TUESDAY, 13 APRIL 2021 THE WEEKLY WRAP: TIMES ARE A-CHANGIN= BREEZE-UP SECTOR HOPES By Emma Berry FOR POSITIVE REBOOT It's Craven week, followed by Greenham weekend, both coming on the back of some interesting Classic trials in Ireland and France. It is, as some people prefer to say in midwinter, the most wonderful time of the year. There's no doubt, however, that the biggest racing story of the year has already happened. However much she wants to play down the gender card, Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National aboard Minella Times (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) was huge. In fact, Saturday was a big day on both sides for the world for women recording notable firsts. Around 12 hours before Blackmore's historic victory at Aintree, Jamie Lee Kah posted her first Sydney Group 1 win on the former French-trained Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), in turn becoming the first woman to ride a winner at the top level for Godolphin. Cont. p5 Lot 79, a colt by Frankel (GB) out of Group 1 winner Ribbons (GB) (Manduro {Ger}), works over the Rowley Mile on Monday | Tattersalls by Chris McGrath IN TDN AMERICA TODAY NEWMARKET, UK--Business as usual? Hardly. But at least THE TDN DERBY TOP 20 FOR APRIL 13 things don't feel quite as unnervingly unusual as last year. T.D. Thornton has the latest TDN Derby Top 20 following GI At the best of times, breeze-up pinhookers have a precarious Arkansas Derby weekend. Click or tap here to go straight to window of opportunity. After a long winter of preparation, their TDN America. horses get a few, fleeting seconds between those timing lasers-- and if for any reason they misfire then very few prospectors nowadays, whatever they may claim, will give them the benefit of the doubt. And, unlike with foals and yearlings, there is no second chance. All you can do is put the horse into training yourself, and hope to sell off the track. On the one hand, then, it was especially hard on this sector that it should have been the first exposed to the terrifying economic uncertainties that accompanied the outbreak of the pandemic this time last year. On the other, you could argue that the resilience and adaptability routinely demanded of its practitioners made them more eligible than anybody, once the time came for the industry to send someone back up that ladder and over the parapet. The belated resumption of the breeze-up calendar, then, was not just an exercise in damage limitation in terms of their own profit and loss. It also became a gesture of perseverance on behalf of horsemen everywhere. They would absorb the shock and, so long as they could still afford it, they would be back in the autumn to restock. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 10 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • 13 APRIL 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale Preview Cont. from p1 contrasting Covid picture in France and Ireland. Yet those In the event, that actually proved a somewhat more expensive present for the breeze show were nonetheless heartened to process than they might have imagined in the summer. But the renew one of the most timeless spectacles anywhere on the confidence that had returned to much of the market, by the Turf: the silhouette of a young Thoroughbred pulling up against time of the yearling sales, at the horizon of the Rowley Mile. least entitles consignors to Pandemic or no pandemic, the return to Newmarket on skylarks remained delirious as Tuesday with some hope of due ever; and the slow clouds, reward for their exposure last hanging high in the East Anglian year. sky, alternated the lingering chill For all the Covid protocols still of winter with samples of to be observed, the Tattersalls brighter days ahead. Craven Sale is not only restored True, the number of spectators to its customary slot--having last appeared down on years past, year been staged the week after but then this is hardly the only Royal Ascot--but coincides with environment where remote the latest easing in national retail has matured in consumer restrictions. Just to be here, trust over the past year. Besides, renewing such familiar rituals, Lot 33, a colt from the first crop of European champion Almanzor we know how many people heightens a sense that things Tattersalls nowadays view even breeze may finally be getting back onto videos through a prism of an even keel. evidence gleaned by their timers, stride-counters and all the Yes, the calendar remains in a state of flux, not least given the rest. Cont. p3 Aidan O'Brien directing his troops at Ballydoyle, Co. Tipperary on Monday morning. | Racingfotos.com TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 10 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • 13 APRIL 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale Preview Cont. Quite how many buyers are