International Experience Pays Off For Briere

Yearling auctions involve being able to spot talent and gambling on how it might play out in the future. That methodology can apply to humans as well as horses.

Judging by a decent start from limited sales opportunities, Charles Brière–who just hung out his shingle this year as Fairway Consignment Company–projects to be a decent long-term bet as he attempts to grow a fledging business in a competitive market.

This week the Normandy-based 29-year-old will wrap up his first season as a consignor at the French yearling sales, with four offerings slated to sell at Arqana in Deauville Thursday and Friday.

“Charles is very straightforward. What you see is what you get. He’s very conscientious and professional, a straight shooter,” said French-born, California-based bloodstock agent Hubert Guy, who partnered with Brière on the newcomer’s first pair of pinhooked colts that went through the ring. “The quality of the work is there, and in time I think he’ll pick up some important clients.”

Brière has been back in his native country only about a year after more than eight years abroad gaining international bloodstock management experience.

Growing up in France, his family had no connection to horses. But after Brière started show riding and jumping at an early age, he knew that equine involvement was the direction he wanted his career path to take.

While still in high school earning an equine sciences diploma, he got jobs preparing and presenting yearlings at the August Deauville sales. “Straight away I really enjoyed it and I wanted to stay in the business,” Brière said.

After obtaining a degree in animal production at Centre de Formation Agricole in Sees in 2007, he parlayed a seven-month internship at The Castlebridge Consignment in Ireland into a three-year gig at Coolmore Stud.

At Coolmore, Brière worked in the foaling unit, broke yearlings, and eventually coordinated the running of the breeding shed.

“I didn’t really know what to expect when I arrived at Coolmore, to be honest,” Brière said. “All the operations I had experience with in France were smaller, like maybe 20 broodmares, tops.”

The commercial aspects of the business were the parts that appealed to him most, Brière said.

In 2010 he had a brief opportunity to visit Kentucky to help present horses at the Keeneland sales for Indian Creek Stud, “and I really enjoyed it, and knew I wanted to go back there,” Brière said.

In 2012, after four years at Coolmore, Brière wanted to broaden his international perspectives further. “I really wanted to go to America, but I didn’t know where to go,” he said.

Coolmore trainer Aidan O’Brien solved that dilemma by giving him a reference and a point in the direction of Woods Edge Farm, where Peter O’Callaghan hired Brière as an assistant manager.

Brière said that for him, the most striking difference between how the larger international bloodstock outfits operate and what is considered the norm in France is the degree of specialization.

“You have people who are very specific in every type of job,” Brière said, giving the example of veterinarians whose entire practice might focus on only one very specific body part of the horse. But all the while he was accumulating international experience, Brière said it remained his goal to return to his home country. About a year ago, he decided it was time.

“When I first came back from America, my idea was to work on a farm in France for a couple of years and start my own business after,” Brière said. “I hadn’t been in France for almost nine years, so I was a little bit afraid to start on my own straight away.”

But good jobs like managing a farm can be hard to come by in France, so Brière took whatever horse work he could while planning with Guy to acquire several foals late last year with the intent of selling them as 2015 yearlings.

In deciding what to call his new consignment company, Brière said he didn’t want to put his own name out front because he felt it wouldn’t yet be recognized. Plus, he said, he wanted “an English name, with the hope that it might attract a little more international interest.”

He decided on Fairway. “It’s actually the name of the street where my girlfriend was living in Florida,” Brière said, good-naturedly dismissing the notion that intense market research went into the naming decision. “For the moment it’s still very small. I rent stalls at Haras Du Ma. But I’m going to be renting a farm by the end of the year, still not a huge thing for the moment. It will be in Normandy,” he said.

Brière said the first yearling he sold in Deauville in August was a Kendargent (Fr) colt that he and Guy had bought for €55,000.

“We were a little bit afraid that we had paid too much for him, but of course that’s the way the game goes,” he said. “We had to wait to see what he would bring, and he sold for €105,000, so we were very happy. The second one was a Myboycharlie (Ire) that we bought for €30,000 and sold for €35,000. It was a little short, but that’s the luck,” Brière said.

The four yearlings that Fairway will send to auction this week are consignments from new clients: Lot 393, Shiferaw (Elusive City), a filly, is the third foal from a winning King’s Best mare who has produced one winner; Lot 467 is an unnamed Myboycharlie (Ire) filly who is the second foal from a listed stakes-winning Testa Rossa (Aus) mare; Lot 513 is an unnamed Myboycharlie (Ire) filly who is the second foal from a Selkirk mare; and Lot 565, Lucchesio (Air Chief Marshall {Ire}), a filly, is the second foal from a winning Highest Honor (Fr) mare.

After being away from the French marketplace for the better part of a decade, Brière said, “it’s tricky for me to see what buyers are expecting in which sales, and which kind of horse you have to have. The main thing seems to be to have a good mover. A horse with good action. That’s what I really learned in America, especially with Keeneland.”

He continued: “From my perspective, I would rather have a horse with a light pedigree and a really good mover, rather than the opposite. I’m looking more for racehorses than just the pedigree. If you can get both, perfect. If you bring good horses and prep them properly and earn a reputation for selling sound horses, people will come to you, I think.”

Guy agreed: “I think people will notice the work Charles did in Deauville, and he should be quickly on his way to being one of the up-and-coming consignors in France.”

O’Callaghan said he won’t be surprised if Brière enjoys success with his new venture.

“He’s a likable person, and he’s developing his level of horsemanship and expanding his operation,” O’Callaghan said. “I think you’ll see that he won’t disappoint anyone. Anyone who puts their faith in him, I think he’ll reward it, because his work ethic and attitude are so good.”

Brière has grand visions for Fairway–but not overly grand. Farmland is expensive in France, he said, and because he is a stickler about obtaining only top-notch help, he doesn’t mind taking on the brunt of the hands-on horse work himself.

“I don’t think I want to go into huge consignments, like Castlebridge. I want to keep it small compared to a Taylor Made or a Woods Edge. If I could bring 15 to 20 horses to each major sale, that would be my goal in 10 years,” Brière said. “You really have more time to spend with your horses when you operate a smaller outfit. You really get to know them and see how they are and what you need to improve.”