ED Donohoe of Goresbridge Horse Sales says he has received a “very good” reaction to this week’s announcement that Goresbridge will stage a new breeze-up sale in May 2025, in conjunction with Gowran Park.

The news comes a few weeks after Goffs announced they will also stage a new breeze-up sale in June 2025, using Naas Racecourse as its partner.

Chiefly known as a source of sport horse sales, Goresbridge recently returned to the thoroughbred sector with a point-to-point sale which was widely regarded as a success. The Co Kilkenny firm previously staged a breeze-up sale from 2006 to 2018 before selling that business to Tattersalls Ireland.

Moved from Gowran to Fairyhouse, the sale continued to carry the ‘Goresbridge’ moniker until this year and is now simply known as the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale.

The new Goresbridge sale will take place a week before the Tattersalls Ireland auction and a week after the Arqana Breeze Up Sale.

Donohoe said: “The reaction has been very good. People say they want to support it and they really want to see horses breezing at Gowran Park again.”

Acknowledging that the breeze-up sales have proven tough for many vendors so far this year, Donohoe added: “These are challenging times but what producers are telling me is that, because of Brexit, it is too expensive to send horses to England and then bring them back if unsold. They say that a lot of European buyers prefer to attend EU sales than one in England, and also that they love the facilities at both Gowran and Goresbridge.”

The ‘Gowran Breeze at Goresbridge’ will cater for between 100 and 120 horses, says Donohoe. “We will select saleable horses that cater for all budgets,” he said. “There is a lot of work to be done to get the buyers back to Goresbridge and we will be depending on the support of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing to promote it.”

Donohoe says the success of the recent point-to-point and horses-in-training sale has given him confidence to stage more thoroughbred auctions. “We had 40 horses and 85 registered buyers on the day,” he said. “We got a lot of positive feedback and we plan to stage another point-to-point sale later in the year. I’ve been asked why we don’t have a store horse sale or a foal sale. The market is crying out for another option.”