Last Call For Breezers At Goresbridge In Newmarket

NEWMARKET, UK—A little later than scheduled, the European 2-year-old sales season will conclude on Thursday with the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up, which has returned to Newmarket for a second year owing to ongoing Covid travel restrictions.

What was already a bumper catalogue for a one-day sale of more than 200 horses has been beefed up still by the inclusion of 16 wild cards that have been rerouted from other recent sales for a variety of reasons. They include horses with some pretty starry pedigrees, so be prepared for some of the major action to take place late in the day.

Indeed the last three catalogued all have plenty to recommend them on paper. Lot 241 from Mayfield Stables is the American Pharoah colt out of the Irish champion 2-year-old filly Damson (Ire) (Entrepreneur), who has already produced a smart juvenile in the form of G2 Flying Childers S winner Requinto (Ire) (Dansili {GB}).

He will be followed by a son of Kingman (GB), offered by Kilbrew Stables and sold for 300,000gns when he was offered in the same ring as a foal. Lot 242's dam Patsy Boyne (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is a three-parts sister to High Chaparral (Ire) and recent updates to an already lovely page have come in the form of the G1 Prix de Diane victory for Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), whose dam Chenchikova (Ire) is High Chaparral's full-sister. 

Both of the above were withdrawn from last week's Arqana Breeze-up Sale at Doncaster, the latter with a stone bruise, but the final lot through the ring on Friday, 243, was bought back at £150,000. The son of Dark Angel (Ire) is the second foal of the Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and is consigned by Star Bloodstock. 

Among those in the original line-up for the Goresbridge sale, Folistown Farm's Dandy Man (Ire) colt (lot 51) could be in line for an update come Friday as he is a half-brother to the dam of Mystery Angel (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), who was supplemented for the Oaks earlier this week by her trainer George Boughey.

Plenty of this season's leading freshman sires are represented, including Galileo Gold (Ire), who sired his first stakes winner, Ebro River (Ire), last Thursday. That colt was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, which stands Galileo Gold, and offers one of his juveniles for sale at the breeze (lot 44), as well as four by his fellow freshman Cotai Glory (GB) and four by leading second-season sire Mehmas (Ire), himself a former breeze-up graduate.

Hyde Park Stud features early with lot 4, an Invincible Spirit (Ire) first foal of the Frankel (GB) mare Elphin (GB). The colt's dam hails from the Juddmonte family that includes Mandaloun (Into Mischief) who could yet be named as this year's winner of the Kentucky Derby following confirmation on Wednesday that the B-sample taken from Medina Spirit (Protonico) has also tested positive for the prohibited corticosteroid betamethasone.

Ardglas Stables has a draft of five juveniles for the final sale of the year, including the sole breezer by Claiborne Farm's Blame in the catalogue. Offered as lot 162, she is a half-sister to the American listed winner Touch Magic (Lion Heart) and five other winners, and is from a family which includes GI Hopeful S winner Sky Mesa.

Mary Reynolds, who runs Ardglas Stables with Ambrose O'Mullane, noted that she was pleased by the level of activity on the sales grounds at Park Paddocks over the last few days.

“I'm getting a good vibe about the sale and we've been very busy,” she said. “We've an Oasis Dream (GB), an Aclaim (Ire) colt, and fillies by Acclamation (GB) and Blame, and they have all been very busy. We couldn't have been happier with the job they've done on the ground for the breeze this morning. We know Newmarket inside out by now.”

Reynolds added, “We've more expense added to it by travelling them over from Ireland, which wasn't easy with the way things are, but the simple fact is that the sale has moved to the UK because nobody can travel to Ireland. 

“I'm sure ITM and Tattersalls Ireland are all doing their bit in trying to bring people in for the sale. We've had a long winter, myself and Ambrose, we did all of the horses ourselves with no help, so it will be great to have a little break after this before we get going again with the yearlings.”

The catalogue also features 11 fillies who are eligible for the Great British Bonus Scheme, which celebrated its first anniversary this week and has thus far paid out just shy of £2.5 million in bonuses for Flat and National Hunt fillies and mares.

One of the scheme's multiple winners this season is the George Boughey-trained Beautiful Sunshine (GB), a daughter of the prolific first-season sire Ardad (Ire) who was withdrawn from the Tattersalls Craven Sale. Her two wins have netted £40,000, the majority of which is paid to her owner Amo Racing. Bred by Jocelyn Targett, Beautiful Sunshine is now on course for a step into stakes company at Royal Ascot.

The Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale gets underway in Newmarket at 10.30am.