Picked up by Alpha Bloodstock at Keeneland last September for just $20,000, here she made 150,000gns from Oliver St Lawrence for Fawzi Nass. She'll join Jamie Osborne with Dubai in the back of their mind.
• Rookies to celebrate headline sales included Calyx (GB), whose Apr. 28 foal from Bushypark Stables (lot 306) won over Richard Brown of Blandford at 135,000gns and who later added a 120,000gns colt (lot 351) sold by Tally-Ho; Magna Grecia (Ire), whose colt from Yeomanstown (lot 272) brought 115,000gns from John McConnell; and Soldier's Call (GB), who sold two colts at 110,000gns apiece, one from Powerstown (lot 289) to a stable that has excelled at this sale in Alan King (co-signed with Federico Barberini) and another from Derryconnor Stud (lot 327) to Amanda Skiffington.
• Profitable (Ire) has dropped to a four-figure fee at Kildangan but his third crop showed how he can make that pay when registering a couple of big scores: Richard Ryan gave 150,000gns for the 32,000gns Somerville pinhook presented by Malcolm Bastard (lot 204); while another son brought 78,000gns as lot 267. Ryan's fellow, acquired for Teme Valley and Opulence Racing, will join Profitable's trainer Clive Cox.
• After a fairly long and winding road, Starspangledbanner (Aus) has reached a new peak in his global reputation and prepared for the resumption of his shuttling career with two daughters catching the eye of shrewd racing syndicates. Middleham Park gave 120,000gns for lot 288, sold to Fozzy Stack at the Orby for €40,000 and brought here by A & N Bloodstock; while Nick Bradley landed lot 304, a 27,000gns Book 2 buy by Kilronan and consigned by Knockanglass, for 80,000gns.
• At a sale that provides some oxygen for those bred to need a little more time and distance, plaudits for showcasing potential within the constraints of the format went to Michael Cleere for turning an Almanzor (Fr) colt (lot 190), found in this ring for just 9,000gns last October, into a 95,000gns sale to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. The agent in turn gave credit to client Peter Jeffers, saying, “He doesn't want the whizz-bangs.”
• Whether enough attention was being paid to the breeding potential of fillies in the Horses-in-Training session must be in doubt, seeing that 5,000gns sufficed to land the collector's item that was Margaret Beaufort (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) (lot 29). Though her two recent wins for George Scott had come at a very modest level, her granddam is the only foal ever delivered to the tragic George Washington (Ire).
• The final transaction of the day prompted warm applause for auctioneer Ollie Fowlston, laying down his gavel after 25 years with Tattersalls to become managing director at Dullingham Park. He was never going to go quietly, given the volume he tends to favour! But there was no mistaking the affection and esteem of the many colleagues and friends who gathered to wish him well in his new role.

@richryanracing & @OpThoroughbreds team up to buy lot 204 for 150,000gns at #TattsGuineas Breeze Up Sale.

This colt by Profitable was consigned by Malcom Bastard and has been bought to race in partnership with Teme Valley. pic.twitter.com/NwTJj1n2qo

— TDN (@theTDN) May 4, 2023

O'Callaghan Passes Test of Resolve

Michael O'Callaghan has done too well, too often, with the business model he has more or less trademarked at the breeze-ups to be disheartened even by the calamity that befell his record-breaking Harry Angel (Ire) colt in a freak transport accident following his £500,000 purchase at Doncaster.

Certainly the trainer will deserve redress from Lady Luck with the Time Test (GB) colt (lot 322) that again took him to the top of the sale, alongside the Zoffany colt sold by Cormac Farrell a few minutes earlier, at 200,000gns.

Found in the same ring as a foal by Pier House Stud, for 67,000gns at the 2021 December Sale, he was brought back by the masterly Willie Browne of Mocklershill. The colt has some top-class blood behind him–his mother is an unraced sister to G3 Queen's Vase winner Mikhail Glinka (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the pair out of a sister to none other than Sir Percy (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire})–and Brendan Morrin of Pier House soon decided that he might be a longer-term project.

“Willie does five or six breezers for us every year,” he explained. “And this horses has a lot of Galileo in him. We decided we'd hang on and wait for breeze, rather than sell as a yearling. Sometimes those plans don't work out, when you're buying them as foals, but we have been lucky today: Willie has done a fantastic job on him. He went there in January unbroken, but we'd handled him with the sales yearlings.”

“He's a magnificent-looking horse,” enthused Browne. “He looks a racehorse, he has a great walk and a great mind on him. I thought waiting for this sale might give him a bit of extra time, and he was a standout today.”

O'Callaghan was additionally intrigued by a resemblance to G2 Beresford S. winner Crypto Force (GB), another son of Time Test that he found at this sale last year for 160,000gns.

“He's a lovely, quality horse, and I hope lightning can strike twice,” O'Callaghan said. “Crypto Force was also out of a Galileo mare. This horse has a lovely action, he was a bit green in his breeze but we can forgive him that.”

Stars Align For Oakgrove

The last lot catalogued in the first half of the sale, comprising older Horses-in-Training, actually belonged to the same crop as the breezers that followed. But this Sea The Stars (Ire) filly, out of an unraced Nathaniel (Ire) half-sister to G2 Lancashire Oaks winner Pongee (GB) (Barathea {Ire}), arrived with a challenging history as one of 30 yearlings purchased for some £20 million by Richard Knight Bloodstock last year, only for client Saleh Al Homaizi to fail to come up with payment.

Most have already been re-offered (including one that won at Salisbury on Thursday afternoon) but this filly, who made 600,000gns when consigned by Newsells Park at the October Sale, has meanwhile been in pre-training and, according to Oakgrove Stud manager David Hilton after signing a 150,000gns docket, has had to overcome a “couple of niggles”.

Whatever her immediate future, Hilton emphasised that his employer John Deer had targeted the filly as a long-term project for Oakgrove, given a long screed of black type beneath her granddam Puce (GB) (Darshaan {GB}).

“This is very much a pedigree-based purchase,” explained Hilton. “We have [Pongee's daughter] Poplin (GB) (Medicean {GB}) and she's doing well for us. Whether we race her or not is up for debate, but we're very happy to buy her and she will join the broodmare band eventually.

“I spoke to Megan Evans at [consignor] Vicarage Farm, who was very honest and said they have not done a great deal with her. She's a big filly but very elegant, a good mover with a lovely head. She's very Sea The Stars, and Nathaniel (Ire) is starting to do well as a broodmare sire. The mare is based at Newsells and I'm sure they will be looking after her very well, so we'll be looking on with interest.”

