Willie Browne

Strong chance that Willie Browne leaves his Christmas shopping until the last minute. Why? The legendary breeze-up handler played a leading role at this week's Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale - one of the last yearling sales of the year - by spending €160,500 on four horses, which included the top lot by Sioux Nation at €88,000. Peter Nolan and Noel Meade, Spanish bloodstock agent Francisco Bernal along with BBA Ireland agents Mick Donohoe and Adam Potts could well be in a similar boat, as they also contributed to what turned...

It was another memorable year on the breeze-up circuit for Willie Browne. The 79-year-old broke his own long-standing record at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up by selling an Acclamation colt to Godolphin for 1.4 million gns. Roll on to Arqana and the Mocklershill maestro was at it again when selling a Siyouni colt to Coolmore for €1 million. Such results were welcome, according to Browne, who joked with Brian Sheerin on this month's edition of the TDN Conversations Podcast that 'it will be the first time in a few years where...

It was another memorable year on the breeze-up circuit for Willie Browne and 79-year-old joined this month's TDN Conversations podcast with Brian Sheerin to discuss his latest success and his storied background in the business.

Mocklershill maestro Willie Browne was responsible for the fourth seven-figure lot of the sale at Arqana on Saturday as his colt by Siyouni went the way of MV Magnier for €1 million. Lot 164, from the family of the G1 Sussex Stakes winner and sire Mohaather, was previously a €290,000 purchase at the Arqana October Yearling Sale. It was yet another lucrative result this year for Browne, who also sold a son of Acclamation for 1.4 million gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale, having sourced said colt for just...

It is nearly 20 years since Speciosa (Ire) became the first Classic winner to emanate from the breeze-up sales. The man who sold her, Willie Browne, had been plying his trade in that sector since 1978, and, as the breeze-ups close in on their 50th anniversary, it is good to see that the Mocklershill maestro is still very much at the top of his game.  In fact, last week's Craven Sale at Tattersalls was a good one for the founding fathers of the breeze-up game. There was Browne turning €70,000...

In the age of stride length and cadence, stopwatches and sectionals, top speeds, biometrics and all of the other measurement tools out there to judge a racehorse on, one could be forgiven for thinking that all bases are covered at the breeze-up sales.  However, handler Willie Browne, bloodstock agent Ross Doyle and trainer Joseph O'Brien, three titans of the bloodstock industry, say they don't care if you utilise data until your eyes bleed--there will always be good horses that will escape through the net. That is good news for the...

Wathnan Racing's Aesterius (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}--Jane Doe {Ire}, by Hallowed Crown {Aus}) registered a second stakes success in ParisLongchamp's G3 Prix d'Arenberg at the beginning of this month and embellished his record with a game victory in Friday's G2 Carlsberg Danish Pilsner Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster. The £380,000 Goffs Breeze-Up graduate and 7-2 third choice broke swiftly and raced on the front end throughout this five-furlong dash. Coming under pressure at halfway, he refused to buckle in the closing stages and was driven out to deny familiar foe Big...

Wathnan Racing's Aesterius (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}--Jane Doe {Ire}, by Hallowed Crown {Aus}) followed up an impressive debut score at Bath in May with a fifth in Royal Ascot's G2 Norfolk Stakes last month and was too good for five rivals to register a career high in Friday's Listed Dragon Stakes at Sandown. The £380,000 Goffs Breeze-Up graduate broke smartly from the outside gate and stalked the pace in second through halfway. Looming large at the quarter-mile marker, the 6-4 pick seized control approaching the final furlong and kept on powerfully...

A €210,000 daughter of Too Darn Hot (GB) headlined what was a predictably tricky two-year-old section to the Summer Sale at Arqana as the curtain definitively came down on the 2024 breeze-up season.  It was Brendan Holland's Grove Stud who consigned the day one top lot, who was bought by bloodstock agent Arthur Hoyeau on behalf of MyRaceHorse.  "She's been bought for MyRaceHorse and will go to the United States," said Hoyeau. "She's a very interesting filly with lots of qualities and has the perfect profile to go to the...

The Gowran Park Breeze-Up Sale is set to make its return in 2025 with powerhouse consignors Willie Browne, Con Marnane and Roger O'Callaghan pledging to support what was formerly known as the Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale.  The Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale was relocated to Fairyhouse and run by Tattersalls Ireland back in 2019. However, this year marks the first time that Tattersalls Ireland will run the sale away from the banner of Goresbridge.  After a four-year hiatus, Goresbridge Horse Sales returned to the point-to-point and horses-in-training market last month under the leadership...

Willie Browne's unbeaten Port Augusta (GB), who racked up wins over six and seven furlongs at Dundalk over the winter, has been sold for "proper money" to Hong Kong. The legendary breeze-up handler has described his recent upsurge of form on the track as "a breath of fresh air" and, while the 77-year-old admitted to being sorry he couldn't hold on to a horse as talented as Port Augusta, he revealed the son of Zoustar (Aus) fulfilled what he was bought to do by getting sold.  A 75,000gns Book 1...

Princess Vega (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}), a winning daughter of six-time Cheltenham festival scorer Quevega (Fr) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}), proved to be worth the wait at the Goffs February Sale when selling as one of the last lots through the ring [431G] on Thursday evening for €150,000 to agent Gerry Hogan on behalf of Swanbridge Bloodstock .  It was Liz Lucas's Swanbridge Bloodstock who signed for the Order Of St George (Ire) filly out of Princess Vega at the November National Hunt Sale at Goffs for €48,000 last year....