The first sign of spring has arrived with the unveiling of the catalog for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, which takes place April 14-16, heralding the impending arrival of the flat season.
A total of 182 juveniles have been entered for the sale, with the auction part of it to be held after the action on the first two days of Newmarket's Craven meeting and with the breeze itself starting at 9:30 a.m. local time April 14.
The most recent two editions of the sale have produced group 1-winning juveniles Vandeek and Hotazhell.
Vandeek's sire, Havana Grey, is the stallion with the strongest representation numerically in the catalog, with 13 members of his fourth crop entered, while Too Darn Hot, sire of Hotazhell and fresh from a group race treble in Australia over the weekend, is represented by eight juveniles.
The catalog features siblings or half siblings to 31 individual stakes winners, headed by the New Bay half sister to 2021 Del Mar Oaks (G1T) winner Going Global and the 2024 Greenlands Stakes (G2) winner Mitbaahy.
Going Global is from the first crop of Mehmas, sire of three individual 2-year-old group/grade 1 winners last year, and another from his first crop is the young Overbury Stud sire Caturra, whose first crop of foals impressed at the sales. The 2-year-old full sister to the 2021 Flying Childers Stakes (G2) winner is another in the sale with an eye-catching pedigree.
She is one of 10 lots by the Tally-Ho sire, who is joined in the catalog index of a breeze up sale for the first time by his studmate Starman, the 2021 July Cup (G1) winner who has his first runners this year.
Another whose stock impressed, in his case at the yearling sales, the son of Dutch Art has a strong hand, with the half sister to the dual group 3 winner and 2023 Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1) runner-up Spycatcher one of the standout lots on paper.
Willie Browne's Mocklershill will offer the largest consignment, with 10 juveniles cataloged, followed by Thomond O'Mara's Knockanglass Stables and Tally-Ho, last year's leading consignor, both with nine.
Glending Stables, consignors of the sale's top lot in 2024 and dual group 1 winner Vandeek in 2023, will offer five lots, while Eddie Linehan's Lackendarra Stables, who consigned last year's Futurity Trophy (G1) winner Hotazhell, has three juveniles cataloged.
Tattersalls chairman Edmund Mahony said: "The Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale is unquestionably Europe's leading breeze up sale for group 1 winners, with Hotazhell the latest 2-year-old graduate to score at the highest level, following in the illustrious footsteps of outstanding juvenile Vandeek and classic winners Native Trail and Cachet.
"Both last year's Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly and Believing, the top-rated sprint filly in Europe who sold for 3 million guineas at last year's December Mares Sale, etched their own marks on the sale's roll of honor, and the caliber and consistency of group 1 winners sourced from the Craven Breeze Up Sale are a testament to the outstanding quality that Europe's leading breeze up consignors offer year after year."
Horses entered in the sale are eligible for a host of bonuses, while the catalog is available to view here.
