Brendan Holland

The Breeze-Up Consignors Association and Arqana have united to ensure there is no repeat of the unsavoury behaviour from earlier this month Brendan Holland, head of the Breeze-Up Consignors Association (BUCA), has spoken of his deep embarrassment about incidents of excessive drinking, fighting and damage caused at the recent sales in Deauville making it onto the pages of the national press after complaints made by Arqana president Olivier Delloye were leaked. However, Delloye vehemently stated on Monday that formal complaints made in a letter to BUCA were taken "completely out...

Starman's meteoric rise through the first-season sire rankings led to the Tally-Ho Stud resident dominating proceedings on a red-hot opening day of the November Foal Sale when, as well as accounting for the €125,000 top lot, the young stallion was responsible for four of the top 10 most expensive horses sold on Monday. The top lot [55], a colt consigned by Oghill House Stud, went the way of Brendan Holland, who also landed a Starman filly just three lots [52] previously from Summerhill Stables for €85,000.  "He is a nicely-balanced...

Valdi de Souza, a popular figure within the breeze-up community who died at the age of 49 following a freak accident at work, will be remembered at Cork on Friday, July 25 when a race will be run in his memory.  De Souza rode over a couple of hundred winners as a professional jockey in his native Brazil and also enjoyed stints on the Saudi Arabian circuit. His finest hour in the saddle came when he partnered Rock Of Rochelle to win a Listed race at the Curragh for trainer...

Goffs will firm up plans for the Classic Breeze-Up Sale, initially slated for June 28 and 29, by the end of this week with Henry Beeby sharing that the reaction to the new sale by consignors has been overwhelmingly positive during inspections throughout the past fortnight.  Up until this year, the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale was the only show in town on the Emerald Isle. Goffs announced last August its intention to enter the breeze-up market in Ireland and, for a brief period, Goresbridge--which was the original home of the...

Uncertainty hangs over the breeze-up sector ahead of the first major yearling sale of the season at Arqana this week after the Breeze-Up Consignors Association [BUCA] instructed Goffs and Goresbridge not to go ahead as previously planned with its respective new sales in 2025. Goffs chief Henry Beeby and Goresbridge boss Ed Donohoe revealed to TDN Europe back in May that they were planning to hold breeze-up sales in Ireland next year.  Both men explained that the decision had been taken after a number of consignors expressed views that there...

The racing and breeze-up communities in Ireland have been rocked by the news that prominent rider Valdi de Souza has died at the age of 49 following "a freak accident" at work. The Brazilian native's finest hour in the saddle came when he partnered Rock Of Rochelle to win a Listed race at the Curragh for trainer Andrew Kinsella back in 2007.  He had been part of the fabric of Brendan Holland's Grove Stud for the past 11 years and the leading breeze-up handler paid an emotional tribute to de...

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...

Henry Beeby has opened the door to Goffs embracing the publication of official times and other data at its newly slated breeze-up sale at Naas racecourse next year but admitted that such a move was unlikely to be met with universal approval from the breeze-up fraternity.  No consignor would be more staunchly against the re-introduction of official times at the breeze-up sales in Europe than Brendan Holland. The Grove Stud operator says official times would create an increased reliance on the clock and would ultimately drive down clearance rates at...

Lot 145, a son of Siyouni (Fr) and the Lope De Vega (Ire) mare Isabel De Urbina (Ire), became the most expensive yearling of Saturday's Arqana Breeze-Up session to that point, when selling for €1.2 million to Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of Bahraini buyers. Consigned by Brendan Holland's Grove Stud, the bay colt's dam won twice at listed level, and is a full-sister to dual group winner Manuela De Vega (Ire), who was also second in the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern. Grove Stud picked up the Merriebelle Irish...

Is bigger always better? Throughout the first evening of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale one could have been forgiven for thinking that a rise in the number catalogued for the first of the European sales in this sector was not necessarily a good thing. At 202 in the book and 166 ultimately offered across the two days, this was the largest Craven Sale since 2007 and up significantly from the 164 catalogued and 134 offered last year.  For reasons that are hard to fathom, ungraded sales, with horses sold merely...

Lot 162, a bay filly by Night Of Thunder (Ire) consigned by Grove Stud, took the lead just after the halfway point of the second session of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale when selling for 600,000gns to bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe. A half-sister to G3 Molecomb S. winner, G1 Middle Park S. third, and sire Rumble Inthejungle (GB) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}), the May-foaled current sale topper is also a half-sister to the Group 2-placed Great Prospector (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}). This is also the family of G2 Superlative S. hero and...

Sons of Dubawi (Ire) shot the lights out at Goffs on Tuesday as a colt by first-season sire Ghaiyyath (Ire) topped the November Foal Sale at €185,000 followed by a Night Of Thunder (Ire) colt who made €180,000. Ghaiyyath himself was sold at this sale in 2015 for €1,100,000 before proving himself a world-class performer on the track for Godolphin and the Kildangan Stud-based sire has enjoyed a good start at Goffs this week. The Ridge Manor Stud-drafted colt was sold to Pier House Stud, whose Brendan Morrin revealed that...