WE have another sale to go, but how did the breeze-up sales season go for you this year?

Willie Browne, Mocklershill: We had some great results. The Acclamation horse at the Craven was obviously a brilliant result, but we sold a few others very well too; a Havana Grey, Siyouni… That said, you struggled to sell at the bottom end.

Cormac Farrell, CF Bloodstock: It all went very smoothly for me. I’ve one left in Goffs was meant to go to Arqana, but just has a small niggle, and didn’t get there. Other than that, we sold everything. We had a couple of highlights, but across the board it was a very solid year.

I had a few at Fairyhouse that didn’t quite meet my expectations, but I can’t complain. That’s the nature of it; there’s a lot of luck involved. You only get one shot at it and the horses have to show their capabilities on a given day, and sometimes they’re not at their best, and that’s the nature of it.

Tom Whitehead, Powerstown Stud: It was good but it was very polarised. It’s very much focussed on times, now more so than ever.

That’s what the market is looking for, so I suppose we have to try and supply what the market wants. The two or three big punters in the business seem to want times and if they want times, they are obviously getting better results out of the horses that are doing the times.

Brian Slattery, Meadowview Stables: We had a good year, we have no complaints. We got the majority of them sold, with one or two that didn’t sell for one reason or another, that just didn’t work out.

We had a great sale everywhere bar Doncaster [Goffs UK], to be honest. You need to have a very fast horse in Doncaster; it seems to be the one particular type of horse that sells well all the time there.

Katie Walsh, Greenhills Farm: It was mixed, but it was good, it was consistent. I believe if you had the product, you definitely got paid for it, and if you didn’t have it, it was a struggle in places. There were plenty of people there to get them shifted on, bar a couple of places.

Was it as strong as it looked at the top of the market and did demand trickle down?

WB: There was a middle to it but sadly the bottom end was very, very weak. For me, there’s no market from the teens up to 25 grand - that’s where the weaknesses are in the sales at the moment.

The top of it is unbelievable and we all benefit from it; they’re making extraordinary prices. Whatever they made at the top end last year, I’d say it’s another 25% stronger this year.

There’s a couple of very heavy players there at the top and I don’t think any kind of a recession affects them. The likes of Richard Brown, Amo and Godolphin and those, they give the best price for the best horse, which can be anything from a million and a half downwards.

CF: The market felt good all the way through, from my perspective anyway. The clearance rates were good. I think everybody paid a lot of money for yearlings because the yearling market was very strong last year, so people were definitely anxious that the breeze ups were going to be strong, and they were. I think there was an awful lot of very good pinhooking results.

I had a very tough year last year – I barely came out alive - but the market felt very different this year.

TW: I think Fairyhouse was probably one of the better middle market sales, but at the rest, there was a huge emphasis on speed.

The Dubai and Saudi markets aren’t what they used to be; I suppose they’re buying the horses in America now, and you can’t really blame them – they’ve a better selection when they go over there, they can choose from five or six hundred American-breds.

More and more people are looking for an Ascot horse than a long-term prospect. Maybe a little less in Arqana, there were probably more middle-distance buyers there but I think we had a better trade two or three years ago for the mile, mile and two kind of horses - that seems to have died away a bit.

BS: I would say there was plenty of gaps in it. I would say there will be plenty of good horses bought that didn’t make the headlines because you’re talking less than a second from being first to maybe 80th on the clock. A second is a stride, so if a horse misses a stride, or a jockey just wasn’t as quick to get him into stride… a second is nothing.

KW: The whole way through, demand was very strong. I think if you breezed well and you had what they wanted, you got very well paid for it. I’d say overall, it was a very good season, but if you missed, you missed, and in some places, it was harder sell than in different places. Overall, I think everyone was quite happy with the way the whole season went.

When new sales were proposed for this year, the Breeze Up Consignors Association expressed their desire not to increase numbers. Now that most of the sales have passed, how do you feel the numbers fared?

