IF I come back as a horse in another life, I’d like to live at Longways Stables. A stone’s throw from popular tourist spot Ardmore in Co Waterford, the 200-acre cliffside property boasts beautiful sea views, as well as fairytale stone ruins. Barn owls frequent the remains of 16th century Ardoginna House, while horses graze what was the walled garden.

Sarah O’Connell describes it as “a calming environment” – not necessarily something you would expect from a source of fast horses. O’Connell and husband Mick Murphy have developed a reputation for selling talented horses at the breeze-up sales, as well as pretraining for clients that include Henry de Bromhead and Roger Brookhouse.

“I think it’s good for man and beast to live in a place like this,” muses O’Connell, who grew up locally, while Mick is also a Waterford native. “The horses are getting fresh sea air the whole time and the barn is very airy and light. My asthma has dramatically improved since we moved back, so the air must be good for the horses too.

“They can go to the beach if they need a freshen up, it’s great for them to get down there. They’re probably afraid of the tide the first day they go in there, but then they absolutely love it.”

It’s a world away from the busy sales circuit, which kicks off at next week’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, at which Longways Stables offer four. On their draft, Sarah says: “We’ve a nice Space Blues colt out of an Exceed And Excel mare. He’s a fast, good-looking colt with a good shape to him. The Supremacy filly will breeze well, but she needs a little bit of time. The A’Ali colt is a sharp colt and, in hindsight, maybe he should have gone to Donny [Goffs UK].

“We’ve some sharp horses for the first two sales. Later at Arqana, we have horses by top sires like Dubawi, Night Of Thunder, Siyouni and Street Sense. We love going to Arqana; it’s always a stressful week, but it’s a lovely place to sell a horse.”

Anything can happen

Which sale each horse goes to must be decided in February and so much can change between then and the sale. It’s one of a number of challenges consignors face, as Sarah explains. “It doesn’t matter what they do at home, they have to turn up on the day. If they breeze like they should, then hopefully we’ll get paid, but then again, you won’t know what way the market’s going to be.”

It remains unclear as to how Donald Trump’s tariffs will affect the import and export of horses to and from the US, but there’s no questioning the economical unrest it has caused. “You could see people being cautious with their money,” Sarah comments. “There are people who buy to resell, but for the majority of people, it’s a luxury item.”

That said, the couple aren’t ruling out the market being somewhat immune to the current economic turmoil. “The horse industry is in its own little bubble sometimes,” Sarah says. “It’s like we’re living in a completely different world to everyone else, and I’m hoping that’s going to be the case for the breeze-ups this year.”

“I remember when I was working for the Aga Khan Studs at Goffs,” Mick recalls. “There was doom and gloom in the world, but trade at Goffs was off the charts. When I was heading back home, I stopped at the garage and there were two people at the garage getting those little five-gallon drums of kerosene.

“They couldn’t afford to get a delivery of home heating and across the road in Goffs, they were selling horses for millions. What goes on in sales is not real world.”

Money matters

Outside factors aren’t the only cause for concern, with prize money levels in the UK and Ireland regularly coming under fire. As Mick puts it: “How do you sell prize money here and in England; how do you get a new owner into the game? We’ve a couple of horses in training in France and they pay for themselves.

“If you go to Newmarket, or the Orby, or Arqana, the big money is spent by two or three people. I was in Keeneland in September, there was a reel of people spending a massive amount of money, I’ve never seen a market like it.

“I don’t know what the answer is for prize money, I don’t know what to do, but I do know there’s too much racing in England.” Sarah adds: “We put a couple of horses in training in the UK last year, and bar it’s leading up to Royal Ascot and you’ve a winner that looks like a lively contender, you can’t get paid for them.”

Elsewhere, the couple have enjoyed great success selling their horses in training, with a recent example being Without Words. Bought as a yearling with Ted Durcan for $85,000, the Mendelssohn filly went unsold at the Arqana Breeze Up Sale at €175,000, but repaid the faith when winning a Toulouse maiden for Francois Rohaut. Subsequently sold for €450,000, she went on to win a Group 3 for Joseph O’Brien, bringing her latest price to 525,000gns.

Prior to that, they experienced great results with Henry de Bromhead, racing three relatively cheap fillies and selling them for a considerable profit. One was Gorane, who was bought for €10,000 and resold to Clipper Logistics after winning a Dundalk maiden, before progressing to win a listed race.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work out, but the couple must make for understanding owners, given that Mick himself previously trained a small number of horses, something he described as ‘a hobby’.

“Jubilant Note won nine races for me and Menwaal won a couple of premier handicaps (including one under Paul Townend claiming five pounds),” he says. “I didn’t find training horses difficult; I found training owners very difficult. Edward O’Grady used to say ‘the best owners correspond by cheque.’”

Originally a National Hunt jockey, Mick worked as assistant trainer to O’Grady before establishing the current business with Sarah, so he’s familiar with the challenges facing trainers. “For the majority of people, training horses or pretraining horses won’t make you any money,” he says. “You’ll make a living; you’ll make enough to go on holidays or change the car, but you won’t make any money unless you do a bit of trading.”

No brainer

What does make sense to the couple is buying breeze-up horses, and Sarah explains why: “Not knocking the yearling sales, because we sell a couple of yearlings too, but you just get a much bigger picture from a breeze-up horse.