still incorporating old-fashioned horsemanship into their shortlisting is another matter. As always, it was fascinating to observe the observers: which agents, for instance, didn't bother to make a single note all morning; and which, equally, sited themselves to pick up any Senior Vice President Gary King "straws in the wind" as the horses were eased. Twitter: @garykingTDN Tattersalls, for their part, have assisted the regrouping process [email protected] by introducing a twin bonus scheme, worth ,125,000 to any + 1.732.320.0975 graduate of the sale who can first win a juvenile race at Royal Ascot; and another ,125,000 to any who can first win one of the International Editor 15 European Group 1 races open to 2-year-olds. (This would be Kelsey Riley split in a ratio of ,100,000 and ,25,000 to owner and vendor, Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN respectively.) Consignors are complimenting Tattersalls on [email protected] looking to their laurels, regarding this sale, with Doncaster European Editor having made such an effective play for the precocious types Emma Berry likely to be ready for Ascot, and Arqana muscling in on pedigrees Twitter: @collingsberry that might take a little longer but also reach a little higher. [email protected] As ever, of course, it all boils down to flesh and blood and the associated roll of the dice. Few consignors ever get a pleasant Associate International Editor surprise at the breeze show, and there were the usual cases of Heather Anderson stage fright and/or soreness reported here. But at least those Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN are familiar challenges. By the time this sale was eventually Marketing Manager staged last year, with many horses sold to regular clientele off Alayna Cullen the home gallops, a catalogue of 154 had shrunk to 84 in the Twitter: @AlaynaCullen ring. Of these, 70 sold for a 61,000gns median and 94,993gns [email protected] average, down from 85,000gns and 121,682gns, respectively the previous year--and from sale records of 110,000gns and Contributing Editors 144,082gns in 2017. Yet it was a relief just to get the cycle Alan Carasso renewed in some form. Christina Bossinakis Overall, the salvaged calendar contrived what was generally Cafe Racing considered an acceptable return in the circumstances. Many had Sean Cronin feared real carnage. Tom Frary Cont. p4 [email protected] Irish Correspondent Daithi Harvey Regular Columnists Chris McGrath | John Berry | Kevin Blake Amy Lynam | Melissa Steele IN TDN AUS/NZ TODAY FARNAN TO STAND FOR A$55,000 AT KIA ORA G1 Golden Slipper S. hero Farnan (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) will stand for A$55,000 at Kia Ora Stud. Click or tap here Lot 147, a Kitten=s Joy filly from the family of G1 Golden Jubilee S. to go straight to TDN Aus/NZ. runner-up Cannonball (Catienus) | Tattersalls Filly ex. Kayaba bred by Hermine Bastide and Filly ex. Dweezil bred by Allevamento LeGi Benjamin Avenel Colt ex. Anja bred by Coolmore Stud Filly ex. Brigids Cross bred by Brittas House Stud Middle Park Stakes-Gr.1 winner, July Cup-Gr.1 winner and European Champion 3YO Sprinter by NO NAY NEVER From the red-hot SCAT DADDY sire line Contact: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Tel: 052-6131298. Fax: 052-6131382. Christy Grassick, David O’Loughlin, Eddie Fitzpatrick, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne, Jason Walsh, Mark Byrne, Tom Miller, Neil Magee or Hermine Bastide. Tom Gaffney, David Magnier, Joe Hernon, Paddy Fleming or Cathal Murphy: 025-31966/31689. Kevin Buckley (UK Rep.) +44-7827-795156. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.coolmore.com All stallions nominated to EBF. TDN EUROPE • PAGE 4 OF 10 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • 13 APRIL 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale Preview Cont. it's causing, in unnecessary paperwork and cost." "It was all little bit nervous, to say the least," recalls Brendan Routines that Holland has been following for 20 years have Holland of Grove Stud. "Would there be a marketplace at all? suddenly become complicated and expensive. And if so, how would it happen? And not only was there a "I had the Department of Agriculture checking my horses marketplace, but an amazing increase of about 20% in the coming here," he says. "Then we had another check for amount of individual buyers." Doncaster. Because I'm now exporting to a 'third country' The clearance rate was strong, too, though it must be said that outside the E.U., by law they have to check all these horses would prove a trend in every sector, suggestive of a "fire sale" before they can travel. Brexit is adding costs not just to the mentality. British economy but to other economies as well, and there's no "For sure, there was a higher-than-normal level of pragmatism gain: only extra cost, extra bureaucracy.