Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale

With one big puff of the cheeks, Mark Flannery experienced a feeling that most consignors could scarcely imagine at Tattersalls on Wednesday when his Starspangledbanner filly was knocked down to Anthony Stroud for a cool 900,000gns at one of the trickiest Craven Breeze-Up Sales in recent times.  But at around 8pm at Park Paddocks, talk shifted from the war in the Middle East, the uncertain global political landscape or even worse, what the rest of the breeze-up season might look like in Europe. That was thanks to Flannery. For the...

Blandford Bloodstock agent Richard Brown played an ever-important role on day one of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale by spending over 1,185,000gns on four horses, which included the sale-topping Palace Pier colt at 450,000gns, on an evening where the pre-sale jitters about the market hit home.  A number of notable buyers were missing on Tuesday and, not only was the selectivity of the market illustrated by the clearance rate falling by 7% on last year's figures to 78%, but 11 horses were also withdrawn close to the wire. Brown was...

The irony is not lost on Jake Ballis, co-founder of Black Type Thoroughbreds, that his ownership group has played something of a shop window for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale despite the fact that the American native has never even set foot on the complex at Park Paddocks.  It is in the Black Type racing silks that Azizam (Havana Grey), who finished third in last year's Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, and live Kentucky Derby contender Six Speed (Not This Time), have raced lately. Both horses were picked up...

Bars and taverns never seem to be lacking in high stool prophets willing to tell anyone who'll listen how they could have or even should have been something they're not.  The well-trodden path is a tempting one. There is security to the predictability and comfort in knowing there will be a cheque in the post at the end of the week. But what if there was something more out there? A greater reward that required a bigger risk perhaps.  The prospect of dying wondering about what magic lies outside of...

Jake Ballis and a group of partners finalized the purchase of the Dubai-based Six Speed (Not This Time) Monday morning with hopes that the colt can continue to move forward and make it to the GI Kentucky Derby. Ballis noticed the horse, who sold for 220,000 guineas at the 2025 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, when he won a Jan. 2 prep for the 2000 UAE Guineas. Now in the Ballis stable, he will start in Friday's GIII 2000 UAE Guineas at one mile. The race awards 20 Kentucky Derby...

Never in the history of the breeze-up game have the top horses been worth more. That was evident at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale last week when the record for the most expensive horse ever sold at the sale was broken not once but twice and top agents Richard Brown and Billy Jackson-Stops admitted to finding it hard to land a blow.  Malcolm Bastard's 1.75 million gns record-breaking Havana Grey (GB) colt played a pretty significant role in the turnover reaching an all-time high of nearly 20 million gns. On...

More records were sent tumbling at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale on Wednesday when Amo Racing out-muscled Godolphin at 1.75 million gns for a Havana Grey (GB) colt that was consigned by Malcolm Bastard.  Part of the allure of the Havana Grey colt came from the fact that he was consigned by a man who seldom has a horse feature among the top 15 or 20 per cent on the timing sheets at the breeze-up sales.  So, when Bastard, who ought to consider changing his first name to Jammy, sent...

Legendary handler Willie Browne lit the touch paper for a barnstorming Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale by netting a cool 1.4 million gns from Godolphin for an Acclamation (GB) colt that he sourced for just €70,000 the previous autumn. That sale was the headline act on a day where 15 horses sold for 200,000gns or more and all of the key figures were dramatically up on last year's corresponding day of trade. Arguably the most encouraging metric to jump was the clearance rate, up 18% on last year to 84%. The...

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...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Observations features Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up graduate Bambalam (Persian King).   16.45 York, Mdn, £100,000, 2yo, 7fT BAMBALAM (FR) (Persian King {Ire}), who was his sire's most expensive progeny sold at auction when becoming the fourth-highest-priced lot at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale in April, makes his...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday's Observations features the topper from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. 18.00 Ripon, Mdn, £9,000, 2yo, f, 5fT LADY ROXBY (GB) (King Of Change {GB}) debuts for the R N J Partnership and the Bryan Smart stable, having topped the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale at 180,000gns. From the family...

The biggest challenge is no one wants a 'fun horse' to win races anymore, they are just a liability, making vendors worry that official times will be harder to shift the bottom half of the sale. You can hit it out of the park on one but staying afloat is about how you shift the other 80% of your horses... As Brian Sheerin says, the times are available for anyone that wants them and I doubt there is a buyer on the sales ground that wouldn't have known how a...