by Emma Berry
Newmarket has shivered through months of fierce East Anglian winds so a warming blast of spring could not have been better timed ahead of Tattersalls' major breeze-up auction and the first day of the Craven meeting at the Rowley Mile.
Conditions were set fair for 125 2-year-olds to show off their paces up the stiff final two furlongs of the Rowley Mile turf Tuesday morning as an international gathering of potential buyers looked on, stop-watches in hand.
“By common consent, the ground was pretty much perfect and that's a huge credit to the Jockey Club Estates team,” said Tattersalls' Marketing Director Jimmy George on the eve of the two-day Craven breeze-up auction which takes place after racing Wednesday and Thursday.
He added, “The consignors also deserve credit for the horses breezing very professionally this morning. It was very encouraging to see a good cross-section of people from all corners of the globe, both at the breeze this morning and looking at horses at Park Paddocks this afternoon and the conditions look perfect for a successful few days.”
The two days of trade last year each saw a new European record for a breeze-up horse set, with that title still resting on the shoulders of the Mocklershill-consigned son of Claiborne Farm's War Front–Julie From Dixie (Dixie Union), who was the only juvenile to breach the seven-figure mark when selling for 1.15 million guineas to McCalmont Bloodstock. Now named General Marshall, the colt was placed five times in Ireland for Aidan O'Brien before racing for Mike de Kock in Dubai earlier this year.
It would be no surprise if there's a sense of deja vu to this week's proceedings, with the sole War Front 2-year-old in the catalogue once again being consigned by Willie Browne's operation as lot 113. The March-foaled son of the Coronado's Quest mare Rehear, and thus a half-brother to GI Spinaway S. winner Mani Bhavan (Storm Boot) and GII San Felipe S. winner Hear The Ghost (Ghostzapper), was a $400,000 purchase at Keeneland September and impressed onlookers with strong breeze, appearing hard to pull up past the line (video).
The second-top lot of last year's sale, an 800,000gns High Chaparral (Ire) colt called Moheet (Ire), won his sole start at Salisbury last October and is set to appear in Thursday's G3 Craven S. for champion trainer Richard Hannon and Al Shaqab Racing.
Jim McCartan of Gaybrook Lodge was the happy pinhooker who turned the 41,000gns yearling into a very expensive 2-year-old and he consigns six youngsters this week, including lot 104, a Sea The Stars (Ire) half-sister to multiple listed winner Gusto (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) from the Stowell Hill Stud family which includes young stallion Gale Force Ten (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).
Declaring himself to be very happy with the morning's breeze, McCartan, who also topped the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up Sale in 2014 with a 270,000gns War Front filly, said: “Conditions were ideal. The ground is always presented very well here with a lovely cover of grass. The Sea The Stars filly is very stylish with a great attitude–she just loves it. Moheet runs on Thursday and hopefully he'll put his best foot forward for everyone. It's very exciting to think what he might do this year.”
Another consignor who had plenty to smile about in 2014 was Brendan Holland of Grove Stud, who topped the Arqana Breeze-up Sale with a €750,000 Invincible Spirit (Ire) colt and saw his previous year's graduate The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) become a dual Group 1 winner.
After a smooth morning's breeze, he reported, “The horses are all back safe and sound–that's the main thing. They do a great job at producing good ground here and we're all very happy.”
Holland claims, however, he will not be basking in the glory of past success.
“The important thing is to keep producing good horses,” he added. “We spent a lot more money trying to up the quality of our draft for this year–you have to have a nice horse to show people.”
Newmarket's hottest afternoon of the year so far saw Park Paddocks play host to a lively crowd of vendors, agents and interested parties, including leading jockey Ryan Moore, who was in attendance with his two jump jockey brothers, Jamie and Josh, the former nursing a broken leg and the other a broken collar bone following recent racecourse falls. There's little doubt that the action, both on the track and in the ring, will be heating up over the next few days to match the unseasonably warm weather.
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