BEHIND THE BREEZE UPS

Words - Virginia Lisco

Breeze up sales in Europe have produced incredibly high-quality performers over the past few years, turning them into top-class racehorses and stallions. Recent notable examples include Bradsell, the Gp.2 Coventry Stakes victor and Gp.1 King's Stand Stakes winner, Vandeek, who was the juvenile sprint division champion, achieving Gp.1 Prix Morny and Gp.1 Middle Park Stakes, Sands of Mali, the Gp.1 British Champions Sprint champion.

Their progression from breeze up purchases to Group 1 winners, and now to stallion careers, clearly demonstrates the depth and quality of this sector.

These steady results naturally impacted the market, according to Brendan Holland, Breeze Up Consignors Association chairman. "Yes, the market has increased considerably, that's because of the results," he explains. "There has also been a steady influx of high-quality performers entering the industry and the result is that the consignors are heading out and shelling out more money for the yearlings, so you can speculate that there's more quality within the industry."

Holland also notes how this evolution has altered the profile of the horses now presented at these sales: "The market has really changed, because if you go back 20 years ago the horses that were consigned in the breeze up sales were really more 'ready to go' 2yo’s, but now there is an avenue also for 3yo types and horses that run longer distances, including those with the potential to become classic-profile performers."

► A patient path to the track

But in order to understand how the breeze up market has grown and changed, it is important to understand the intricate and specialised process that has formed the basis of it.

The first step is to identify the appropriate individuals - using a comprehensive analysis of pedigree and physical structure, concentrating on where the horse will be in terms of future development, instead of a quick rush of precocity.

It then runs throughout the process of every step of a horse's training, and demands control as the horse matures physically and mentally. As Bansha House Stables' Con Marnane says, "It's a hard job, it's very balance-based, and you really do need top-class staff to get good results. Even though it's becoming increasingly difficult to find top-class riders, their role is absolutely crucial. Many of the people involved are very experienced and very good riders, and that's what makes these young horses into proper horses."

Then the prep process has to be carefully managed, consignors must constantly monitor the amount of age, physical maturity and conformation a horse is developing in relation to the demands of the training.

As Marnane explains, the approach at Bansha House begins immediately after purchase: "We buy the yearlings and break them straight away. John Crossy, one of the best horsemen I know, breaks them for us. Two to three weeks later, when they break, we ride them for four to five days, and we turn them out into the field, where they can eat, relax, and be horses for six weeks to a month, depending on which sale they are expected to do next. We are also judging them all the time while we are working with them, and deciding where they will go."

►The slow road to soundness

And it's a deliberately slow period because of the physical and mental growth. "We want the riders to take them very slowly and so easily," Marnane adds, "because we feel this is a really important phase where you need to go slowly, starting with the light work that builds muscle to ultimately strengthen their body and mind." If at any stage a horse shows that the workload is too much, the response is straightforward: "If a horse shows that it's not ready, which barely happens with us, we would just let them go back to nature."

Feeding is also a key element of the preparation. Marnane emphasises the need to develop good eating habits from the start: "We like our horses to eat a lot from the start and to get used to eating well. It's really important to us that they understand that," he says, noting that, when horses are turned out, we're willing to give extra feed and "they are not depending merely on grass."

This well-regulated, step-by-step process guarantees that preparation supports soundness, not detracts from it, with the ultimate objective not just a pro breeze performance, but rather training horses to run and run well on a track.

► The art of the breeze

In that well-thought-out preparation, the breeze day is where everything finally converges to a certain point. This is where the perfect mix of physical fitness, mental freshness, and controlled effort produce a cool, confident horse that can deliver a smooth, professional breeze when asked to.

As Marnane points out, "so much of it comes down to how the horses have been trained up front and how you slowly bring them on that day." This is because much of the groundwork which goes into the sale, from the weeks and then the months before the fact will be critical to ensure the horse is able to deliver on the day without being over-prepared.

Such an approach complements that described by breeze up rider, Gordon 'Flash' Power, who emphasises early involvement, progressive familiarity and an eagle-eyed view of how each individual horse interacts with its environment. "I get involved with some consignors around two weeks before Christmas and sit on a couple of them, then again in mid-January when we start to canter them a little bit," he says. "I try to get on as many yearlings as I can so I can see where they're at."

