IT was a case of Groundhog Day as Tony and Anne O’Callaghan’s Tally-Ho Stud sold the top lot at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale, and Curragh trainer Michael O’Callaghan was listed as the purchaser. Naturally, it was a pinhook success too.

O’Callaghan bought the Time Test colt for 160,000gns, his first purchase by the sire. He said: “He did one of the better breezes; a lovely looking horse. He has a nice pedigree and is out of a Galileo mare. I thought he has the best physical in the sale; hopefully he goes on to be useful.

“He is the seventh breeze-up horse I have bought this year. We had a few more bought at this point last year. I bought more of a spread of horses last year, but I am trying to buy more of a quality horse this year.” The colt, the first foal out of the winning Luna Mare, cost Tally-Ho 65,000gns as a yearling at the October Book 3 Sale from Culworth Grounds Stud, who had paid 32,000gns to buy him as a foal from Brook Stud.

Later in the sale the benchmark set by the eventual sale-topper was challenged by a filly, and she is a daughter of Tally-Ho’s Mehmas. Bloodstock agent Alessandro Marconi gave 150,000gns for this John Nolan-consigned daughter of What About Me, a winner as a two-year-old. She was a vendor buy-back as a yearling for €16,000.

Dubai-bound

“She is for an owner based in Dubai,” said Marconi. “Mr Nolan is more experienced in life and in the game than myself, and he highly recommended her. She did a highly impressive breeze and the underbidder, Michael O’Callaghan, is very shrewd and has been buying more breeze-up horses than anyone else and has been very successful!

“The filly is something special and is the pick of the sale, and she is staying for now in England. We will make a plan in half an hour! It is the breeze that is important; time is not everything, it is more the way they gallop out and how they are afterwards.”

A SON of Soldier Hollow, out of a winning half-sister to Sunnyhill Stud’s German Derby winning sire Lucky Speed, was bought by Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock for 130,000gns, sold by the Co Kilkenny-based Powerstown Stud.

“He is a lovely horse, he is going to Joseph O’Brien in Ireland. He is a gorgeous individual, he was bought at the BBAG Yearling Sale very well by Tom Whitehead; it was actually the day everyone got stuck in the hotel due to the fire the night before. Tom missed the fire and bought the horse!”

Boman added: “I had to come back and buy the horse this year. He is a lovely horse and breezed very well. He is very quick for a stayer as he is a horse bred to get a mile and a half. He showed a lot of speed and is a gorgeous individual. Sometimes a horse does go too quick for its pedigree, but it is all a matter of opinion. He did a particularly good time for stayer, but it was a top 40 time, not a top five time. We are not buying simply on time; a good stride length and a number of things about the horse are important.” The colt was bought for €28,000 by Whitehead.

Compas Equine

Micheál Orlandi of Compas Equine was with trainer David Loughnane when the pair bought a daughter of Highland Reel at 125,000gns. She was sold by Aguiar Bloodstock, having been purchased by Robson Aguiar for €16,000 as a foal.

“She breezed very well, and Dave has done well with breezers,” said Orlandi, adding: “Dave came here after racing at Ascot yesterday, saw her this morning and liked her. She came highly recommended. Dave has one by Highland Reel that he likes a lot, that gave him a lot of confidence for this filly. Highland Reel was a very good racehorse.”

Loughnane won the Group 3 Merriebelle Stables Commonwealth Cup Trial Stakes at Ascot with the Craven Sale graduate Go Bears Go. Last summer the colt by Kodi Bear won the Group 2 Railway Stakes and finished second in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

THE SALE of a daughter of Derrinstown Stud’s Awtaad provided the pinhook result of the sale, and one of the best of the year.

Bought at the Tattersalls December Sale for just 2,000gns, she was sold this time for 110,000gns to Phil Cunningham. Robbie Mills and his fiancé Kirsty Milczarek of RMM Bloodstock could hardly believe their good fortune.

