LAST year’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale will long live in the memory of stalwart consignors Malcolm Bastard and Willie Browne, who both sold colts for record prices.
They weren’t the only vendors celebrating - the average price of 158,017gns was almost 10% up on the previous high set in 2017 and, when including private sales, turnover totalled 19,234,000gns - 23% clear of the 2023 figure.
The breeze-up market remained strong throughout the 2025 season, though some consignors rued the importance of the clock for a large number of buyers. That is unlikely to be their greatest worry this time round, with the world a very different place 12 months on.
The conflict in the Middle East is of particular concern for the breeze-up market, which has been dominated by buyers from the region in recent years. Sheikh Mohammed’s cool and confident demeanour at the Dubai World Cup will have been of some comfort, as his Godolphin operation spent 2,050,000gns at the 2025 sale.
Until the hammer falls next week, the remainder remain an unknown, with particular attention on the spending of Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown on behalf of Wathnan Racing, Anthony Stroud on behalf of KHK Racing, BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe who has some high-spending Middle Eastern clients.
Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing was the top buyer 12 months ago, but his spending came to a standstill by the 2025 December sales, with some jokingly suggesting missing posters of the characterful owner should be printed around the sales ground.
Quality guaranteed
The market’s health might be unknown for now, but it can be guaranteed that consignors will have targeted some of their best two-year-olds at the Craven Breeze Up Sale. The catalogue of 182 juveniles includes horses that cost up to €250,000 as yearlings, and features the sort of sire profile we have come to expect from this sale.
Havana Grey accounts for the largest number at 19, with Starspangledbanner responsible for 13 and Mehmas close behind at 12. Other proven Group 1 sires represented include Acclamation, Blue Point, Dark Angel, Frankel, Justify, Lope De Vega, Night Of Thunder, No Nay Never, Sea The Stars, Sioux Nation, Starman, Too Darn Hot and Wootton Bassett.
Their dams are equally smart, with 21 of them blacktype performers themselves, while 38 have already produced stakes horses.
Additionally, four lots are entered in the £25,000 Tattersalls October Book 1 Bonus Scheme, nine are eligible for French owners’ premiums, 13 lots are entered in the Swedish Derby and Oaks Series and nine fillies are registered for the Great British Bonus Scheme. There are also several lots entered in valuable Tattersalls sales races.
Lot 3: Filly by Good Magic - the sire of Dornoch and Mage, out of multiple graded winner and Grade 1-placed Fiftyshadesofhay
Lot 6: Havana Grey half-sister to a Group 3 winner, out of three-time listed winner Fort Del Oro
Lot 30: Minzaal half-brother to Tyros Stakes victor and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf third North Coast
Lot 31: Night Of Thunder filly out of a full-sister to Grade 1 scorer Deauville
Lot 33: Harry Angel half-brother to Grade 1 winner Lush Lips
Lot 35: St Mark’s Basilica colt cost 170,000gns. His full-brother sold for 750,000gns at last year’s sale
Lot 44: Palace Pier brother to two stakes horses, out of a dual Group 1 winner in South Africa
Lot 69: Frankel colt out of a dual stakes winner. Grandson of Jacqueline Quest
Lot 71: Starspangledbanner colt out of a Frankel half-sister to Flotilla, winner of the French 1000 Guineas and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf
Lot 96: St Mark’s Basilica half-sister to three stakes horses, including the dam of listed winner Thesecretadversary (St Mark’s Basilica)
Lot 108: No Nay Never filly out of a Group 3-winning Kodiac mare
Lot 112: Mehmas colt out of a half-sister to joint champion two-year-old filly Campanelle
Lot 119: Starman half-brother to Queen Mary Stakes second Mighty Eriu, out of a half-sister to Signora Cabello
Lot 120: Full-brother to top-class two-year-old The Platinum Queen
Lot 123: Starspangledbanner full-brother to Queen Mary Stakes third Cheerupsleepyjean, from the family of Anthem Alexander, Dandy Man and Mother Earth
Lot 129: Minzaal half-brother to Powerful Glory, winner of the British Champions Sprint and Mill Reef Stakes
Lot 132: Havana Grey colt out of a listed-winning half-sister to Hello Youmzain
Lot 138: Minzaal half-brother to Prix Robert Papin winner Atomic Force
Lot 146: Too Darn Hot half-brother to three stakes horses, including German 1000 Guineas heroine Unforgetable Filly
Lot 155: Lope De Vega filly out of a half-sister to Mawj and Modern Games
Lot 156: Too Darn Hot filly out of a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot)
Lot 157: Mehmas half-brother to Grade 1 runner-up Appraise, out of a listed-winning mare
Lot 175: Mehmas filly out of a half-sister to Group 1 scorer Bayside Boy
Lot 176: Blue Point colt out of a Galileo half-sister to Kingsgate Native
Lot 179: Justify colt out of a three-parts sister to Alpha Centauri and Discoveries
WITH so much made of the high prices paid at the breeze-up sales, and with the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale known for its high-brow offerings, I thought it would be interesting to look at how the lowest-priced horses of the 2025 sale have turned out.
Just like those at the top of the market, not all have run, some are no stars, but there are some prime examples of the value that can be found.
The highlight has to be Flowerhead, who was sold by Tally-Ho Stud to Amo Racing for just 35,000gns and went on to win her second start, but more importantly, she finished second in the Queen Mary Stakes and gained further blacktype at Newbury later in the season.
Nick Bell’s 30,000gns buy from Glending Stables was named Suspended Sentence and went on to win his third and fourth starts before finishing fourth in a listed race at Bordeaux, earning him a rating of 94.
Nick Bauer paid the same price for M.C. Thoroughbreds’ Knicks Go colt Tailgunner Joe - he finished sixth in the Chesham Stakes on debut, won his next start and has since won a handicap in Meydan.
Factual, a Sioux Nation colt bought by Federico Barberini from Church Farm Stables for 48,000gns, has won twice and placed in a valuable novice race, from three starts.
Stephen Thorne gave Robson Aguiar 50,000gns for the Ardad filly Mayflower, who subsequently landed a Leopardstown maiden on debut and has since been sold privately, to stay in the yard.