Craven

DEAUVILLE, France--The temperature is rising at Arqana and so, too, are the stakes. Breeze-up consignors young and old have made no secret about the fact that trade this year has been tricky, particularly at the middle to lower tiers.  All duck or no dinner, feast or famine--whatever way you want to describe it, vendors have had to negotiate some choppy waters, meaning a lot is still on the line at Arqana when the sale gets underway at 11am on Saturday. But, weirdly, the optimism is palpable. Maybe it's the baking...

Whether it was Roderic Kavanagh working his magic once again, Katie Walsh clearing seven figures on the only two horses she brought to Park Paddocks or Charlie Poste enjoying a dream debut at the first major breeze-up sale of the year, there were no shortage of feel-good stories to emerge from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale.  However, agent Richard Brown, consignor Mark Grant and trainer Jamie Osborne agreed that, while the top end of the market was arguably stronger than ever, the middle market remained tricky at Tattersalls this week. ...

Just past the halfway mark during Wednesday's session, lot 147, a son of Blue Point (Ire), was knocked down to Anthony Stroud for 800,000gns at Park Paddocks. Consigned by Station Yard, the bay colt is out of Platinum Coast (Speightstown), herself a half-sister to multiple graded winner Istanford (Istan) and will race for Godolphin. Bred by Mr. and Mrs. Reddy Coffey, the colt made €78,000 on the bid of Blandford Bloodtstock/Station Yard during the 2023 Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale. Three lots later, a bay son of Kingman (GB) and...

Less than 10 lots into the second session of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, lot 98 quickly equaled Tuesday's top price of 525,000gns, going, once again, to Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin. Consigned, just like Tuesday's New Bay (GB) colt topper, by Katie Walsh's Greenhills Farm, the Havana Grey (GB) filly is a full-sister to four-time winner Secret Guest (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) from the family of G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Gilt Edge Girl (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}). She was picked up for 80,000gns out of the Tattersalls...

Alice Haynes and Ado McGuinness, who have emblazoned the value on offer at the breeze-up sales by hitting the ground running with their respective purchases this season, have described shopping in that market as a hugely important aspect of their business.  Well-known breeze-up consignor Eddie Linehan of Lackendarra Stables agrees with Haynes and McGuinness that the value has favoured the buyer when it has come to shopping at the middle to lower tiers of the market due to the amount of choice in that sector. However, Linehan, who admitted that...

Five years ago this week, Katie Walsh took Relegate (Ire) from going nowhere to the Cheltenham Festival winner's enclosure when galvanising the mare to come from last to first to take the Champion Bumper in pulsating fashion.  Little did we know at the time, but that Cheltenham success was to be Walsh's last, as she bowed out on a winner at her beloved Punchestown Festival the following month. A lot has changed in those five years since. Along with her husband Ross O'Sullivan, a prominent trainer in his own right...

The catalogue for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, which features 168 juveniles to breeze on the Rowley Mile on Apr. 12 before selling at Park Paddocks on Apr. 13 and 14, is online. The Craven sale has produced 49 stakes winners in the last five years, and in addition to black-type, graduates of this year's Craven sale will be chasing two bonuses: the £250,000 Craven Royal Ascot/Group 1 Bonus, and the £15,000 Craven Breeze Up Bonus. The catalogue includes 20 2-year-olds out of group or listed-winning mares including a Frankel...

NEWMARKET, UK—Thunder is indeed expected in Newmarket as the scorching hot snap comes to an end but it appeared early at Tattersalls on Thursday when Darley's up-and-coming sire Night Of Thunder (Ire) was represented by the leading juvenile, at 575,000gns, of the Craven Breeze-up Sale. With Jane Chapple-Hyam one of the early determined bidders, the bragging rights eventually went to Tom Biggs of Blandford Bloodstock, who played the winning shot in a game of ping-pong in the seats between himself and underbidder Mark McStay. Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables...

Europe's belated breeze-up season at last gets underway on Thursday in Newmarket, with the combined Tattersalls Craven and Ascot Breeze-Up Sales (for which the breeze took place on Monday) setting the scene ahead of the joint Goffs UK and Arqana Breeze-Up in Doncaster six days later on July 1. Osarus staged its juvenile sale online on May 27, but these will be the continent's first live, in-person (and, crucially, in-horse) bloodstock sales since the world was brought to a standstill by COVID-19 in mid-March. The Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale will...

Nine wildcards have been added to the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, which will be staged on June 25 alongside the Ascot Breeze-Up Sale and will be the first European breeze-up sales with horses and people on-site post lockdown. In addition to a colt from the first crop of Awtaad (Ire) out of the well-bred listed winner Patience Alexander (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) (lot 153) from Meadowview Stables, the supplements include four new offerings from last year's sale-topping consignor Tally-Ho Stud: a Kodiac (GB) great grandson of the G1 1000 Guineas winner...