The only runner to date out of this filly's unraced dam is Paz (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), a dual juvenile scorer in France who ran second in the Listed Prix des Lilas at Chantilly Thursday evening.

saving the best for last at #TattsGuineas HIT Sale

Lot 154 – a filly by Sea The Stars from the family of Chiquita, sells for 150,000gns. She was consigned by @vicarage_farm and has been bought by @OakgroveStud. pic.twitter.com/R0X24g3rre

— TDN (@theTDN) May 4, 2023

Records All Round

Having seen his rivals at Doncaster celebrate a remarkable auction last week, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony was glad to note the continued strong trade here.

“The momentum from the recent record-breaking Craven Breeze-Up Sale has been well and truly sustained at a second consecutive record-breaking renewal of this sale,” he said. “The combined turnover for the breeze-up 2-year-olds and horses-in-training has surpassed last year's record of 6.7 million guineas; the key indicators of average and median have matched or exceeded last year's impressive returns; and 13 2-year-olds have sold for 100,000 guineas or more, which is another record for the fixture.

“This sale traditionally attracts an abundance of overseas buyers and this year has been no exception with international demand, most notably from throughout Europe and the Gulf region, proving to be a feature of the sale which has also produced a combined clearance rate well in excess of 80%.

“Domestic buyers have as ever made a huge contribution to a successful sale and it is a tribute to the consignors that the breeze-up sector continues to go from strength to strength. There is no doubt that the consistent ability of both the Tattersalls Craven and Guineas Breeze-Up Sales to produce Classic and Group 1 winners has not gone unnoticed by the buyers, and we look forward to seeing plenty more quality performers emerge from both sales in the coming months.”

The post 200,000gns Farrell ‘Freak’ Shares Top Billing At Guineas Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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We've seen plenty of those dubbed as 'Royal Ascot two-year-olds' over the last week or so, and as the British leg of the breeze-up action comes to a close at Tattersalls on Thursday, the focus generally adjusts slightly to more of a later-maturing specimen. It was at the Guineas Sale of 2018 that Trueshan was bought for 31,000gns by Alan King and Anthony Bromley, a duo which is now a regular fixture at these auctions. He was plucked from the draft of Thomond O'Mara's Knockanglass Stables and, as the sun and wind continued to dry the Rowley Mile on Wednesday morning, two of O'Mara's seven juveniles on offer in this year's sale posted times within the top five of the day.

Of course, every vendor and buyer will tell you that it's not all about the time, and indeed there have been some notable examples of slower breezers going on to success at the top, including Derby runner-up Libertarian (GB) and Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire). But it can help when the clock speaks in your favour, as was seen a fortnight ago at the Craven Sale, when Glending Stables' son of Havana Grey (GB) sold for 15 times his yearling price at 650,000gns after posting the fastest breeze of the session. Roderick Kavanagh's outfit again had one of the fastest breezers on the unofficial times recorded for the Guineas Sale in lot 193, a colt by freshman sire Inns Of Court (Ire).

Last week we spoke to Robbie Mills of RMM Bloodstock about his burgeoning breeze-up and pre-training business, and one of his neighbours on Newmarket's Hamilton Road, George Peckham, is in a similar position. Under the George Peckham Racing banner, the former trainer brings a colt and a filly to the Guineas Sale, only the second and third he has consigned to breeze following an initial foray in 2021 when selling treble winner Straits Of Moyle (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) to the Cool Silk Partnership for 105,000gns.

“That's our only previous breezer at the sales,” Peckham said. “We did have one last year for the Guineas that had a setback before the sale so we sold him privately to Niels Petersen through Edgar Byrne. He won his first start by eight lengths in Norway and they quite like him, so I'm excited to see what he can do.”

Now a sought-after pre-trainer in Britain's busiest training centre, Peckham's involvement in the breeze-ups remains on the select side at present. 

“It's something that we wanted to give a go,” he noted. “It's never going to be a big business for us. We're flat out with the pre-training, and that's our main business, but we are lucky to have the facilities on the Heath in Newmarket. We'll see what happens but, we're very happy with how they went this morning.”

His two-strong draft currently at Park Paddocks consists of lot 174, a colt by Twilight Son (GB) whose full-sister The Twilight Lady (GB) won twice at two last year. Their grand-dam Confidential Lady (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) won the G1 Prix de Diane for her breeders Cheveley Park Stud.

He is followed by lot 258, a filly by Ardad (Ire) out of Broughton's Secret (GB) (Aqlaam {GB}) whose half-brother Spioradalta (GB) (Rajasinghe {Ire}) was another juvenile to win last year.

Peckham said, “The Twilight Son is a speedy little horse who does what it says on the tin, and the Ardad is a nice, big, rangey filly who will need a little bit more time. She probably wants seven furlongs or a mile at this stage, and the last few weeks it's all just come a little bit quick for her. She has a lovely, big stride on her, so it will be towards the back end of the season and into next year that she'll really come to the fore, I think. But to do what she's doing at the moment, I'm really happy with her.”

For the breeze, both juveniles benefited by being in the experienced hands of Arc-winning jockey Luke Morris.

“Luke used to ride for us when we were training and he's obviously a very hard-working fellow and nice and light as well,” Peckham explained. “We have a good relationship. He rode the one a couple of years ago for us, and we go back a long way.”

He added, “I was a little bit disappointed that they watered the breeze strip. It was just a little bit tacky, which hasn't suited many people, and it was a little bit chopped up after the Craven, but it was the same for everyone.”

George Peckham Racing is based in Yellowstone Stables next-door to trainers Simon and Ed Crisford, and with easy access to the vast expanse of the all-weather and Southfields turf gallops on 'racecourse side', behind the Rowley Mile grandstand. 

“It's been really busy over the winter and still going strong at the moment, which is great. We're very lucky with the people that support us, and we're very grateful to them,” he said.

“Yellowstone is brilliant for doing our job. We've got 50 boxes, and we're looking to expand a bit as well. It's a perfect location with all that grass we have on Southfields.

“I've been using the grass all winter and I'm a big believer in it. I try to stay on it as much as I can. That's a big advantage of being in town here. We tend to target the Tattersalls sales so we have a little bit of home advantage, and it would be silly not to use that. The horses have been over to the flat gallop plenty before they went up the watered gallop this morning.”

After withdrawals, 100 horses in training will take to the ring during Thursday morning, followed by 170 juveniles for the breeze-up session. The action gets underway at Tattersalls at 9.30am.

The post Peckham Back For More After Successful First Breeze-up Foray appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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But before Mills can look forward to next Sunday on the Rowley Mile, he first has another four breezers to put through their paces for the Guineas Sale on Thursday. The quartet is shaping up nicely just a short hack away from where they will be asked to perform the first proper test of their young lives during Wednesday's gallop session. RMM Bloodstock is based at Bill O'Gorman's Seven Springs stable on Newmarket's Hamilton Road, meaning that the consignor has only to have his horses ridden straight onto the Heath that they have come to know well in recent months. 

