High Hopes Heading Into Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up

The Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale marks the final stop on the main European breeze-up circuit and it's the culmination of two sales seasons that will be difficult to surpass for Roderic Kavanagh of Glending Stables. Last year the consignor's standout colt was a son of Havana Grey (GB) who he bought as a yearling for 42,000gns and turned into a 625,000gns breeze-up seller. That colt went on to be the Crisfords' unbeaten 2023 Prix Morny (G1) and Middle Park Stakes (G1) winner Vandeek (GB), who makes his seasonal return at Haydock May 25. This year Kavanagh has already repeated the spectacular pinhooking triumph with the final Galileo yearling to be offered at auction, purchasing the colt for 125,000gns in December and selling him for 1 million guineas last month. Having such an outstanding result at the start of the year is both a blessing and a curse, something of which Kavanagh is acutely aware. "Obviously we got off to a great start, and in one way that took the pressure off for the rest of the year, but you can't close your eyes and not see the reality of it; there are probably more horses available than there are people to buy them," Kavanagh said. "You wouldn't be getting carried away with yourself, but fundamentally if you bring nice horses to the market you are going to go okay." For the final sale of the season, Kavanagh brings a strong quartet to Fairyhouse and the caliber of the horses on offer has risen in tandem with the success of the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale. The 2023 version produced two juvenile group winners in Kairyu (IRE) and Letsbefrankaboutit (IRE), and listed winners Ballymount Boy (IRE) and Fun With Flags (IRE). The traditional view of breeze-up horses is also changing, with the success of such as Trueshan (FR) transforming perspectives. Ambiente Friendly (IRE), a breeze-up graduate, pushed himself into the reckoning for Derby (G1) glory with victory in Lingfield's trial for the classic and victory at Epsom for the son of Gleneagles (IRE) would be another step on that journey of evolution for the sales. "Last year was a vintage renewal in terms of the graduates that have come out of it; Kairyu, Fun With Flags, Ballymount Boy," said Kavanagh. "It's great to see those kind of horses coming through the sale because it gives a lot of confidence in the product that is coming out of the sales—they are being produced better and better all the time; I've never seen breezes as good as this year. "The general standard of the horsemanship at these breeze-up sales has gone so high, it's a very competitive game and horses are being very well-produced." It doesn't come as a surprise to Kavanagh, who has noticed how the increasing discernment and brilliant equitation skills of practitioners are having an enormous impact on the horses and the sales. "Very few nice horses are missed through the breeze-up selection process, I think," he said. "Regardless of times and things, it's very thorough and they're getting more and more professional at identifying them. "It's great to see the variety in horses that are coming through the breeze-up system, they're not all whizz-bang Royal Ascot 2-year-olds. They have longevity and careers." Purple Lily (IRE) also emerged from last year's sale and Paddy Twomey's Salsabil Stakes (G3) runner-up, who remains in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) ahead of the May 24 declarations, is a daughter of Calyx (GB). Glending Stables offers a Calyx filly out of the listed 2014 Prix des Lilas third Delhi who resembles Purple Lily, the cover star of the sale catalog. Right from the start, the catalog is filled with appealing prospects and Glending Stables' draft contains one of the earliest potential stars of the day in Lot 7, a second-crop son of leading first-season sire Blue Point (IRE). Out of Timpani, a winning Raven's Pass half sister to the 2008 Preis von Europa (G1) second Poseidon Adventure, the bay colt impressed with his breeze on a chilly May morning at Fairyhouse. "The Blue Point horse is probably the star attraction," said Kavanagh. "Blue Point needs no introduction and hopefully he could have a classic winner at the weekend; Rosallion looks good and he's a carbon copy of him, we are excited and hopefully the market takes to him. "He's a fine, big, strong horse and he has taken till now to fill out his frame. That's why we targeted this sale with him." Grade 2 winner Catalina Cruiser, a son of Union Rags who stands at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky, is not as familiar a name to Europeans, but Kavanagh is excited about the filly by the second-cop sire and her appeal to a certain sector of the market that has been enticed to Fairyhouse. He said: "The Catalina Cruiser is only just 2, she was born May 22, but she's a lovely, big, rangy, scopey filly. We're very excited by her and think she could be one for the desert." Other American stallions represented include American Pharoah, Bernardini, Bolt d'Oro, Complexity, Demarchelier (GB), Game Winner, Higher Power, Karakontie (JPN), Kitten's Joy, Maximum Security, Medaglia d'Oro, Munnings, Oscar Performance, Real Solution, Street Sense, Twirling Candy, and Union Rags. The full catalog can be viewed here. The international buyers assembled by the teams at Tattersalls Ireland and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing are a notable aspect of the sale, with the variety of languages spoken around the sales ground and at the racetrack across the road growing again. It's the final time this breeze up season that Kavanagh, and every other consignor, will have to wait to discover their fate, with the sale getting under way at 10 a.m. local time Friday.