Johnny Hassett

Johnny Hassett explained that he will be adopting a different approach to the upcoming breeze-up season after signing for a pair of Sea The Stars (Ire) colts at Book 2 of the Orby Sale, including the €160,000 sale-topper (lot 712) from The Castlebridge Consignment. A brother to German Group 3 winner Alpen Rose, the top lot is from the family of 1,000 Guineas winner Sleepytime (Ire) (Royal Academy), but Hassett is convinced that his new recruit is no slouch and labelled the colt "a belter." Outlining his new streamlined approach...

News that Johnny Hassett was diagnosed with cancer last year was met with widespread support and generosity in the bloodstock and racing world and now the man behind The Bloodstock Connection and more recently the Get In The Game Syndicate is hell-bent on giving back to those who supported him when he needed it most. So, how is he going to do it? By doing what he does best; sourcing good horses. This season, every yearling that Hassett sources for next year's breeze-ups will be offered up for sale in...

Leading breeze-up consignor Johnny Hassett has labelled the collection of horses on offer at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale as the best bunch he has ever seen in one place at a given time and put forward colts by Siyouni (Fr) (lot 149) and Expert Eye (GB) (lot 43) from his eight-strong Bloodstock Connection draft as the most likely to make the biggest impression on buyers. Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), runner-up to Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor...

A fundraising campaign has been launched by the Breeze-up Consignors Association (BUCA) to help with medical bills for Johnny Hassett, who is currently undergoing intensive cancer treatment in Germany. Hassett, 49, a hugely popular member of the sales community under his Bloodstock Connection banner, was diagnosed with lung cancer last month and is receiving chemotherapy in a German hospital. The Irishman has developed a large following on Twitter through his regular video blogs throughout the last two breeze-up seasons which show both the training at his home in Co Clare,...

The daily reality check comes via the evening news. Coronavirus by numbers: new infections and, brutally, the death toll. Otherwise, for people working day-to-day with racehorses and breeding stock, not an awful lot has changed. Yes, we take care not to get too close to other people, wash our hands more, wear latex gloves to the supermarket. But the horses still need to be fed, exercised, mucked out and to be prepared, as much as we all can be, for a return to some sort of normality. In our old...

In an ordinary year, the breeze-up consignors, just like any trainer targeting a race, would have a sale date in mind for each horse under their care and work backwards from that date in tailoring the horses' preparation. This year, of course, is anything but ordinary. Along with sweeping date changes to the breeze-up sales calendar, auctions have either been relocated or, in the case of the Osarus Breeze-up, will be held solely online. Goffs UK and Arqana have taken the sensible approach of moving sales that were due to...