He is understandably proud of Naomi Lapaglia, who races for Ed Babington and Phil Cunningham and is trained locally by Richard Spencer.

“Richard said she did a nice piece of work at the Rowley Mile last week and she will go straight to the Guineas,” he says.

Bred by Shadwell, Naomi Lapaglia had been selected by the pinhooker from the operation's reduction of stock at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale for just 2,000gns. Five months later, she was knocked down at 110,000gns to Cunningham, with an extra boost coming when her half-sister Rogue Millennium (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), similarly let go relatively cheaply by Shadwell, won impressively on debut four days before the breeze-up sale. She went on to win the Lingfield Oaks Trial and finish seventh in the Oaks for Tom Clover.

“It was a hot race,” Mills recalls of Rogue Millennium's debut. “So that really helped  the two-year-old, it just put the icing on the cake really, going into the sale. And she did a solid breeze.”

Mills is by no means a newcomer to the breeze-up circuit, but this will be the largest draft he has brought to sale so far. The consigning part of his business, along with breaking and pre-training and some bloodstock agency work, is an area which he is planning to expand.

“Over the last few years we've always had a few to breeze, but then we've either sold them before the sale or the owners have changed their mind. A few years ago, I bought Pocket The Profit as a yearling, and Ed Babington bought him off me privately,” he adds.

The four-year-old Pocket The Profit (GB) (Mayson {GB}), a 10,000gns yearling, has now won six of his 22 starts, earning a rating of 90.

“We also buy some for Qatar, we know some trainers over there,” he says. “This year we won the Guineas and we were fourth in the Derby with a horse called Conflict, who we bought from Andrew Balding.

“We've got good team of people, so we're going to try and do some yearling prep this summer and angle more towards consigning. With the horses is in training as well, with staff shortages it's better for the trainers to ask someone else to do it.  It's something that we're going to build on and we've got a few yearlings already on the books to come. We're lucky to have the most beautiful yard and we're just building every year now.”

Mills is also planning to build on his good contacts in America, where he spent four years as a track rider and was assistant trainer to Michelle Nihei in Florida. 

“I went all over really, from Gulfstream, up to New York, Saratoga, and California to Hollywood Park, when it was open, and Santa Anita. Then I came back here and was riding out, and RMM Bloodstock has been going about eight years now.

“It's working, anyhow, because we're having winners after they've breezed, we've made horses from 10 and 12,000 into 40,000 the last couple of years. And then obviously last year was pretty exceptional, turning 2,000 into 110,000,” he recalls.

“I just scratched my head all winter, I still couldn't believe that I bought her for 2,000 because I couldn't really find a lot wrong with her. Luckily everything just went perfectly in the prep. We knew she had a lot of ability, and she won first time out.”

Mills's own skills as a former track rider have been called upon by American trainers visiting the UK for Royal Ascot. He rode the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome in all his exercise in Newmarket during the spring of 2015, and more recently he partnered with Bucchero, who was fifth in the King's Stand in 2018 and is managed by Harlan Malter of Ironhorse Racing Stable. 

“I bought Harlan a filly called Improvise (Fr), who was the Queen's last runner before she died,” he notes. Bucchero has made a good start as a stallion and this year we've been discussing with Harlan about trying to get some to bring here to breeze.”

In the meantime, the RMM Bloodstock draft heading to Tattersalls next week consists of three colts and a filly by stallions a little closer to home and Mills has drawn extra encouragement from events at Doncaster on Tuesday. Among the group is a colt by young Darley stallion Harry Angel (Ire) and a filly by Cheveley Park Stud's Twilight Son (GB), the same two stallions who provided the top colt and top filly at the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale.

“I try not to buy a horse just for the sake of having a breezer,” says Mills. “The Guineas Sale has always been good to us and in this year's draft there's four really nice horses.

“The Harry Angel, he speaks for himself when he comes out of his stable. Through the winter we've had to go easy on him really, because he's grown a lot and has been  immature physically, but now he's just come right for us for the sale, which is nice of him.”

Offered as lot 345, the colt is a grandson of a filly who had plenty of top-level experience of the Rowley Mile: Natagora (Fr) (Divine Light {Jpn}), winner of the 1,000 Guineas and the G1 Cheveley Park S.

“I think he's a horse with a lot of ability,” Mills adds. “And again, with the Kessaar colt, he's grown and matured a lot and he really goes well. He's got a good brain on him, which means you're halfway there, especially with the breeze-up horses.”

The colt by Kessaar (Ire) is a half-brother to treble winner Hurry Up Hedley (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) and will be sold at lot 294. The consignment also contains a Time Test (GB) colt whose family was seen to good effect on Saturday through the good Newbury maiden winner Klondike (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), whose grand-dam Kithanga (Ire) is the third dam of lot 316.

Mills continues, “Our Time Test is another solid, good-bodied colt and we're expecting them to do good breezes this year. The Twilight Son filly is extremely sharp.”

He adds, “I try, obviously, to buy a good-looking horse, a solid horse. And you want a sire and that'll stand out so they don't get a line put through them, just in the index, when people open their catalogue. 

“We're lucky that, with the results we've been having, Tattersalls have supported us and given us spots to fill and we're taking them there to sell. 

“We haven't got to travel too far. It's a great warm-up from here over to [the Rowley Mile], so if we've got the advantage, we'll use it.”

The post Mills Aiming for Double Guineas Success appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Past graduates of the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale include crack sprinter and multiple Group 1 winner The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), G2 Beresford S. hero Crypto Force (GB) (Time Test {GB}), and Grade/Group 1 winners Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) and Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}).

At least 47 stallions with juveniles catalogued have sired Classic or Grade/Group 1 winners including Acclamation (GB), Australia (GB), Camelot (GB), Cotai Glory (GB), Dark Angel (Ire), Exceed And Excel (Aus), Invincible Spirit (Ire), Kodiac (GB), Mehmas (Ire), New Bay (GB), No Nay Never, Oasis Dream (GB), Saxon Warrior (Jpn), Sea The Moon (Ger), Showcasing (GB), Starspangledbanner (Aus), Teofilo (Ire), Zoffany (Ire), and Zoustar (Aus) among others. There are also 19 first-season sires with offspring slated for sale, among them Advertise (GB), Blue Point (Ire), Calyx (GB), Eqtidaar (Ire), Inns Of Court (Ire), Invincible Army (Ire), Masar (Ire), Phoenix of Spain (Ire), Soldier's Call (GB), Study of Man (Ire), Ten Sovereigns (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB) and Magna Grecia (Ire), who has already produced an impressive debut winner, and American sire Catholic Boy.

