Ascot Sale Opens Euro Breeze-Up Season

Never mind if the curtain is dripping mud as it is raised on the European breeze-up season at Ascot today. Yes, conditions for yesterday's under-tack show were grim for young horses– especially for those unfortunate enough to be among the last of 127 ploughing through increasingly churned turf, bowing their heads into a swirling curtain of rain. And yes, there will be horses with more obvious pedigrees and physiques available at subsequent sales. Nonetheless anyone prospecting the Tattersalls Ireland catalogue can legitimately cling to two positives.

One is that an environment so lacking in neutrality may well compel buyers–ever more devoted to the stopwatch, in recent years–to go back to basics and think about the kind of things that first gave the breeze-ups a good name: action, demeanour, athleticism. Consignors are understandably worried that buyers may prove unnerved by that challenge, but the fact is that the rewards will be there for horsemen of the old school.

After all, they won't have to change the way they operate. One, returning to the stables, was asked whether he had seen the times yet. He laughed outright. “You may as well use a grandfather clock for some of them,” he said. So perhaps the wet spring, if also impacting Doncaster next week, will yield some salutary lessons to those who–for all their avowals to the contrary–rely first and foremost on all that expensive timing equipment.

The other consolation should be that this sale, while unapologetically pitched to those with a relatively limited budget, produced the leading graduate of last year's European breeze-up calendar in Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis). He may yet be overtaken by one or more contemporaries who are now on the Classic trail. But for now his G2 Gimcrack S. laurels represent the most prestigious achieved by the crop–and, as his buyer recalled yesterday, Sands Of Mali was actually the very first 2-year-old to breeze anywhere in Europe last year.

“I sat in the stands with Peter Swann and his wife Karin, and after watching them all we agreed that the very first horse up there had been the best,” recalled Matt Coleman of StroudColeman Bloodstock. “That was just on the impression he made, not on times or anything. So we went down to look at him and found a big, strong horse who looked like he'd improve a lot, just an immature frame really.”

“He had a wonderful action and we loved the way he went round the corner and disappeared off towards Swinley Bottom–the guy couldn't stop him. He was quite green up the track, so he was actually just getting going. Micky Cleere, who rode him, had never sat on the horse before. And when we asked him he said, 'I don't know what that is, but it can go.'”

Recalling the way he looked here last year, Coleman has high hopes that Sands Of Mali–who was consigned by Bansha House Stables and changed hands for £75,000–can resume his progress this year after failing to build on his York success in two subsequent starts.

“I saw him at Richard Fahey's the other day and he looks fantastic,” he enthused. “He has really strengthened up. He ran absolutely no race in the [G1] Middle Park [S]. We had him scoped, blood-tested, everything; nothing turned up, it was just one of those inexplicable days. He seemed lackadaisical in the pre-parade ring and Paul Hanagan said that even going to the start he was not the same horse as in the Gimcrack.”

“But he ran well at the Breeders' Cup, just didn't get the trip,” he said. “If you watch the video, he had them all on the stretch off the home bend but then the stamina ran out. We think he's a sprinter, and that's the road we'll be going. He'll probably run in the [G3] Prix Sigy next week and then we hope he can come back here for the [G1] Commonwealth Cup.”

Coleman completed a good day's work here last year by also buying Swann a filly for £64,000. “Chica La Habana (Ire) (Havana Gold {Ire}) was a very strong, ready-made breeze-up type,” he recalled. “She won the Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley first time out. Unfortunately she got hurt at Royal Ascot, and was never the same afterwards. She was sold at Tattersalls in December and is now with Jim Cassidy in California. She hasn't run out there yet, but she's definitely talented.”

Of course, this lot won't all turn out as gifted as that pair. Again, however, that is part of the challenge for buyers after spending three hours in the stands yesterday, making notes with shivering fingers. If they want to be back here in June for the royal meeting, when you would like to think that the going might be rather different, then they must decide which horses should be indulged for struggling in the ground–and which might just be ordinary horses, whatever the conditions.

For perhaps the principal anxiety for the whole sector, entering this new cycle, is the sheer volume of stock. No doubt the hundreds of extra horses in the system partly reflect the pinhooking successes that made so many headlines last year. But they will also include many who simply failed to find a home as yearlings, and were maybe handed over to a consignor in exchange for a stake.

Given the symbiotic relationship between the yearling and breeze-up markets, it stands to reason that weaknesses below the top tier last autumn may be replicated this spring. Sooner or later, those contributing to overproduction must expect to pay a price. If that becomes noticeable through the medium of 2-year-old sales, however, then nobody should be blaming the format itself.

After all, it continues reliably to produce progressive racehorses as well as precocious ones. Coleman feels that much of the extra traffic traces to more and more people being inspired to try and turn a profit on a yearling.

“In our industry, whether you're an agent or a jockey or a trainer, we're all results-driven,” he said. “So with all these top-class horses coming out of the breeze-ups the last few years, people want to buy them. And whether they're here or at home, clients do like being able to watch a horse gallop. There's obviously plenty to be said for that.”

He is especially committed to this auction, as UK representative of Tattersalls Ireland. As such, he can also point to other recent graduates such as MGSW Madam Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) and, famously, The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), who won the G2 Coventry and G1 Prix Morny after being bought for just £50,000 by Sean Quinn.

While Coleman conceded that the ground yesterday could not be ideal for many, he stressed that they would still be judged on other merits.

“We all time the breezes but there's more to buying a breeze-up horse than that,” he said. “Times dictate what the horses make but they don't necessarily tell you the best horse. Sands Of Mali did a good time but he wasn't the fastest. Certainly on this ground it's more a case of assessing the horse, and having trust in the vendors and what they've seen at home. It's not all about two furlongs on one day.”

“I've been UK rep for a few years now and part of my job is to bring new buyers to the sales,” he added. “That was part of the reason I brought Peter and Karin here last year. It is for early-season horses. But results talk. People might think not it the poshest sale, compared to some of the others, but the best breeze-up horse you could have bought last year was here. The dream, of course, is to end up back here in two months. This sale has certainly found a niche–and it's working.”