“At the end of the day, a yearling only has to walk up and down. If they have an off-day, you get away with it. If you have an off-day at the breeze-ups, you’re in trouble. To me, it’s a no-brainer.”

Mick continues: “To me, it’s a bit like a jigsaw; there’s so much of it put together. Just two or three weeks after the Craven, a couple of winners will come out of it.”

Breeze-up consignors are passionate about their product and, in 2015, the Breeze-Up Consignors Association was formed in order to promote their wares. “They’re very good at what they do,” Sarah says. “We’re lucky to have Blarney (Brendan Holland) at the helm because he’s a character, he’s a nice fellow, but he’s also very articulate and he’s so passionate about what he does.”

Despite being rivals when sourcing and reselling, breeze-up consignors always cheer each other on, Mick explains. “It’s a great community because if someone has a big winner, it’s a winner for everyone,” he says. “Whether it’s a classic winner or a Royal Ascot winner, a winner for Mark Grant or Con Marnane, it’s a winner for everyone.”

On what to look for when buying at the breeze-ups, Mick says: “I think a very important thing is temperament and, obviously, soundness once they’re there. But there will be plenty of good horses to come out of the breeze-ups that will be a bit sore.” On this, Sarah notes: “You get crucified if something has a touch of a shin or something, which will settle down in time. I don’t actually think that’s right.”

All the time in the world

Neither place an importance on what time horses clock in their breeze, with Mick pointing out: “A change of legs can make a big difference. When you go back and look at the clocks from the sales, there won’t be a second and a half over the top and bottom of the horses.

“Some people are big fans of the clock. We’re not and the Doyles [Peter and Ross] or Hannons [Richard Senior and Junior] don’t look at it. For most breeze-up men and women, their fastest horses at the sale won’t necessarily be their best horse and they know that.

“If you don’t clock well, you normally don’t sell well, but that has changed a bit now, because there’s so many good horses who came out of the breeze-ups - Group 1 winners and classic winners the last couple of years. Norman [Williamson] had as many classic winners than Aidan O’Brien three years ago!”

Sarah continues: “There’s something for everyone. You can get a five-furlong sprinter or you could get the likes of Trueshan. Bradsell was an inexpensive buy, and The Platinum Queen ended up turning into 1.2 million guineas, but was bought at the breeze-ups for 57,000 guineas.”

Not emphasising times means that Mick and Sarah sometimes aren’t well paid in the ring, but their approach pays dividends in the long run, as Sarah explains. “Ours would often breeze a bit green. But I think somebody would like to see that this isn’t the finished product, that there’s more to come from the horse, both physically and mentally. There’ll always be improvement in ours; that’s not their derby.”

Flying the flag

Phantom Flight is a good example. As a well-bred son of Siyouni, he would have been expected to sell for more than the 100,000gns he fetched at the Craven, but he had excuses. “He was raw, it just came too soon for him,” Mick explains.

“He was actually a lovely horse earlier in the spring, but when we stepped things up, it all happened too quick for him.” Now a six-year-old, Phantom Flight won the valuable The Crown Prince’s Cup in Bahrain in January – his second stakes win. The Longways graduate previously won a premier handicap at the York Ebor Festival and placed in six stakes races.

Le Brivido was another son of Siyouni who outperformed his breeze-up price of €105,000, having cost €42,000 as a yearling. He went on to win his first two starts, before being beaten a short head in the French 2000 Guineas and later won the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot. Then there’s Hungerford Stakes victor and Royal Ascot winner Witch Hunter, who Longways Stables sold to Peter and Ross Doyle for £125,000.

“Reputation is very important,” Mick explains. “We find a lot of our customers will be repeat customers. We’d had unbelievable luck with the Doyles [Peter and Ross].” Sarah adds: “Every horse that they’ve bought off us has won, bar one.”

Al Raya rewarded Longways on and off the track; sold for what was a record price at the time at £450,000, she went on to win a Group 3 and place in multiple stakes races. Flora Of Bermuda also justified her breeze-up price of £340,000 when landing a Group 3 last summer, before getting within half a length of Group 1 glory in October.

Andrew Balding’s charge remains in training as a four-year-old, giving Longways hope for a well-deserved Group 1 win. “By God, she’s entitled to it,” Sarah says. “She’s as tough as teak. She was fifth, fourth and third on her last three runs, all in Group 1s, and she was a little bit unlucky in running in a couple of them as well.”

Mick says the Havana Grey filly they consign as Lot 23 at Goffs UK reminds him of the Group 1 contender. “We call her Top Hat And Tails,” Sarah says with a smile. “She’s the first Havana Grey that we’ve had, but if she’s anything to go by, you’d have a yard for them. It’s just eat, sleep, repeat. She has the sweetest temperament, nothing phases her.”

The filly’s nickname is a reminder that, despite the risks that come with their profession, Mick and Sarah are propelled by their optimism. “You have to be a dreamer in this game,” Sarah admits. “When you get thrown a lot of curve balls in a short space of time, it brings you back down a little bit.

Mick agrees: “Edward O’Grady told me one time, ‘there’s a lot more funerals than weddings, so when you get invited to the wedding, make sure you enjoy it.’”