The work continues to build gradually towards breeze day, with horses introduced to different gallops and environments before being asked to perform more serious work, allowing both horse and rider to develop confidence together.It is done slowly, so the rider comes into breeze day with a good understanding of a horse's physical and mental state. "It helps immensely for me to know who I am on, and that's why I try to sit on as many horses as I can in advance so that when the day is down, I know what to expect and where the horse is at," Power says, referring to the obligation placed on the rider at that pivotal time: "At the end of the day, consignors are placing most of their faith in me for that moment.

"Power also explains that the climate surrounding the breeze can impact performance, especially due to the immaturity of these young horses. "They're babies, it's really about doing things right from the beginning and if you break them right, everything really becomes easier," he says.

Different tracks pose vastly different challenges: "We breeze on six different tracks. Newmarket is really good for them the horses coming down to the start are most relaxed and chilled, andDoncaster can be a little bit more challenging, with a good bit more activity near the start of the track. The best thing is to know how to calm them and it's crucial that they are relaxed and at rest."

The breeze up industry has also gone through a major shift, especially when it comes to how the performances of breezes are interpreted and what they are worth. When breeze up sales first started in America in the 1970s, they were essentially the strategic objective of offering a relatively more conservative approach to selling horses with less fashionable pedigrees to the track as an athletic performance option instead of using pedigree exclusively. The model has come a long way since then. The advent of more structured sales formats, individual breezes and more recently a wealth of new technologies has completely redesigned the measurement and analysis of performances.

Now breeze times are measured with greater accuracy and under extensive investigation and have turned into a primary reference point for purchases. But with this new emphasis on analytics has come a recognition that a horse's value is not measured only in time.

Contemporary breeze up sales are characterised by a more advanced consideration where breeze times are weighed against stride, efficiency, attitude, physical development and how much of a horse's work is being accomplished. This mindset was evident at Fasig-Tipton and was tested in a different manner last year.

As Evan Ferraro, Fasig-Tipton's Marketing Manager, tells us: "Last year, due to the weather conditions, less relevance was given to the times the horses recorded on the breeze. It was an experiment to remove the clock, and it worked. The breezes performed very well, and everyone was pleased with them, so we decided to remove the clock again for the next sale. We are trying to bring it a little bit back to the old-school way of doing things."

He says this allowed far more emphasis on the horses themselves: "In this way we could concentrate on how the horses themselves moved. The horses overall presented really well, and the results are actually proving it."

Holland, presents a similar opinion claiming that breeze times will always be an important part of the selection process, but that their importance has become even more balanced. "I think time has always been part of breeze selection, and always will be," he adds, "but the more time people spend at the process, the more they understand that it's not the only one, and it's not the most important." Holland says the market has greatly matured: "The marketplace has come to appreciate that time alone isn't enough to predict performance, and that's why now purchasers are relying on distinct criteria, namely stride length, consignor track records and pedigrees. There's definitely more awareness on the buying bench."

► Safeguarding the industry's future

That shared sense of responsibility and evolution also extends to the use of the whip during breeze performances, an area where both industry figures express aligned views. Holland explains that strict principles already guide its use in Europe: "At no stage are you allowed to use the whip behind the saddle, it can only be used down the shoulder, and you cannot remove your hand to use the whip unless it's for severe safety purposes."

He adds, "We are all very mindful that everything we do is in the public eye, and we want people to understand that the way the whip is used, is acceptable and for specific reasons, certainly not to push a horse to go quicker. We are also standardising the whips and how they are used, even if it is largely confirming how we have always approached this in breeze ups."

Ferraro echoes this position, confirming that the whip's role is strictly limited: "The whip will have just a safety role. The rider will be able to carry it, but it's going to be a tool only to correct the horse."

Looking ahead, it is increasingly interesting to observe how the breeze up sector continues to follow a positive trajectory, not only in numerical terms, with rising turnover, growing investment, and increasingly strong results on the racecourse, but also from a broader, values-driven perspective. As the market expands, there is an apparent and collective effort to address key challenges in a structured and responsible way, reflecting a sector that is becoming more self-aware and proactive in shaping its future.In this context, Holland highlights the importance of collaboration within the Breeze Up Consignors Association, particularly as the sector's scale and significance continue to grow.

"We are the main beneficiaries and the main drivers, so we need to take control, as far as we can, of our own destination," he explains. "And we can only do that by discussing the main issues together, because we are responsible for around €25 million annually.”

His words underline a shared commitment to safeguarding the long-term sustainability of the breeze up model, ensuring that its continued growth is matched by responsible governance, transparency, and collective decision-making.