breeze ups

The only bad news emanating from Ascot following Tuesday's action is that the rest of the week couldn't possibly be as entertaining. Or could it? There are endless potential storylines just bubbling beneath the surface on Wednesday. We've outlined five below.  Big-Name Breeze-Up Graduates In The Spotlight Given the rise and rise of the breeze-up sales in recent years, and the extraordinary sums that potential Ascot runners can make in that sphere, it is always fascinating to track how some of the high-profile graduates perform on the big stage. Special...

Al Pacino's Inch By Inch speech in the film Any Given Sunday resonates strongly with jockey Killian Leonard, who has been making waves on the breeze-up circuit in recent years.  With the Miami Sharks down and appearing almost certainly out in the Super Bowl final, Al Pacino, who plays coach Tony D'Amato, tells his team that they can claw themselves back into the game, 'inch by inch, play by play'.  He goes on, "The margin for error is so small. I mean, one half step too late or too early,...

Stephen Byrne of Knockgraffon Stables has quickly established himself as one of the sharpest young breeze-up handlers on the circuit. A former amateur jockey, Byrne built up a good relationship with Jim Will Fix It, and guided that horse to win a Grade 2 bumper at Leopardstown back in 2010. He also spent time working with Joseph O'Brien before returning home to Knockgraffon Stables. From under that banner, Byrne has sent out many high-class runners, including the 103-rated Hammer The Hammer along with recent Dundalk juvenile scorer Sovereign Cry (Ten...

NEWMARKET, UK - Mick Murphy has dedicated his lifetime's craft towards producing a horse good enough to win a Group 1 and, when his Longways Stables graduate Gewan (Night Of Thunder) crossed the line in front in Saturday's Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, he and his wife Sarah were nowhere near the hubbub and celebration that rang out around the racecourse. Instead, Murphy was back at Park Paddocks searching for his next big-name star ahead of the Book 2 session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. It is almost a year...

DONCASTER, UK--The clock doesn't lie, nor do the results on the track. Goffs has come good on its promise to send owners and trainers to the hallowed ground that is the winner's enclosure at Royal Ascot with 10 graduates managing such an achievement in the last nine years.  Few sales companies can boast a similar roll of honour. Put simply, anyone with designs on rocking up to Royal Ascot in June will not have to think long and hard about speculating at Doncaster this week. Past performances are a barometer...

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...

The Bansha House Stables open morning is back for another year and takes place on Saturday, April 5, at 9.30am sharp. The inaugural open morning went down a bomb-despite arctic conditions-and Con Marnane, whose graduates include Sands Of Mali, Prince Of Lir, Powerful Glory and more, says he is keen to build on last year's edition and to make the open morning a yearly occurrence.  "We are slightly snookered with the date, as Munster are playing in the ruby and then you have the Dubai World Cup and the Grand...

The Tattersalls Online Breeze-Up Sale will take place at Dundalk Stadium on Wednesday, May 28, followed by the online part of the auction that will run from June 4 to June 5. This will be the third running of the Tattersalls Online Breeze-Up Sale, of which Irish EBF Auction Series Race Final winner Fiona Maccoul (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) is a graduate. Fiona Maccoul was picked up for just €5,000 by Shane 'The Rancher' Ryan during Book 2 of the Goffs Orby Sale but, having failed to get the filly into...

The catalogue for the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, which takes place between 8 and 10 May, has been released and features the progeny of world-class stallions Justify, Wootton Bassett (GB), Lope De Vega (Ire), Sea The Stars (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and more. A total of 192 two-year-olds feature in the sale that was headed last year by recent UAE 2,000 Guineas hero Ruling Court (Justify), who was sold by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm to Godolphin for €2.3 million. There are seven horses by Justify in this year's sale that features...

In this time of back-to-back yearling sales, the logistics for bloodstock agents and trainers may be one of the biggest concerns, but one thing that appears not to be a worry is the strength of the market.  From America to Europe, the yearling season has started in bullish fashion. A proper staying pedigree is required to last to the end of Keeneland's September Sale, which is now well into its second week, while at Fairyhouse, the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale is also in full swing. Plenty of breeze-up pinhookers have...

At first there are tears and then the words come tumbling out.  "We got a bit of bad news before the Curragh," Con Marnane explains. "Theresa's cancer is back again. That's why the whole thing was so emotional." Theresa is Con's wife and it is her yellow and black silks, made famous by Different League (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) winning the Albany, that were carried to that stirring victory in the G3 Marble Hill S. by Givemethebeatboys (Ire) at Irish racing's HQ. He is one of two Royal Ascot-bound Bungle Inthejungle...

Alice Haynes and Ado McGuinness, who have emblazoned the value on offer at the breeze-up sales by hitting the ground running with their respective purchases this season, have described shopping in that market as a hugely important aspect of their business.  Well-known breeze-up consignor Eddie Linehan of Lackendarra Stables agrees with Haynes and McGuinness that the value has favoured the buyer when it has come to shopping at the middle to lower tiers of the market due to the amount of choice in that sector. However, Linehan, who admitted that...