Tattersalls: Kentucky-breds highlight first Breeze Up session

A Kentucky-bred colt by More Than Ready topped Wednesday’s opening session of the two-day Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale of 2-year-olds in training in Newmarket, England, which saw healthy increases in both total sales and average compared with last year’s opener.

Tattersalls reported 51 juveniles sold for total receipts of about $6,413,700, or 4,007,000 guineas. That marked a 17 percent jump compared with the opening session numbers in 2012, when 54 lots sold for about $5,490,250. The average price of about $125,750 spiked 24 percent, while the median dropped 5 percent to about $83,200. The first session’s buyback rate rose to 35 percent, compared with 29 percent last year.

The session topper sold for about $512,000 (320,000 guineas) to Anthony Stroud. The colt, consigned by John Egan’s Friarstown Bloodstock, is out of the winning In Excess mare Mary Elise and is a half-brother to stakes-placed winner Johannesbourbon. It is the family of European champion and sire Hold That Tiger, Belmont winner and sire Editor’s Note, multiple Grade 3 winner Indescribable, and stakes winners Spring Awakening and Cat’s Cat. The colt was bred by Daniel Burke in Kentucky.

“He’s been bought for an old established client,” Stroud said. “He is a very nice horse, by a top stallion, and in our timings did one of the fastest breezes, if not the fastest [during the April 16 pre-sale show]. He stays in England, but a trainer has not been decided.”

The second-highest priced juvenile of the session was also foaled in Kentucky, as a 2-year-old Arch colt sold for about $432,000 (270,000 guineas) to Richard Frisby. Bred by Gabriel Duignan, Pat Costello, Pat Holden, Peter Russell and Donal McKeown, the colt is out of the winning Storm Cat mare Touch of Truth and is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Society Hostess. It is the family of English classic winner and sire Refuse to Bend, Belmont winner Go and Go, Grade 1 winner and sire Twilight Agenda, Group 1 winner Casual Conquest, and notable producers Grenzen and Market Slide. The colt, who was also consigned by Friarstown Bloodstock, will be stabled at Newmarket.

“There’s an international cast of performers under the second dam,” Frisby said, referencing Grenzen. “[The colt] has a stallion’s pedigree, if it happens.”

Among the other notable offerings during the first session, a half-sister to recent Arkansas Derby winner Overanalyze sold for about $128,000 (80,000 guineas) to Oliver St. Lawrence Bloodstock. The filly is out of the unraced Unaccounted For mare Unacloud and is also a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Meadow Breeze and to Grade 2-placed winner Mighty Monsoon.

Another highly anticipated offering brought spirited competition before selling for about $344,000 (215,000 guineas). An English-bred Royal Applause colt out of Our Poppet went to Oliver St. Lawrence as agent for Miko Racing. Miko Racing, owned by Hungarian Zoltan Mikoczy, campaigned the juvenile colt’s half-brother, multiple group stakes-winning sprinter Overdose, a fan favorite among Eastern European racegoers who is also known as the “Budapest Bullet.” Mikoczy said that the colt would ship to Hungary and be stabled alongside Overdose as he begins training.

The Tattersalls Breeze Up sale will conclude with a second session on Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m. local time.

For complete results, click here.