By Brian Sheerin
Hyde Park Stud's John Bourke, who supplies 19 of the 68 juveniles at this week's Osarus Breeze-Up Sale, has described the La Teste fixture as an important outlet for handlers.
Bourke, who is best known as the man who consigned 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, has sold plenty of good horses at Osarus down through the years.
Top of that list, according to the County Westmeath-based breeder and breeze-up consignor, is the Group-placed Samedi Rien (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}).
Speaking during the breeze on Tuesday, Bourke said, “This is a great sale and Osarus has a lovely team of people who we enjoy working with. We've sold a lot of winners out of this sale, to Spain and France especially, and we've a nice team of horses again here this year.”
He added, “We've 19 horses here this week–16 of which are my own–including a Territories (Ire) half-sister to Golden Ace (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) (lot 32), winner of the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham. She goes well. We've also got the only Persian King (Ire) (lot 43A) and the only Le Havre (Fr) (lot 65) in the sale. It's a nice sharp bunch.
“Osarus is important because we buy a lot of yearlings every year and we love selling winners. No matter what they cost, be that 10 grand or 50 grand, winners is the name of the game and that's what we love to produce. We have 60 breeze-up horses this year and 19 of them are here so it's a place we like coming to.”
Bourke is not the only recognisable name to be offering horses at Osarus this week. Fellow Irish-based handlers Mickey Cleere, Eddie Linehan and Pierce Gallagher will get their breeze-up season up and running in France this week as well.
He concluded, “It's been a lucky place for us, not just as sellers. I bought Chic Colombine (Fr) (Seahenge) here as a yearling and she won a listed race at Saint-Cloud last month for George Boughey and Highclere Racing.
“In terms of selling, Samedi Rien is probably the best horse we have breezed here. She was a champion filly in Spain and was placed in a Group 2 at Meydan last year.”
The sale takes place after racing at La Teste on Wednesday at 4.30pm local time.
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