The Horses-in-Training Sale features last out winners Naaser (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) (lot 152) from The Castlebridge Consignment, and Jamie Railton will consign Maasai Mara (GB) (Roaring Lion) (lot 100). The 100-rated Kiwano (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) (lot 114) will go through the ring for David Simcock; while the Michael Appleby-trained Zealot (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) (lot 99), is also set to sell off of a mark of 109. Juddmonte, too, offers a draft, with seven horses going under the hammer, among them lot 128, a Galileo (Ire) colt named Caustic (GB).Two lots of note from Vicarage Farm are a Sea The Stars (Ire) filly (lot 154) out of a Nathaniel (Ire) half-sister to G2 Lancashire Oaks winner Pongee (GB) (Barathea {Ire}), as well as the granddam of top producer Prudenzia (Ire) (Dansili {GB}). Also from their draft is lot 124, a 2-year-old colt by New Bay (GB) out of G2 Queen Mary S.-placed Hairy Rocket (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).

Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said, “The Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up enjoyed an exceptional year on the racecourse in 2022, led by historic G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner The Platinum Queen, one of seven group and listed performers bought at last year's sale. Classic prospect Crypto Force, multiple Group 1-winning stayer Trueshan, US Grade I winner Shantisara and Scandinavian Champion Hard One To Please also illustrate the quality and diversity that buyers have come to expect from the sale. This year's catalogue features a strong selection of quality 2-year-olds that we are confident will appeal to domestic and international buyers in all sectors of the market, alongside the largest horses in training section in the sale's history.”

The post Guineas Breeze-Up And Horses-In-Training Catalogue Released By Tattersalls appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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As has already been well documented in these pages we are in the middle of a stellar year for the breeze-up sector, with graduates Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) and Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) having all recently won formal Classic trials and about to line up for the Guineas this weekend in Newmarket. Underlining the truly international aspect of the bloodstock industry more generally, next week's Kentucky Derby line-up is likely to feature Summer Is Tomorrow (Summer Front). Bred in the U.S. by Brereton C Jones, the colt was bought privately by Mickey Cleere when unsold at $14,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Exported to Ireland, he was then presented in Cleere's draft for last year's Arqana Breeze-up Sale, which was held in Doncaster as Covid restrictions continued to make travel tricky. The multiple UAE champion jockey Tadhg O'Shea visited the sale on behalf of trainer Bhupat Seemar and signed for the colt for the Burke family at £120,000. Following yet another move for the horse, this time to Dubai, O'Shea subsequently rode Summer Is Tomorrow in his first five starts at Meydan but was aboard his better-fancied stable-mate when Summer Is Tomorrow took second in the G2 UAE Derby, thus earning crucial points for a trip 'back home' to Churchill Downs.

It was only just over a month ago that the breeze-up season kicked off in Dubai, with Cleere faring well from the off when selling two of that sale's six top lots. Two more sales have been consigned to the books since then, and his M.C. Thoroughbreds operation is represented again at Tattersalls on Thursday by three juveniles, including another colt picked up in America. Lot 167 is from the first crop of Spendthrift Farm's dual Grade I-winning juvenile Bolt d'Oro, a son of the widely popular Medaglia d'Oro, and he was bought inexpensively at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale for $5,500.

“He's a nice horse and I hope someone good gets him because he's very genuine,” said Cleere of the half-brother to Grade III winner Take Charge Paula (Take Charge Indy). “I try to base myself on getting horses together without bursting the clock. It's a fine line, but I like to get them to point their toe.”

Casting his mind back to his star graduate of last year, Summer Is Tomorrow, Cleere added, “He had a great mind in everything he did. He was such an intelligent horse and a good ride. He was one of those horses that you were hoping he had a bit of speed because he had the mind to match.”

He continued, “It's absolutely brilliant that he's going there. I've been in touch with everyone and the horse has now been in Kentucky for a few days. I'm told he travelled well.

“You could't write it really, and if he ran well it will just be fantastic. It's great for the breeze-up industry.”

As for the prospects of this week based on the season so far, Cleere said, “There's definitely an appetite still for good horses. As always the middle market is more difficult. The prize-money really needs to improve and until that happens it will be harder. There'll be plenty of nice horses at this sale but I feel it will be a buyers' market.

“I had a great sale in Dubai and it was great to get off to a good start. It relieves some of the pressure.”

Another half-brother to a stakes winner is set to pass through the ring just ahead of Cleere's colt. Lot 161 is offered by Roderick Kavanagh's Glending Stables and is by Time Test (GB) out of the Listed-placed Noah's Ark (Ire) (Charnwood Forest {Ire}), and thus a sibling to the Listed Prix Herod winner Temps Au Temps (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). The colt's half-sister After (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) also  earned black type when placing in three Group 3 races and now features as the dam of dual Group 2 winner Armory (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Street Cry (Ire) has featured as the broodmare sire of at least two stakes winners worldwide in the last week, and he performs that role for Lot 168, a daughter of leading young sire Mehmas (Ire) offered by Tally-Ho Stud. The filly's unraced dam Peronism is a half-sister to one of the best older horses in training in Europe, the treble Group 1 winner Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

In Platinum Jubilee year, the monarchists among the buyers at Tattersalls on Thursday may feel like treating themselves to a colt from one of the Queen's families, and they need look no further than Lot 182, from the A. C. Bloodstock draft. The first-crop son of Cracksman (GB) is a half-brother to Listed Fairway S. winner Peacock (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) and his dam Rainbow's Edge (GB) (Rainbow Quest) is a half-sister to Her Majesty's Royal Ascot winner Free Agent (GB) (Dr Fong).

Bushypark Stables claimed the top spot at last week's Goffs UK Breeze-up when turning a 14,000gns Tasleet (GB) yearling into a £230,000 breezer, and Matt Whyte's team has brought two juveniles to Tattersalls this week, including a filly with justifiably Classic pretensions. Lot 212 is from the first crop of the 2000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn) and is a grand-daughter of the champion racemare Pride (Fr) (Peintre Celebre), whose finest moment also came on the Rowley Mile when winning the G1 Champion S. 

As ever, the Guineas Breeze-up Sale is preceded by a morning session of horses in training, with around 80 set to go under the hammer from 9.30am. A further 190 breezers will follow during the afternoon and evening.

The post Guineas Weekend Begins In The Sales Ring appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“We had a list of trainers' emails,” recalls Clark. “And we put together an email saying we're here, this is what we're doing, along with background of what we've done before, and emailed 93 of them.”

Whitaker takes up the story. “We got three responses, all saying good luck! It's about selling a product at the end of the day and we didn't have a product to show people. We had all our social media set up but nothing to show for it. We just needed one person to send us one horse.”

