2010 Guineas Breeze Up Sale Day 1 Press Release

A pair of colts by INVINCIBLE SPIRIT topped proceeding’s on the one day Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale as 83 lots were sold for 2,149,500 guineas at an average of 25,898 guineas and a median of 20,000 guineas.

The INVINCIBLE SPIRIT own brother to the Listed winning STEVIE GEE was a late addition to the Guineas Breeze Up catalogue after he failed to take his place at the Craven Breeze Up two weeks earlier. The colt, who is out of the SEEKING THE GOLD mare MANGAREE MARY, caught the attention of the Stobart Group’s Andrew Tinkler as well as bloodstock agent David Redvers but the pair were unable to match local agent Richard O’Gorman who landed the two-year-old with a bid of 220,000 guineas. The sale represented a great pinhooking result for consignor Willie Slattery’s Meadowview Stables who had purchased him for 48,000 Euros as a yearling.

O’Gorman struck again for the only other lot to realise 100,000 guineas or more, when he signed for the INVINCIBLE SPIRIt colt out of the SILVER HAWK mare VIRGIN HAWK. Consigned from Tom Whitehead’s Powerstown Stud in Ireland, the racy colt was the subject of a spirited bidding duel between O’Gorman and Co Kildare based owner Norman Steel, with the latter eventually waving the white flag. The sale of the half-brother to the Listed winning METAPHORIC proved a fruitful one for his owners who had secured him as a yearling for 46,000 Euros.                            

At the conclusion of the 2010 Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony commented;                            

“There have been a number of positives to take from today’s trade. We were delighted to be able to accommodate the INVINCIBLE SPIRIT colt from Meadowview Stables who was originally scheduled to sell at our Craven Breeze Up two weeks ago. He was always a colt of real quality and it was great to see his vendor rewarded with the top price of 220,000 guineas. As well as a top price which exceeded the 170,000 guineas sale topper at last year’s Guineas Breeze Up we were pleased that the clearance rate also significantly improved on last year. Having said that, we would still like to have seen a higher percentage of lots sold and the sale has graphically demonstrated the old adage of ‘breeze well, sell well’. Nevertheless, while there is little doubt that the market remains selective, numerous buyers have remarked that there has been plenty of competition for quality horses.

“The Guineas Breeze Up is still in its infancy, but in the three years since its inception it has quickly established itself as an important middle market sale which is increasingly targeted by buyers from throughout Europe as well as a wide cross section of domestic buyers. These are still difficult times, but I have little doubt that today’s sale will produce its usual steady stream of high class winners and also unprecedented returns on investment for those lucky owners whose purchases benefit from the two extensively promoted bonus schemes.”