WB: I think the numbers are slightly down up to now. I know myself that I was probably 15 or 20 horses lighter than last year. That was for a couple of reasons; I didn’t buy as many and while I got outside horses, I didn’t have as many as other years.

I don’t think people went out deliberately to cut back numbers, it’s just that it’s extremely hard to buy a nice horse. The problem is that if you give 50 grand or 250, sadly, if the horse is not able to gallop, you’ve lost everything, so that’s why my crew are a bit cagey as regards how much we spend.

CF: I would definitely support the idea that the numbers are why the market was good this year. There was actually a decrease in the number of horses produced for sale this year and that probably helped the clearance, so I wouldn’t be a fan of bigger numbers next year.

I know Goresbridge wants to try and hold a sale. Is there room for them? I’m not sure. They always do a very good job, and I’m sure it would get a good catalogue, but I’d be anxious that we’re at a very nice spot in terms of numbers. I’m not sure how many more horses the market could cope with.

TW: I’d say the numbers don’t need to get any bigger anyway. I don’t think it’s going to happen in the near future, but I think we’re getting closer and closer to the American way that the top 30 horses on times seem to be what people are focusing on.

BS: I personally believe there could be another sale in Ireland. Brexit has definitely had a big impact on the [Tattersalls] Guineas Sale; a few years ago, it used to be a great sale, but I do think it was a better sale this year than last year, I believe an easing of restrictions in the movement of horses between England and Europe is coming into effect, I heard they’re going to lift all the paperwork, and there will be a freedom of travel like it used to be before.

KW: Everyone gets left over with a couple of horses towards the end of the season, for different reasons. I brought a horse to France that didn’t work out so I’m bringing it to Goffs [Classic Breeze Up] Sale and it’s nice to have that option. It’s the first time it’s ever happened, but it’s definitely a better option for us as consignors to bring our horses to Naas, which is a fantastic facility, and on to Goffs, which is second to none.

The later yearling sales were notoriously strong, too. Are you optimistic that the flat market will remain strong for the foreseeable future?

WB: I’d be a bit glass half-empty myself. Sadly, whether you’re talking about the National Hunt or the flat, there’s just not enough people when you go down the ladder and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.

There were two races today [Wednesday] in Nottingham that were probably as good a maiden as you’d find. I know, because I had three in one race, including my 1.4 million horse and there were horses that cost six and seven hundred thousand, but they ran for £3,200 or something. You’d double that in Downpatrick or Tramore, or wherever else in Ireland.

We’re not over happy with our prize money [in Ireland] but the English prize money on weekdays is an insult. Okay, there’s some good money there of a Saturday but for the people racing these horses it looks fairly obvious that they’re racing for glory rather than for what they can get from it financially.

CF: You couldn’t make any predictions but I’m hearing bits and pieces on the grapevine about lots of trades getting done pre-Royal Ascot. You see a lot of headlines about Wathnan buying horses and John Stewart has just bought a horse off Paddy Twomey.

There are an awful lot of wealthy people in the world, so the top is going to be particularly strong again, I think you can be confident about that, but then it makes you nervous that it will be very difficult to buy yearlings.

Going forward, it feels like there’s an awful lot of very strong players at the top of the game and is that making it too top-heavy for the smaller lads at the sales? I don’t know how it’s going to pan out.

TW: I think people are going to take a chance on cheaper yearlings; they’re not going to overspend on yearlings because there’s so much risk if a horse doesn’t do the time on the day, you’re going to be in big trouble to resell him.

I’d say people are going to think a bit more about giving a lot of money for yearlings to breeze, whereas a few years ago, if you had a nice horse that breezed well, he was still saleable, whereas I don’t think they are now.

BS: It’s hard to know how long it’s going to last, but flat racing is so global; there’s always going to be a demand for horses. I thought there was a lot of footfall at all the sales; you’d have over 100 shows for some horses, which is nearly unheard of for a breeze up.