It is to the pair's credit, however, that they had already secured the regard of trainer Roger Varian as well as Brendan Morrin of Pier House Stud. A base at Robert Cowell's Bottisham Heath Stud in Six Mile Bottom also had plenty to recommend it, allowing Whitaker and Clark to take advantage of Newmarket's facilities without being in the hustle and bustle of the town itself. And so with a barn and the hope of a handful of horses to come, WC Equine was launched.

“We started with no horses,” says Whitaker. “Then Kevin Philippart de Foy, who is a good friend of Tegan's, sent us our first yearling.

“We had also worked with Brendan Morrin at Pier House Stud and I would joke with him at the sales. If something good didn't sell, we'd keep asking 'can we breeze it, can we breeze it?'”

If you don't ask, you don't get, so the saying goes, and so it was with two Pier House Stud-bred fillies that WC Equine entered the breeze-up sector at last year's Tattersalls Guineas Sale. In the meantime, Varian had stuck to his word and sent a group of youngsters to the pair for pre-training. Their gratitude is tangible but it works both ways and Varian was evidently impressed enough to send another sizeable batch of young horses to them this season.

“I worked for Roger around the time he had Postponed, and he had always said 'give me a call when you set up',” says Clark. “And so I rang him to say we had a few boxes and he said, 'I'll definitely support you'. He basically kept us afloat that first year–he was very good to us, and we've done a few more for him this year. 

“But then I think the breeze-ups really motored us forward and sparked a bit of interest.”

Of course, there is no better place to advertise than the public arena and while Clark and Whitaker were gaining respect as for their pre-training ability, it was arguably their debut effort at last year's Guineas Sale that drew greater attention to their name.

WC Equine headed to the sale with two fillies on behalf of Pier House Stud, namely a first-crop daughter of Aclaim (GB) and another from the first-crop of Galileo Gold (GB). Both found new homes but particularly impressive was the Aclaim filly, who changed hands for 60,000gns to Rabbah Bloodstock.

“We liked her and we knew she was the better of the two,” says Clark. “You'd pull up after a gallop and think, yes this is nice.”

Whitaker adds: “We thought she was a nice filly but we went there thinking we'd be happy at 30,000gns. We kept her under wraps for the majority of the winter. The horse physically was always going to get there but it was about training her mind as much as anything else.”

Sent to James Tate and named Royal Aclaim (Ire), she made a smart winning debut against colts less than a month later over 5f at Newcastle where her victims included none other Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), subsequently winner of the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. who is now around a 10-1 shot for the 2000 Guineas, and Fearby (Ire) (Havana Gold {GB}), who would go on to run second in the G3 Molecomb S.

“The money wasn't the be all and end all,” says Whitaker. “It was a bonus but it was seeing her go out and win, and saying the proof is in the pudding, we've done the job essentially. That was more rewarding than having a bit of cash in your pocket.”

Fast-forward a year and WC Equine is thriving. By mid-March, the pair had broken in 60 yearlings in batches, with a waiting list of others to come in. Included in the mix are five breeze-up horses slated to fly the flag at this week's Tattersalls Guineas Sale in Newmarket.

It is the result of a deep grounding within the business allied with an appreciation of hard work and love of the animal. 

“I was two when my mother first sat me on a horse,” says Whitaker. “I did a lot of hunting and eventing. I sort of fell into racing.

“I was about 15 when I went to work for Mark Dwyer and I was there for about four years. I did the sales circuit for a year and then went to Roger Marley's [Church Farm Stables]. I went in as a head girl, I was 18 and chucked in at the deep end but I learnt a lot in a short space of time. I think you take a piece out of everything and put it into your own. You learn in abundance with people like that–and also how not to do it. They both work extremely hard. Both him and Mark rode out back then. They'd get up, muck out, feed and ride out. 

“Roger has been very helpful to us, and Mark and Blarney [Brendan Holland of Grove Stud] would be the same. They're always there to help. It's so competitive but they've been there to help and assist, and congratulate as well.”

She continues, “I was with Roger for about a year and a half and from there I went to Newmarket and to the Godolphin pre-training yard on Hamilton Road, which was a whole different way of doing things. When they dispersed, I went to Charlie Appleby's at a time when he had good horses like Cross Counter and Line Of Duty. I broke in Pinatubo–it was year of some seriously good 2-year-olds there. It's not often you get on every lot and you go 'wow, that's ok'. It was a real eye-opener.

“And after that I came here to Robert's [Cowell]. I did two and a half years as a work rider and then launched WC.”

South African-born Clark has a similarly deep background in racing. 

“My first job in racing was with Olly Stevens and before we started here, I had worked in Newmarket for about four years,” she says. “I did a season with Roger Varian and then worked the rest of time for Simon Crisford, who gave me the opportunity to go out to Dubai.

“I've been very lucky to be involved with some lovely horses. I remember riding Lightning Thunder, who was second in the 1000 Guineas. I took her up the canter and remember thinking 'this is a different class'. There was a real class to her, she did it so easily and professionally.

“Postponed was at Roger Varian's when I was there, and just to be involved with a horse like him was amazing. When I was at Simon Crisford's, he had [G2 winner] Ostilio and [G1 miler] Century Dream. Ostilio was in my section, I had a couple of spins on him, and he was a lovely horse to deal with. I also did a couple of seasons breaking in some horses with Richard Morgan-Evans. It's a seriously good operation, they work so hard, and he was very willing to help and teach.” 

Whitaker and Clark today operate at Bottisham Heath out of two barns and a stable block. They have access to a variety of gallops but also the luxury of being able to work the horses in town if needed.

“They will go into town for an educational canter,” says Whitaker. “They'll do three or four bits in town but they'll do most of their work here. We've proven that we can get them fit here. 

“We've got walkers and we put in a lunge pit ourselves, which works well as an arena. We can put them in the dummy stalls, which are great, and there's the opportunity to turn them out as well.”

Clark adds: “It's a good place to chill out, they can relax coming from town.

“This is something that we've always wanted to do. It's pretty basic but it works. They're really healthy barns. And we ride them all ourselves. When we had 15, we did everything pretty much ourselves–muck out all morning and ride all afternoon. Now we've got two riders coming in. So between all of us, we'd do five or six lots each.”

This year's WC Equine Guineas draft kicks off with Lot 146, a first-crop daughter of Sioux Nation. By a sire quick off the mark with his runners, she is a half-sister to four winners and out of Luxie (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), a half-sister to the fast Listed winner Mister Manannan (Ire) (Desert Style {Ire}).

A real feather in the cap of their draft is the presence of a Zarak (Fr) filly. Catalogued as Lot 198, she is the only filly to be catalogued to the sale by her sire, one of the most exciting young stallions in Europe, and is a granddaughter of G2 May Hill S. winner Nasheej (Swain {Ire}).

She is followed immediately into the ring by a Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt (Lot 199), who is a half-brother to three winners and a member of the Doff The Derby (Master Derby) dynasty.

