US-Bred 2-Year-Olds Headline Dubai Breeze-Up Sale

With two of its first-year graduates on this weekend's World Cup card, the Dubai Breeze-Up Sale returns with another group of more than 60 youngsters to offer March 21 with organizers confident that buyers will have a better idea of what to expect.

There was an element of curiosity when Goffs had persuaded the predominately Irish-based consignors to bring horses across to the Gulf 12 months ago but they had the perfect advertisement when Go Soldier Go  headed Mr Raj  in the Al Bastakiya on Super Saturday. 

They are both entered for the U.A.E. Derby (G2) and neither were among the most expensive to have been sold. The Tapiture   colt Go Soldier Go was found by agent Chad Schumer for $45,000 as a yearling and moved on by Church Farm & Horse Park Stud to Fawzi Nass for €124,000 while Mr Raj, by Bolt d'Oro  , was picked up by enterprising Dubai owner Ahmad Bintooq for €87,000 from Gaybrook Lodge.

Tom Taaffe of Goffs, who is organizing the sale, said: "Go Soldier Go was actually one of the slower breezes last year, he was a tall angular horse who needed a bit of time to fill his frame. Fawzi Nass has done an amazing job with him, he's just improved and improved. 

"Mr Raj was also tall and a little bit empty of his middle at the time, he didn't travel that great in the flight, or recover great here. Jim McCartan wasn't as happy as he normally would be with a horse but he breezed respectably and he has developed and rewarded them.

"It's important people know it's not about the fastest horses that come up here and how flashy they look, it's about people who can pick out a horse that they can see in time could be in the place that they want them to be, back to where it was before the clocks came in. And that's given us great satisfaction."

As Taaffe suggests, the individuals brought here are not expected to be gunned down the straight as they might be to a market of 2-year-old buyers, although quite a few were given a stern examination as the mercury rose at the Dubai Racing Club's training track early Monday morning.

"The whole theme here is we don't want horses abused and doing too much too young, when they're big in particular, and then they become fragile in areas—this is to let them progress naturally within themselves and be able to race really from October onwards," he added.

"We ended up with a lot of winners from May onwards, which was absolutely amazing. I'd feel with the attendance and the amount of people who've come from literally the globe, those who were maybe skeptical last year because there was no clock that these might be slower horses and might not necessarily be the best of the year, that's gone out the window after the success of last year."

The list of winning members of the 2022 class has now risen to 14 in six different countries. With the majority of this catalog being US-bred, it seems likely that they will hold the greatest appeal for Arabian-based buyers to race on dirt. However, Kilminfoyle House's Sea The Stars  colt and Kingman  filly are among the large sprinkling of European-breds and last year's second-most expensive lot, also sold by Roger Marley and John Cullinan's Church Farm & Horse Park Stud, was a Frankel  bought by Big Red Farm for €521,000.

Labeling won a maiden in late November and then finished a very close third in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1).

"Hong Kong wasn't really here last year but there's a number of them here and we did a bit of advertising in Japan, and they've come in force," Taaffe added. "The idea was we'd have horses at three different levels at various price ranges for people to be able to access and purchase.

"Vendors have realized what might suit this area better, they've gone and bought that type of horse and I'm indebted to them for giving us the chance to try to sell some gorgeous horses."