Breeze Up Sales Season is Here!

Mon 08 Apr 2024

The 'Breeze Up' Sales season is here, and our team will be laser focused on all these upcoming sales; both in the UK, France and Ireland. We will be looking for our next Group 1 winner to have been purchased from the breeze ups, after our huge success with The Platinum Queen and Ventura Storm.

We have had plenty of lucrative Middleham Park Racing horses, sourced from these sales - not just providing their owners with winners, pattern level performers, huge Festival race days to remember, but also a tidy profit too, from a combination of accrued prize money and sales. Here are some examples:

THE PLATINUM QUEEN, a filly by Cotai Glory - Trained by Richard Fahey. Purchased at the 2022 Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up sale for 57,000 gns. She won the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp. Was 2nd in the Group 1 Nunthorpe, 2nd in the Group 2 Flying Childers and broke the 5f juvenile track record at Goodwood, earning £345,730 of prize money. She was sold at the Tattersalls December Mares sale in 2022, for 1,2000,000gns. A fantastic result for her syndicate.

VENTURA STORM, a colt by Zoffany - Trained by Richard Hannon, he was purchased at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale for 110,000gns. He won £327k in prize money, raced here and around Europe, winning the Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club, a Group 3, two Listed wins & was a close 2nd in the St Leger. He was sold privately to race in Australia, for a high 6-figure sum.

DONJUAN TRIUMPHANT, a colt by Dream Ahead - Trained by Richard Fahey, he was purchased from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale for 30,000gns. He won 239k in prize money, won the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte and placed 2nd in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. He was sold privately for another 6-figure sum, going on to win at Group 1 level and to stand as a Stallion.

DARK ACCLAIM, a colt by Dark Angel - Trained by Marco Botti and purchased at the Goffs Breeze Up sale for £45,000, he ran for us for a season and a half, winning more than his purchase price in race prize money. He was rated over 100 and finished 4th in the Group 2 Italian Derby on his final start for us, before being sold for 6-times his initial purchase price at the Goffs London Sale, in the summer of his 3yo career.

MAYLANDSEA, a filly by Havana Grey - Trained by Michael Bell, she was purchased at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale. She was 2nd in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot as well as Group 3 and Listed placed. Her owners benefitted from another six-figure sum when she was sold privately.

RED ZONE HERO, a colt by Starspangledbanner - Purchased at the 2023 Arqana Breeze Up Sale, he went into training with Michael Bell. 2 wins from 5 starts, his last run for us was a win at the Doncaster St Leger Festival and that's when he caught the eye of a private buyer. He was sold privately to Hong Kong for more than 3 times his purchase price. We purchased his full brother at the 2023 yearling sales and he has joined Michael Bell too! Named Gold Star Hero, shares are available here: https://www.middlehamparkracing.net/horses/view,gold-star-hero-a-colt-by-starspangledbanner_1536.htm

MALC, a colt by Calyx - In training with Richard Fahey. He was purchased at the 2023 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale. After winning on debut, he ran a cracker next time out to take 2nd in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. One to look forward to this year, with the Sandy Lane a possible target.

PRINCE OF PILLO, a gelding by Prince Of Lir - In training with Richard Fahey; he was also a Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze Up sale purchase; for €38,000. He has won 3 races, including a Listed race, the historic Ripon Hornblower Conditions Stakes and was third in a Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket. 2024 targets will be discussed at our April owners stable visit for him.

SILKY WILKIE, a gelding by Mehmas - In training with Karl Burke, he has quite a following, does Silky! We purchased him at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze Up sale for 17,500gns. He won the Scottish Sprint Cup, was 2nd in the Epsom Dash and has been Listed placed 3-times. He has so far won 6-times and has earned over £198,000, with a best RPR of 114.

CLARENDON HOUSE - a gelding by Mehmas, in training with Robert Cowell. He broke the 5f track record at Southwell in December. His record to date is 7 wins and over £118k of prize money and a best RPR of 109. We look forward to seeing him on the turf this season, along with his stable mate and fellow speedball from the breeze-ups last year; ZIGGY'S MISSILE - who is in the form of his life, with 2024 form figures of 1,1,2,1.

Every year the Breeze Ups produce Group race performers and many of those horses produce impressive breezes both visually and on the clock. Our team will be there casting their eye over them all! Here's the full list of the Breeze Up Sale dates:

Osarus, France: 9th-10th April

Tattersalls Craven: 15th-17th April

Goffs UK: 23rd-24th April

Tattersalls Guineas: 1st-2nd May

Arqana, France: 11th May

Tattersalls Ireland: 23rd-24th May

Our team's track record means that we know what we are looking for! We will have a budget in mind, once we have inspected the horses and watched them breeze. Our Diretor of Racing, Tim Palin says: "We head into the Breeze Up's season looking to buy carefully selected 2-year-olds. We will maintain our essence of looking for 'value' and will have in mind that our potential purchases could go to trainers all around the country. Budgets will vary - we could spend 17,500 gns (as we did for Silky Wilkie,) or we could spend 110,000gns (Ventura Storm) and we can't wait!"

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