The draft is rounded out by a colt from the second crop of Caravaggio (Lot 227), who is closely related to G1-winning sprinter The Right Man (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), and a colt from the first crop of Cracksman (GB) (Lot 313), who is a half-brother to Listed winner Panstarr (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).

“We started with seven this season but that's down to five, which isn't bad although we'd like to have more,” says Clark.

“It keeps us really busy. If you start expanding, what you do can be diluted and we're very hands-on, and we want to keep enjoying it. Yes we'd like to expand more but definitely not over the 50 mark overall. We're lucky to have a fantastic client base, they're very good to us and have been very supportive.”

Whitaker concurs. “We'd be comfortable if the breeze-up side keeps expanding,” she says. “We've gone from two to five. It's a big jump for us but still not as many we'd like.”

She adds: “I think we have a nice bunch. But you've got to be realistic, you've got to know what you're galloping next to. We're riding them and that's an advantage as we know when they feel a bit off and you've got to take a pull, or if they're a bit fresh and you have to give them more. You've got to manage your expectations. Everything will happen on the day and we'll just have to see.”

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Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown secured the top-priced lot of the Guineas Breeze Up Sale when going to 135,000 guineas to land the son of the first crop sire and multiple Group 1 winner Postponed. The colt is out of the Malibu Moon mare Micalea's Moon, a half-sister to the dam of Champion 2-year-old and exciting stallion No Nay Never. Brown secured the colt despite the persistence of underbidder Anthony Bromley, stood alongside trainer Alan King.

“He is for my resale syndicate Never Say Die, and will be trained by David Simcock,” said Brown. “A client bred Postponed so I have followed him all the way through and I am giving him a big chance.

“I don't see this horse running until August or September, he is a horse for the future. I just thought he is a smashing horse.”

Explaining the ownership syndicate, Brown said: “The syndicate is all about resale. We aim to sell as 3-year-olds. There are great people involved in the syndicate and I think they will be really excited with this horse.”

Of the colt's breeze, Brown enthused: “He did a cracking breeze. He just showed a great action, it wasn't a speedy breeze but it was the style he did it in, he has a good attitude.”

The sale represented a great success for Glending Stables' Roderick Kavanagh, with the colt having been purchased at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale for just 20,000 guineas.

“He was bought by my Dad (Peter Kavanagh) and Michael Downey, and we've always really liked him,” recalled Kavanagh. “He's a racehorse and he was such a good pull-out outside the boxes. He did an impressive breeze for his size and the date of birth he has, and he really fills the eye. He was very popular and he never let us down from start to finish.”

He added of the son of Postponed: “He is a lovely horse and all the agents were on him, all the big dogs as you'd expect. I think there were five or six bidders on him.”

The Mehmas colt out of the Milk It Mick mare Cheworee for was the second lot to sell for a six-figure value when knocked down to David Redvers for 105,000 guineas on behalf of Sheikh Fahad.

The colt's sire, who stands at Tally Ho Stud, has enjoyed a sensational start to his stud career and the successful purchaser David Redvers said of his plans: “He will be trained in Newmarket, Sheikh Fahad [who lives in Newmarket] wants to see him trained locally and close by. The horse did a very good time, he is by a very good sire and he is a lovely model, it is a great touch for the vendor.”

The vendor was Irish-based National Hunt jockey Ian McCarthy who owned him with two friends, the trio purchasing him as a foal for €3,000 as a yearling pinhook prospect but that plan failed to come to fruition.

“Gerry McCormack pinhooked him as a foal for €3,000, it is lucky enough now that he was not sold as a yearling!” smiled McCarthy. “I prepped him for us, he has been very straightforward. As time went on he just developed, he got much stronger and through the last eight weeks he has really turned a corner – he takes his work well.”

“He is a horse who has had a great preparation and we've liked him all along,” continued McCarthy. “We've had plenty of interest in the last couple of days, he did a lovely breeze ridden by Micky Cleere and he is by the right sire, isn't he?”

At the conclusion of the 2021 Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up and Horses in Training Sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony commented;

“A median bettered only once this decade at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale combined with an average and turnover which both compare favorably with the 2019 and 2020 renewals are all positives to take from today's sale, as has been the consistent domestic demand at all levels of the market. Similarly, while not quite matching the unprecedented levels at the recent Craven Breeze Up Sale, the clearance rate has also held up well, especially considering a significantly larger catalogue than usual and the disruption to overseas participation owing to the current widespread travel restrictions.

“We can also reflect on a Guineas Breeze Up Sale which has produced numerous impressive pinhooking triumphs, as ever reflecting the expertise of the consignors, and another sale which has underlined the importance of the Tattersalls live internet bidding platform which has yet again proved to be invaluable, particularly for overseas buyers unable to attend the sale. COVID continues to test us all, but once more we have experienced trade of remarkable resilience and a collective determination from all involved to explore every avenue to provide as vibrant a market as possible in the face of considerable obstacles.”

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An extra twist to the Royal meeting was that one of the dominant trainers of the week was a man better known in jumping circles: Alan King. It is always worth taking note, however, when the master of Barbury Castle sends out a Flat runner, and those who followed Scarlet Dragon (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), Coeur De Lion (GB) (Pour Moi {Ire}) and Who Dares Wins (Ire) (Jeremy) will have enjoyed the week all the more. 

All three of those horses are winners not just on the Flat but, as one might expect from King, also over hurdles. Subsequently, their stable-mate Tritonic (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who embellished King's Ascot record with a close second in the Golden Gates H., has followed their example with two unbeaten runs over hurdles this season. He heads to the Cheltenham Festival as current second-favourite for the G1 Triumph Hurdle. 

Tritonic, owned by the McNeill Family and Ian Dale, can be considered the perfect flagbearer for a project which King has worked on successfully with bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock in recent years. While the boutique sales for horses with form in point-to-points or bumpers have seen prices skyrocket for some of the best National Hunt stock, Bromley and King have explored another avenue for to recruit youngsters with the potential to go jumping: the breeze-up sales.

“The second-hand market is remarkably strong for the staying horse and they do hold British and Irish staying form on a pedestal,” says Bromley of the increased overseas participation at the horses-in-training sales, which were once an obvious port of call for National Hunt trainers looking to convert a horse from the Flat with enough stamina on the page.

He continues, “It doesn't suit Alan's system to buy too many Flat yearlings in October. We have done but because he is dual purpose and his boxes are full through the winter with the jumpers, it does suit him really well to come to the breeze-ups. Initially it was always just the Guineas Sale in May but we have also come to the Craven in April in the last few years. That's a time when a lot of the winter jumpers are going for their breaks and it's good to bring the 2-year-olds in as it keeps the staff busy. It has worked really well.”

