'Nowadays the breeze-ups are a very different beast' - Tattersalls Craven Sale to kickstart the quest for the next Cachet or Native Trail

There are certain modern-day phenomena that were once considered niche but are now virtually ubiquitous. Think flat whites, smart phones and yoga pants. 

These products are the result of adding value to a base element, and the outcome has been that things we didn’t know we needed have become something most of us can’t live without (for the avoidance of doubt, I don’t own a pair of yoga pants). 

The breeze-up horse may well be the bloodstock equivalent of these little modern-day luxuries. 

If buying a racehorse was anything like buying a house, buyers would come away from the foal and yearling sales with only bricks and mortar. But at the breeze-ups the foundations have been laid, a roof and supporting walls put in place and, in some instances, a front door and wifi have already been installed. 

These are sales befitting the Information Age as the all-important two-furlong pre-sale breeze gives buyers a crucial piece of evidence that goes a step beyond the usual pedigree study and rudimentary physical examination. 

Information the key

An eye for a racehorse is still a significant aid when shopping at the breeze-ups, but with data like sectional times and stride length to assess, a fully loaded spreadsheet can also be a powerful tool in unearthing future talent. Split times remain on an unofficial basis as they are not published by the sales companies or the consignors, but are readily available through any reputable bloodstock agent. 

Of course, seeing more of what you’re getting is usually a good thing - provided what you’re getting is worth having. 

Sepia-tinted memories show that two-year-olds at the breeze-ups used to be drinking in the last chance saloon, with catalogues consisting of cheap pinhooks, unsold yearlings and sharp youngsters who had missed earlier sales. 

Sure, there were winners among them, but the breeze-ups weren’t where you looked if you wanted a Group 1 horse. Nowadays, though, these events are a very different beast. The professionalism of consignors is greatly enhanced and the standard of horse on offer has improved beyond all recognition. 

Not only is a lot of the guesswork and groundwork taken care of at the breeze-ups, but buyers are now presented with a genuinely boutique product that is generating the kind of results that demand attention. 

As ever, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Since 2008, the major breeze-up sales of Europe have produced 36 Group/Grade 1 winners who have annexed no fewer than 50 top-level contests around the world. Moreover, the median price of those 36 elite performers clocks in at a far from excessive £69,200. 

It is not all about Group 1 victories, though, and all told European breeze-up graduates have won over 500 individual Pattern races. There’s no need for mind-control marketing with numbers like these as, whichever way you slice it, these are punchy statistics. 

And while these results reveal a sector on an upward curve over the last decade or so, it cannot be underestimated how much things accelerated in 2022. Last year was something of an annus mirabilis for breeze-up graduates, with six Group 1 winners highlighting not only the innate quality but also the longevity and diversity of talent that can now be found at these sales. 

There were three colts and the same number of fillies among that half a dozen; a champion two-year-old in Lezoo and a champion three-year-old sprinter in Perfect Power; a trio of Classic scorers, namely Cachet, Native Trail and Eldar Eldarov, whose Classic success came over a mile and six and a half furlongs in the St Leger, while The Platinum Queen became the first juvenile to claim the five furlong Prix de l'Abbaye since Sigy in 1978. 

A source of Classic success

The 2023 breeze-up season gets underway with the curtain-raising Tattersalls Craven Sale on Tuesday, followed by the other five major dates over the coming six weeks. The Craven Sale played a starring role during that extraordinary 2022 campaign, most notably as two of those three Classic winners came out of the previous year’s auction. 

Cachet, a 60,000gns signing by Highclere, kicked things off in the 1,000 Guineas before Godolphin’s Native Trail annexed the Irish 2,000 Guineas. The son of Oasis Dream, a 210,000gns purchase, had earlier claimed champion two-year-old honours courtesy of an unbeaten season that included Group 1 laurels in the National and Dewhurst Stakes. 

As if that wasn’t enough, last year’s Craven Sale also produced 11 stakes-performing two-year-olds, which means an impressive eight per cent of offered lots went on to achieve black type. These include the top two in the market, both of whom carry the colours of Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing, namely the 525,000gns Walbank and the 460,000gns Olivia Maralda. 

These headline results and an expanded 2023 catalogue helped draw a sizeable crowd of agents, owners and trainers to the Rowley Mile’s answer to the red carpet on Monday morning as around 180 potential stars went through their paces. 

Plenty of those prospective purchasers will be shopping with one eye on Royal Ascot, and a leaf through the pedigrees on offer suggests a lot of these animals were bred with precisely that meeting in mind. 

Group 1 winner Lezoo is a breeze-up graduate and her half-sister is Lot 30 from Tally Ho StudCredit: Alan Crowhurst

However, the clear standout, on paper at least, promises to be more of a Classic type as a Kingman half-brother to outstanding Derby and Arc hero Golden Horn (Lot 151). The blue-blooded youngster brought 270,000gns from Alex Elliott and Jamie McCalmont when he passed through Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale and will be offered on Wednesday by Malcolm Bastard. 

Other eye-catchers include the Mehmas half-brother to Group 2-winning and Group 1-placed Insinuendo from Oak Tree Farm (2); Glending Stables’ brother to The Tin Man (9); the Territories half-sister to Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Lezoo from Tally-Ho Stud (38); a Showcasing colt closely related to Soldier’s Call offered by Bansha House Stables (73); Lynn Lodge Stud’s Blue Point half-brother to the Group 2 scorer Donnerschlag and Listed-winning Izzy Bizu (127); Mocklershill’s son of No Nay Never and the Listed-winning Easton Angel (138); a half-sister to Rumble Inthejungle by Night Of Thunder consigned by Grove Stud (162); while Diego Dias Bloodstock offers the Ten Sovereigns half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint scorer Obviously (185). 

Although the catalogue has grown in volume this year the strength in depth remains as, prior to withdrawals, there are siblings to 30 black type winners and a further 23 lots whose dam won at stakes level.

The breeze-ups can also be an important proving ground for stallions with their first two-year-olds, and a host of established names are joined by the progeny of up-and-comers like Advertise, Blue Point, Calyx, Inns Of Court, Invincible Army, Land Force, Magna Grecia, Masar, Ten Sovereigns and Too Darn Hot. 

Of course the breeze-up sales can’t offer buyers a guarantee of success; even the most hopeful out there accept that simply isn’t how public auctions work. And in much the same way pinhookers aren’t assured a return on their investment, especially if their horse breezes below par or the market softens from the giddy highs of the yearling sales. 

But all available evidence points not only to the Craven getting the season off on a positive note but the wider breeze-up sector continuing its upward trajectory. 

Factfile

Where Tattersalls sales complex, Newmarket

When Two-day sale begins on Tuesday, with post-racing sessions starting at 5.45pm 

Last year’s stats From 134 offered lots, 103 sold (33 per cent) for turnover of 11,939,500gns (up 15 per cent year-on-year), an average of 115,915gns (up 35 per cent) and a median of 90,000gns (up 32 per cent)

Notable graduates Cachet (sold by Hyde Park Stud, bought by Highclere Agency for 60,000gns); Go Bears Go (sold by Aguiar Bloodstock, bought by Alex Elliott and Amo Racing for 150,000gns); Mehmas (sold by Horse Park Stud, bought by Peter and Ross Doyle for 170,000gns); Native Trail (sold by Oak Tree Farm, bought by Godolphin for 210,000gns).

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