“I have been looking at her and scratching my head all winter wondering why I paid just that for her!” said Mills. “We got lucky, and our judgement was right. She was in one of the last Shadwell drafts, so maybe she slipped through, but I really liked her. She was a great walker then and still is now. She has just bloomed all through her prep and blossomed.”

The filly is out of the Nayef mare Hawaafez who won the Group 3 Cumberland Stakes, and she comes from the family of Wedding Bouquet and champion Moonlight Cloud. Hawaafez’s three-year-old Dubawi filly Rouge Millennium won on her first start at Weatherby on Saturday for trainer Tom Clover. Hawaafez has now had three runners and two winners, including Rouge Millennium’s full-brother, the seven-time winner Khatm.

One bullet

Mills added: “I doubt we’ll do this again! I hope I do; I will be trying to. We have been doing breezers for the last few years, we’ve had some nice winners, but a result like this is a dream. It is our best result without a doubt. It was a struggle to buy yearlings last autumn, we had one bullet to fire and it hit the target.

Former jockey Milczarek rides work for Charlie Appleby, and the couple have two children. They plan to get married in September and this sale will pay a few of the costs.

A SON of Teofilo, the six-year-old Halimi beat Red Verdon at the beginning of the month over two miles, his fifth career success, and he headed the horses-in-training section of this week’s sale when purchased by Marco Bozzi Bloodstock from the Gainsborough Thoroughbreds draft for 80,000gns.

“He is a stayer, he is sound, he has no problem with the vet, he likes good ground and he is exactly what my client is looking for; a horse who can stay and run in group races in Italy,” said Bozzi. “He goes into training with Bruno Grizzetti and has been bought for a longstanding client of mine. He has had horses in Italy before, has some now in France, but this horse will be trained in Italy.”

Halimi has run 30 times, and his victories include a Group 3 at Meydan and the Listed Devoy Stakes at Naas. Previously with Jim Bolger, he has been trained by Simon and Ed Crisford since last year.

Three lots sold for 50,000gns, and two of these were purchased by Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah. That pair are Wolsey and Fraction. Still a maiden, Wolsey, offered by Jamie Railton Bloodstock and sold for Qatar Racing, is going to Saudi Arabia but may stay in Britain for a time. The Kitten’s Joy colt finished second at Doncaster last weekend.

Sold as part of the Juddmonte draft, the three-year-old colt Fraction, by War Front and out of the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Proportional (Beat Hollow), has run once.

Neil Mulholland Racing paid 50,000gns for the Bethell Racing-offered Trolley Boy, a four-year-old Casamento gelding and a bumper winner in December. “The form of his bumpers has worked out; he is a nice stamp of a horse. If you go and try and buy a three-year-old store in Ireland over the next few months it will cost you even more,” said Mulholland.

AS the gavel fell on the final lot, a delighted Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony commented: “Significant increases in average, median and turnover are the mark of a very solid renewal of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale, especially when combined with a highly-creditable clearance rate in excess of 80%.

“The domestic British and Irish demand at all levels of the market has been matched by diverse international participation, which has become the hallmark of this fixture. European buyers, particularly from Italy and Spain, have made a major contribution, and they have been joined by buyers from South East Asia and the customary strong contingent of buyers from the Gulf region.

“Eight two-year-olds selling for 100,000gns or more, and a record sale turnover, reflect the strong demand at the top of the market, and as ever there have been some notable pinhooking triumphs. However, the most pleasing aspect of the sale has been the record-equalling median which demonstrates real depth to the trade from start to finish.

“The consignors have supported the Guineas Breeze Up Sale strongly, and it has been great to see the buyers respond accordingly; clearly encouraged by the sale’s reputation as a consistent source of Group 1 winners.

“The horses-in-training section of the sale also continues to thrive, and the record turnover, huge rises in average and median, and a clearance rate in excess of 90% have contributed to an unprecedented combined turnover.”