He adds, “We do buy a few yearlings every year but we tend to buy between six and 10 at the breeze-ups, depending on the demand.”

In some ways, the coronavirus pandemic actually worked in the favour of Bromley and King when the breeze-up sales were delayed. What had looked like being a lean year for orders suddenly perked up as the Ascot winners rolled in. 

“Having the sales in July meant that the horses had been got ready for an April or May breeze then they had to be let down again for a time. By the time we bought them we didn't have to give them too much of a break, which suited Alan's system very well as they'd already had a sort of mini-break,” Bromley says. 

“It was a worry for the breeze-up fellas with more precocious types but it wasn't a worry for us with the type of horses we were after and we enjoyed those sales last year. If they had gone ahead in April or May we may not have had any orders.”

Tritonic, who was bred and sold by Kirsten Rausing as a foal, was pinhooked for the breeze-up sale by Tally-Ho Stud, with Bromley signing for him at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale of 2019 at 55,000gns. Though trainer and agent typically look for a progressive type who might at their best at three and up, Tritonic was ahead of the curve and showed early promise, winning a Ffos Las novice race on his second start at two, followed by victory in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions S. a month later. Last season, he was runner-up in the listed Glasgow S., achieving a Flat rating of 99.

Bromley says, “Alan hasn't got the clients with the cheque books to really try to buy leading prospects for the Triumph Hurdle but that is a race that we like to target, and a horse like Tritonic is a dream horse. He was placed at Royal Ascot as a 3-year-old, won a graded race over hurdles the next spring and is second-favourite for the Triumph Hurdle. That is a dream purchase for us and you could say he is the poster boy for what we have been trying to do.”

Tritonic's most recent outing last Saturday resulted in a 10-length triumph in the G2 Close Brothers Adonis Juvenile Hurdle—undoubtedly his most polished performance to date.

“He was very impressive,” Bromley agrees. “Alan had made no secret of the fact that he wanted to get two runs into him before Cheltenham and it was a little bit of a rush to get him to the first [hurdles] run at Ascot. He felt that there was a lot of improvement to come in the horse and that was apparent on Saturday.”

Now it's all systems go for the Triumph Hurdle, a race King has plundered in the past with the former Flat winners Penzance (Ire) (Pennekamp) and Katchit (Ire) (Kalanisi {Ire}). The latter went on to glory in the following year's Champion Hurdle.

Whatever Tritonic achieves at the Festival, he has a strong challenge to his poster-boy claims from Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}), a 31,000gns purchase from the previous year's Guineas Sale who usurped all of his aforementioned current stable-mates at Ascot in October when winning the G2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup.

“Trueshan has almost achieved too much to go jumping,” says Bromley. “They have big plans for him this season as a 5-year-old. Hurdling could have been on the agenda for him but it has now been taken off. There were enquiries made for Trueshan and Tritonic at different stages of their careers but their owners have stuck with them and they are reaping the pleasure of that. Even if they are not reaping the big prize-money, they are reaping the pleasure of having a good horse in their own country.”

The two current stars are by no means the only success stories from the breeze-up project. King also won the Adonis Hurdle back in 2017 with Master Blueyes (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a 42,000gns purchase and an 85-rated dual Flat winner. Rainbow Dreamer (GB) (Aqlaam {GB}), still on the go at the age of eight and a winner on his last start on Feb. 6 off a mark of 110, has now won eight Flat races and twice over hurdles.

One of the early purchases at 20,000gns, Chatez (Ire), won seven races, two of which were over hurdles—a rare feat for a son of Dandy Man (Ire). He, like Trueshan, was a graduate of Thomond O'Mara's Knockanglass Stables.

“I get quite excited when the catalogue arrives and I pick out a long list to look at,” Bromley explains. “I will look at sprint sires as long as the female family has got some stamina in it. We are looking for something to run over a mile and a quarter as a 3-year-old, and if it can do that you have a horse who can go over jumps if things didn't work out.

“Last year we bought a horse by The Last Lion (Ire),” he says of juvenile winner Rafiki (Fr), another Knockanglass breezer. “We like him a lot and he's a big stamp of a horse, but being by a son of Choisir he wouldn't necessarily jump out at you as being one for Alan. But he's going to be a nice horse who we think can do all sorts of jobs. You need to have bit of stamina on the female side. And then obviously the physique of the horse is the main thing once we actually get to the sales. They have to have some sort of scope. I've bought for Alan since he started training and I know exactly the sort of horse he's after. We're not trying to buy a National Hunt store, we still do need to have a Flat racehorse there as well. We're looking for an athlete with a bit of scope about him.”

Trueshan, who has “all the big targets that you'd imagine” could yet emulate another star of the Guineas Breeze-up Sale, the Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) (Champs Elysees {GB}), whose relatively lowly price of 20,000gns was doubtless connected to the fact that he didn't clock a particularly fast time when breezing on the Rowley Mile.

“I don't bother with the times,” says Bromley. “Many moons ago, before it got really professional, I had an assistant for the sales and we got the times. It was the worst breeze-up sale I ever bought at because I was referring to the times and I think it stopped me buying some horses because they hadn't clocked a good time. I think it clouded my opinion of the horse I saw with my eyes.”

He continues, “When I get one out that I've liked in the gallop and then the vendor says he clocked in the top ten of the day I always groan. One, the horse is going to be expensive, and that's not good for me if I haven't got the big money to spend, and more importantly, with the individual's pedigree and physique I don't want to be hearing that he had clocked a good time as it might mean that we are going to have to take a lot of time to unwind the horse. A horse not bred to do that may have been pushed to record a fast time.”

More important to Bromley is the trust he has built up with vendors with whom he has had past success.  “It's not done us any harm just to go with our gut feeling, and as we've been doing it year after year we do like to go back to vendors we've done well with before,” he says. “You go with your own eyes and you go a little bit on vendors' recommendations—and they have to see you again next year.”

A number of King and Bromley's breeze-up purchases have been for Max McNeill, the co-owner of Tritonic whose previous high-class horses with Alan King include Grumeti (GB) (Sakhee), the archetypal dual-purpose performer with his wins in the Cesarewitch and the G1 Anniversary Hurdle at Aintree.

“Fair play to Max McNeill as there have been a lot of enquiries about Tritonic throughout his career, right from when he won the Haynes, Hanson & Clask as a 2-year-old, and again after his run at Royal Ascot last year,” Bromley says. “It's very good for them to support Alan, who is desperate to keep the horse, but you can't argue if the owner is being offered a serious amount of money for a horse. 

“Max has been a great supporter and he's bought a couple of 2-year-olds every year and has had plenty of winners, but this has been the best we've had going this route.”

