Marley Outlines Difficulties For Breeze-up Sector

The big question to which everyone in the industry would like to know the answer is when will racing be able to resume? It is a key concern for many, not least the breeze-up consignors, whose sales season in Europe should have started this week at Ascot.

The Tattersalls Ascot and Craven Breeze-up Sales have already been postponed until the end of April, while Arqana has pencilled in an early June slot for its Deauville sale currently scheduled to be held on May 8 and 9. On Wedesday, Goffs UK announced that its mid-April Breeze-up Sale will now be delayed until June, just prior to the start of Royal Ascot, and could be transferred from Doncaster to a London venue.

While breeze-up consignors will doubtless be supportive of moves which allow the sales to take place once coronavirus restrictions have been eased for the majority of the population, the rescheduling brings with it headaches of a different kind.

“There's no point having a sale unless there's racing on,” agrees Roger Marley, who is based in Yorkshire and sells in partnership with Irishman John Cullinan under the Church Farm & Horse Park Stud banner.

“Things won't be back to normal for a while but there has to be some kind of normality to it all. I'm not a big fan of the idea of an online breeze. Horses still have to be in the same place anyway, they have to breeze on the same gallop, you can't have them breezing at home on different gallops and being timed.”

With horses being prepared to breeze at Doncaster on Apr. 22 now facing a two-month lag in sale date, their training schedules will have to be modified accordingly.

“We've taken our foot off the gas with these horses now,” says Marley. “We did that a fortnight ago. The horses that were going to the Craven on the original date, or to Goffs UK on the original date, they haven't done any fast work for a fortnight since they announced the delay to the Craven and that there would be no racing at all. My horses usually go in to [nearby training centre] Malton for a change of scenery twice before they go to the sales but we've not done that yet and I'm not willing to do that until we know for certain what is going to happen. They are doing steady canters most days, nothing more than that.”

He continues, “It's worrying for everyone, the uncertainty of not knowing when anything is going to go ahead. Doncaster [Goffs UK] is now 10 weeks away and I know they mentioned they might be having it at Kempton, but that's a minor detail for someone to worry about later on.

“If the racing and sales go ahead in May none of us would be worried. The delay of a month we can all take, but if we're getting into a delay of three months then people are going to hit difficulties. I spoke to Freddy Powell today because Arqana have taken a week in early June but they're still hoping to go ahead with their set dates in May at the moment. The first week in June is the last option they would have to hold the breeze on the grass at Deauville before they start to get the course ready for the big August meeting.”

The resumption of racing and rescheduling of fixtures will play a key part in the results of the breeze-up sales, according to Marley.

He says, “There is going to be some backlog. We're all hoping that they can try to push Royal Ascot back—nobody wants to lose Royal Ascot. The Guineas in England, Ireland and France need to be first so that the Guineas winners can take each other on in the St. James's Palace. And Royal Ascot can't be behind closed doors.

“Some of the really precocious horses they might even miss their chance but if they can push Royal Ascot back and we can sell these horses as potential Royal Ascot horses that gives us a chance. This year it might play into the hands of those who have more backward-type horses. For example, we know that Arqana is renowned for selling more of a 3-year-old type.”

The outcome of the 2-year-old sales will also have repercussions for the trade for yearlings this autumn, just as a heavily revised sales calendar will cause problems for the many consignors who are active as vendors across the breeze-up, store and yearling sectors.

“The sales companies know that these sales have to go ahead because if they don't there will be a lot of people not able to go back to restock at the yearling sales in the autumn,” Marley notes. “There are 900 breeze-up horses to sell in Europe, never mind America, at a cost of £20-odd million, and if you took out the majority of those out of the yearling market that leaves a huge hole.

“There's a chance that some of these breeze-ups might not take place until July, we just don't know. Then the store sales are going to be late July or early August. So we're going to have the breeze-up horses still filling our yards up when the store horses need to be in getting prepped for their sales, then the yearlings will be coming in to be prepped. Quite a few people do all of that. I don't personally sell any yearlings so it doesn't really affect me, but I imagine the autumn yearling sales are going to have to be pushed back a month as well to give people that do every type of horse, like Mark Dwyer, a chance to get them all ready.”

Currently Marley and Cullinan have 24 horses being readied in Yorkshire, 15 of which were originally slated for sales in April at Tattersalls and Goffs UK.

Marley says of his revised training schedule, “The backward ones need educating, they don't know how to gallop yet and if France goes ahead in five weeks' time, or the Craven goes ahead in four weeks' time, we've got to keep doing something with them. If the horses are ready, like the Doncaster horses were, they can now have an easy time, do steady canters and still thrive that way.”

He adds, “The other point is that it will now cost a lot more this year to keep the horses for extra months and keep the staff on for longer, and with all likelihood that we will be taking a lot less money for them at the sales. There will be an awful lot of people who buy a breeze-up horse, or any kind of a racehorse, and it's a hobby to them. And you have to wonder if the people that buy those horses for a bit of enjoyment are going to have the money to do that this year.”

Acknowledging that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic is affecting all walks of life, Marley admits that many people currently have other priorities. He says, “If we can get out of this year with our health and our properties and be able to go forward, even if it's into next year or the year after, that's the important thing.”