Onlookers huddled on either side of Newmarket's Watered Gallop April 12 clutching catalogs, binoculars, and the breeze-up sales' most de rigueur accessory, the stopwatch, as around 145 well-primed 2-year-olds skimmed across the Rowley Mile turf like bullets fired from a gun.
Their target, the Tattersalls Craven Sale, is the first leg on this year's European 2-year-old auction circuit, and is due to begin in earnest at 5:45 p.m. local time after racing April 13.
Despite a light dusting of snow overnight, spectators were treated to mostly clear skies and, even if the temperatures remained in single-figure territory, sun, all of which made for favorable conditions for breezing 2-year-olds.
Among the crowd were a host of agents, owners and trainers hoping to find the next graduate capable of joining the auction's roll of honor, which is topped by major talents like Brando, La Pelosa, Rosdhu Queen, and the young sire sensation Mehmas.
Prospective purchasers were joined by the consignors, who looked on with some apprehension as the fruits of their winter labor—and, in most cases, some considerable autumn investment—were put through their paces.
When the Craven Sale last took place, only ten months ago with the auction pushed back to June 25 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnny Collins' Brown Island Stables claimed top-lot honors when Blandford Bloodstock gave 575,000 guineas (US$749,885) for the Night of Thunder colt out of Thurayaat.
This time around, Collins offers a filly by the Darley stallion (Lot 130), as well as a daughter of No Nay Never (Lot 20) and a colt by Union Rags (Lot 92).
"All three of them went well," said Collins after his draft had returned to Park Paddocks. "They tell me the No Nay Never has gone fast on the clock, she's a very nice filly and would be one for the new Royal Ascot bonus. The other two breezed well too, so everything went as expected."
Given the amount of time, care and money that goes into getting horses to these sales, the two-furlong window they have to showcase their talent rates a high-pressure 20 seconds and change for consignors.
"You line them up for that day and you have them finely tuned, so you'd be nervous that, when you come back after the breeze, something could be wrong with them," said Collins. "They can be 110% sound before they breeze but can be a little off afterwards. Thankfully mine have come through it in good shape.
"There seemed to be a lot of people watching the breezes. We haven't had an awful lot of people looking around the yard but it's still early days, people are probably away analyzing the data and times. I'd be cautiously optimistic at this stage."
Asked if he felt he had a chance of supplying the top lot two years running, Collins replied: "Last year was very good, it'll be very hard to emulate that."
Once the breeze was done and dusted, the majority of chat on the sales ground revolved around who had clocked the day's fastest time. Numerous sources suggested that distinction belonged to Lot 50, the Night of Thunder filly out of Militate consigned by Star Bloodstock.
"It was interesting waking up and seeing snow on the ground, that isn't particularly what you want to see on the morning of a breeze," said Star's Matt Eves, whose draft also includes an Arrogate colt out of Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) winner Funny Moon (Lot 11), a well-related Kantharos colt (Lot 76) and a son of Profitable, and the group 3-placed Alexander Youth (Lot 125).
"We were delighted with a couple of them and disappointed with one of them. The Night of Thunder filly has been quick from the start and went out there and breezed two furlongs in :21.34 seconds, so she's one of the fastest here."
He added: "It'll be interesting to see how the market goes as you're able to buy a horse for Royal Ascot here now, that's the big difference compared to last year. The bonuses are a great incentive too, so I'm hopeful for the sale."
First-season sires are usually a hot topic at breeze-up sales, and Overbury Stud's Ardad has been talked up by several notable judges. The son of Kodiac, whose second winner Arboy Will made a mockery of odds of 150-1 to score on his debut at Windsor for trainer John Bridger, has three lots entered in the Craven Sale.
Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown, who signed for Ardad during the 2016 breeze-up season, was among the agents who expected to be crunching the numbers long into the night.
"We like to watch every video and give every horse in the sale a chance, which means that my clients looking for a shortlist might have to wait until well past midnight, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait," he said.
"We'll be looking at the times, stride data and a few other things that are closely guarded secrets! We've taken these sales very seriously for a long time so we have a lot of historical data and you can see what correlates into a good horse."
On this year's Craven Sale offering, Brown added: "There's probably a sharper group of horses here than there might have been a few years ago. This is the first sale now too, so if you're going to buy an Ascot horse it makes sense that this is the place to buy it. There are plenty of horses that'll make nice 3-year-olds too, there's a good collection of fast horses."