While Cheltenham is the major focus for every big jumps stable at this time of year, King and Bromley may well have to accept that they will be donning their morning suits as frequently as they reach for the tweed these days.

“The Flat didn't use to be the main day job for Alan but it is becoming part of his daily life now,” Bromley admits. “Alan is a dual-purpose trainer in the old-school style and I think he really punches above his weight because we rarely have six figures to spend on any horse for jumping or the Flat, and in this day and age that's what everyone is trying to achieve at the top table.”

He adds, “It isn't easy to keep playing in the big races with smaller budgets. This is still quite a lot of money, don't get me wrong, but when you are trying to get to the Cheltenham Festival it can be tough. The breeze-up route is one angle that we tried a few years back and it's exciting for everyone.”

The post King And Bromley Breezing Into Cheltenham appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Highflyer Bloodstock's Anthony Bromley and trainer Alan King have been long standing supporters of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale and the pair purchased four lots at this year's renewal for 258,000 guineas (US$341,854) including the sale topping Excelebration colt at 140,000 guineas (US$185,510).

“We don't go on times, but unfortunately he did a good time which increased interest in him, and pushed his price,” said Bromley. “We just like to look at them as individuals, their strides and general way of going.”

“This is the horse we really wanted and we had to really push the boat out to get him,” added the agent.

King, fresh from his three-timer at Royal Ascot, added: “Delighted and he is for two long-standing supporters of the yard in Max McNeill and Niall Farrell.”

The colt, who is out of the Mark of Esteem mare Open Book, was consigned by Meadowview Stables who purchased him at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale for just 18,000 euros (US$20,405).

Dolmen Bloodstock, the partnership of Justin Timmons and Danny O'Donovan, were celebrating after their Make Believe filly out of Olivia Pope was knocked down for 105,000 guineas (US$139,134) to Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown after he saw off the efforts of David Redvers. The filly received a significant boost on the weekend when her sire's son Mishriff won the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club.

“It was massive!” commented Timmons on the classic victory on Sunday.

“She has an engine and we were very happy with her breeze. She has been very busy, but it is always hard to gauge,” said Timmons. “We had the right people on her.”

The Kildare-based Dolmen Bloodstock team enjoyed a mighty pinhooking touch, having purchased the filly out of the mare Olivia Pope for just 10,000 euros (US$11,335) at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

At the conclusion of the 2020 Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony commented;

“In the current climate we are all looking to accentuate the positives and I think we can reflect on solid if unspectacular trade at this year's renewal of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up. This is, however, a year where 'solid if unspectacular' is a positive outcome and we would like to thank all those who have participated at today's sale for their contribution. The buyers have worked incredibly hard and the Breeze Up consignors have had to endure uniquely difficult conditions in the run up to the 2020 breeze up sales season, but ultimately everyone can look back on sales which have largely exceeded expectations.

“It has been challenging staging events of this nature with the prevailing COVID related regulations still in place but, despite continued travel restrictions, today's Guineas Breeze Up has seen demand from throughout the world including Australia, Bahrain, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar and Spain. The international demand has been accompanied by spirited bidding from the domestic British and Irish buyers and has resulted in some notable pinhooking successes, while the overseas buyers have made use of every possible means at their disposal to participate in the sale, including extensive use of our new live internet bidding platform as well as telephone bidding. It is a tribute to the resilience of the global bloodstock market that we continue to experience this level of international demand and we expect to see further widespread use of the live internet bidding platform at our two-day July Sale which commences tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.”

The post Excelebration Colt Tops Rescheduled Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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As Britain reawakes from lockdown, the business end of the bloodstock world has managed to operate almost normally and racing has been back in action since early June behind closed doors, meaning that we have a July Week of sorts, albeit one without all the fun.

The rearranged breeze-up sales have just two fixtures left, Wednesday’s belated Guineas Sale at Tattersalls which leads straight into two days of a reduced July Sale, and the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Sale on July 24.

It’s been a long haul for the majority of the breeze-up consignors who left Ireland almost three weeks ago and have been on the move between sales in Newmarket and Doncaster since then. Generally, the breeze-up market has held up better than most dared to dream, and, naturally, the hope is for that trend will continue on Wednesday when trade gets underway for the single session at Park Paddocks.

After withdrawals, around 120 2-year-olds will be offered including a full-sister to the G2 Lancashire Oaks winner Lady Tiana (GB) and listed-winning stayer Blakeney Point (GB), both of whom are by Sir Percy (GB). The filly is offered as lot 25 through Tally-Ho Stud and is fairly typical of the profile of horse usually found in the Guineas Sale, which tends to include a later-maturing type. Indeed, the sale’s most famous graduate is the Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who was sold by Mocklershill to Federico Barberini for 20,000gns back in 2013. A durable and talented individual who raced until the age of six, earning more than £800,000 during his career, he was however out and winning as early as July of his juvenile season.

The Sherbourne Lodge Stud draft contains a French-bred colt (lot 148) by this season’s leading freshman sire Goken (Fr) who already has ten winners to his name including the G3 Prix du Bois winner Livachope (Fr), while Robson Aguiar, the man behind the G2 Norfolk S. winner The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) has a colt from the first crop of dual Derby winner Harzand (Ire) (lot 40) whose dam is a Dutch Art (GB) half-sister to recent G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Golden Horde (Ire) (Lethal Force {Ire}).

On Thursday and Friday the action switches to the mixed fare of the July Sale and it was from here that Golden Horde’s dam Entreat (GB) was sold by Cheveley Park Stud four years ago for just 14,000gns. The dams of fellow Group 1 winners Fairyland (Ire), Ten Sovereigns (Ire) and Watch Me (Fr) have also been sourced from this sale in recent years and breeders are likely to make a beeline for sizeable drafts from Cheveley Park Stud, Godolphin and Juddmonte among others.

Barton Stud consigns the French mare Damdam Freeze (Fr) (Indian Rocket {GB}), who has already produced the stakes winner Kendam (Fr) and Kenfreeze (Fr), both by Kendargent (Fr), and the family has received a further boost this season via Kendam’s son Kenway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), the winner of the G3 Prix Eclipse. The 15-year-old Damdam Freeze is in foal to Showcasing on a June 3 cover and is offered as lot 373.

The dam of one of the toughest horses currently in training, Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), is also included in Thursday’s session and she is the 14-year-old Storming Sioux (GB), a daughter of Storming Home (GB). Selling through Jamie Railton as lot 229, she is carrying a foal by Elwick Stud’s Mondialiste (Ire) and was last covered on May 18.

Wednesday’s session for the Guineas Sale begins at 12 noon and for Thursday and Friday the July Sale will start at 10am. Live internet bidding is available via the Tattersalls website and prospective buyers are asked to register for this service in advance of the sale.

The post Guineas Sale Heads Tattersalls’ July Action appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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