There's an immediate familiarity to the Grangeclare draft as Joey Logan's operation returns to the scene of some spectacular results.
Twelve months ago at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, Grangeclare consigned four horses for a total of 1,450,000gns, with no individual selling for less than 220,000gns.
Chief among them had been a St Mark's Basilica colt out of Layaleena who made 750,000gns to Amo Racing. Domenico Contarini, as he's known, made his debut in late February and has some big entries.
Logan rolled the dice again and bought Domenico Contarini's full brother (Lot 35) for 170,000gns at Book 2 last autumn. He is among more than 160 2-year-olds ready to breeze on the Rowley Mile April 13, ahead of selling sessions the evenings of April 14-15.
"He's a beautiful colt, a different type of individual," Logan said of the chestnut whose page includes German group 1 winner Danceteria and the top stallion Lope De Vega .
"He looks very straightforward, and everything he's done so far at home, he's done nicely. You won't see the best of him until he's running over the same trip as his brother, around a mile. He's got a good temperament and seems a very nice horse.
"When we saw him last year, he was a bit different, a bit more immature, but when we got him back to the farm, you could see him getting stronger and stronger every week. We're very happy with him and, touch wood, he hasn't given us any problems since the day he arrived."
Grangeclare is offering one more juvenile in the sale, namely a half brother to useful Hong Kong sprinter Atomic Force, who is a son of Shadwell sire Minzaal (138), whose first crop has been the subject of rave reviews.
"Everyone I speak to seems to like them," said Logan. "We've got a couple we really like, and this horse is a very smart one.
"He looks very quick and does everything nicely. He's by a first-season sire, and I'd like to try to buy more of them, based on what I can see."
Logan has been redeveloping Grangeclare Stud, in Kilmeage, County Kildare, for the last half-dozen years. He is principally known as a National Hunt producer and pinhooker but is now quickly making a name for himself with these far more precocious types, too.
"We've been doing National Hunt horses all our lives, and in the last two years we've had great help from Michael Hussey, Alex Butler and the team," he said. "We said we'd keep doing breeze-ups as we're enjoying it, and hopefully it can continue.
"If we could get even close to some more results in the same category going forward, we'd be delighted. The results were very good, and it's a brilliant sale. Tattersalls get clients from all over the world, and it's a pleasure being there."
Like virtually all of his contemporaries, Logan will zip in and out of Newmarket before a few more stops on the breeze-up circuit during a hectic spring.
He reported: "We had some other good results in Doncaster and in Fairyhouse, and this year we have some lovely horses going there, and also to Arqana. There's 17 in total, which is a little bit more than last year."