KW: I think everyone’s hopeful that it will stay strong for the Goffs Sale. I think it’s a good opportunity for everyone to get their horses sold before they go back shopping for yearlings, which is good news for everyone. Who could have known what would happen in Tattersalls last October, and who can say what’s going to happen 12 months on.

What was your best result in the ring and/or on the track over the past few months?

WB: My expensive horse disappointed the first day but he redeemed himself [on Wednesday]; even though he didn’t win, he ran very well. Obviously, for me, it’s very important that these horses follow up on the track -that’s a no brainer.

Light Infantry Man won his second Group 1 in Australia this year. He’s a very talented horse and though he’s a six-year-old I’d say he’s not finished by a long shot.

We all want to be selling horses like him and it’s not simple, but the breeze-up boys seem to have a knack of picking out the better ones. We don’t have the budgets to buy the priciest yearlings but we seem to produce a lot of nice horses.

CF: We got a small fortune for the Night Of Thunder to Godolphin - definitely the best result in the ring of my career and I’d imagine it will be a long time before anything ever happens like that again.

Outside the ring, I had a horse by Starspangledbanner that I sold in Arqana last year, but I kept a leg in and was proved right. Called Rafale Design, he won the Group 3 Prix Hocquart last month and will have entries at Royal Ascot.

TW: I suppose the Too Darn Hot we sold in France for €550,000 (bought as a yearling for 97,000gns). He got a couple of very good updates from yearling to two-year-old, which is unusual. The sister won and actually won a listed race in York since then so she’s three from three, and the brother won a listed race during the winter, which is something that doesn’t normally happen on a pedigree.

On the track, I suppose Galactic Star, who won a listed race in Dubai, and Cathedral, who is a group filly, have been the highlights so far this year.

BS: Our best result was Heart Of Honor last year. He runs in the third leg of the Triple Crown races at the weekend for Jamie Osborne. We had two group horses last year - Miss Fascinator was only touched off in a Group 3.

This year, our biggest success was turning 50,000gns into €350,000 at Arqana; a Havana Grey colt bought by Anthony Stroud. He was a natural athlete and light on his feet and breezed very well on the day. Richard Brown underbid him, all the right judges were on him, so hopefully he’ll be very lucky.

KW: Selling the Mehmas colt for £1 million at Goffs UK was definitely a highlight. He wasn’t mine, but it was a great story. He had cost a lot of money as a foal and there were a lot of people involved in him, from Scandinavia to Ukraine. You dream that you’ll sell a horse for that kind of money some day and hopefully it won’t be the last.

So far, nothing has run from this year’s draft but hopefully that’ll happen soon, it’s probably still very early season now. There’s a big focus on Ascot as there always is this time of the year, but a lot of the really good stuff happens after Ascot. So, hopefully a couple of them will be able to perform in the next few weeks.

Give us a horse to follow.

WB: We had a good few sell well this year so I’m hoping they do well, but the horse that jumps out at me is Realign who runs in the Commonwealth Cup. He’s a Blue Point horse belonging to Wathnan and bolted up in a maiden the other day.

CF: Without being too obvious, the Night Of Thunder was a very nice horse. Then there was a Harry Angel filly that I sold to Highclere at Arqana. We were very excited about her going there and she breezed very fast. We got well paid for her (€230,000) and I think she has a huge future as well.

TW: I’m looking forward to seeing that Too Darn Hot running. I liked him and he’s got a good pedigree.

BS: Either the Havana Grey colt or an Omaha Beach colt that Bhupat Seemar bought off us at Arqana. We picked him up for $10,000 and he bought him for €120,000. I know this is going to sound terrible, but we were a bit disappointed with the price because we really liked him.

KW: This year was a very mixed year for me. I think it was a good year overall, but I had a mixed bunch. There were a couple of horses that I liked and that I loved, but there was never one that screamed that it was going to be very early, so hopefully they can all do themselves justice.