The trials are already well underway in France and Ireland, and with a week of important action to come in Newmarket followed by Newbury, the Classics are now uppermost in people's minds. In the early days of breeze-up sales, there would have been no immediate connection between those auctions and potential Classic horses but that has now changed quite significantly. Twenty years ago, the DBS breeze-up graduate Speciosa (Danehill Dancer) became the first to go on to win a British Classic when veering across the Rowley Mile for a memorable victory in the 1,000 Guineas for Pam Sly and Micky Fenton. Others have followed in her wake.Four years ago Cachet (Aclaim) landed the first fillies' Classic of the season, launching her trainer George Boughey into the spotlight. It proved to be a memorable year for graduates of the Craven Breeze-up Sale, with the 60,000gns Cachet being joined by Native Trail (Oasis Dream). Sold to Godolphin for 210,000gns, he took second in the 2,000 Guineas after winning the Craven Stakes, and he then went on to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas – all that after being the champion two-year-old of 2021. And let's not forget Eldar Eldadov, also from the breeze-up class of 2021, who would go on to win the St Leger.Last year it was the turn of Ruling Court – an Arqana breeze-up graduate – to win the 2,000 Guineas, adding further lustre to the sector as the source of Classic potential.In the bloodstock world, all eyes will be on Newmarket over the next few days, not just on the Rowley Mile but also Park Paddocks. The 2026 Craven Breeze-up Sale will act as an important bellwether for the month of sales ahead and takes place with a rumbling backdrop of turbulence in the Middle East.Matt Prior has been managing director of Tattersalls since the start of the year, stepping up as Edmond Mahony changed focus in his role, remaining at the company as chairman. Prior is not new to Tattersalls – far from it in fact, as he has been with this company since graduating from the Darley (now Godolphin) Flying Start programme in 2012 – but he is now very much in the front line of this globally recognised business. After easing in to the year via the mixed February Sale, he is looking forward to the action stepping up another level over the next two evenings at Park Paddocks.“I'm hugely honoured and certainly not unaware of the stewardship of the role and the traditions that are associated with the company and its rich history,” says Prior. “I'm grateful to the chairman, Edmond, and to the board for the opportunity.”Looking back over the past 14 years with Tattersalls, he continues, “I really learnt the nuts and bolts of all things sales, how they operated, how you put together a catalogue, and then very much came into it from dealing with the clients increasingly and spending a lot of time doing inspections, both in the UK and sometimes in Ireland.”Along with Prior, new additions to the Tattersalls board include Harvey Bell, Jason Singh and Tammy O'Brien.“They are three hugely talented and experienced individuals,” Prior says. “They complement the likes of Gavin Davies, who is the bloodstock director, Caroline Scott, who is finance director, and John Morrey, who oversees Park Paddocks. So from my perspective, I'm incredibly lucky to be able to call upon their group and individual expertise. “Edmond remains group chairman and, yes, perhaps he's stepping back from the day-to-day, but he's very much present and retains that role of strategic oversight.”The Craven Sale is the traditional curtain-raiser for the breeze-up season in Europe, with the action switching to Goffs UK in Doncaster next week before a return to Tattersalls for the Guineas Sale on April 30, which is held in tandem with a horses-in-training session. “The breeze-up sector in general has obviously grown significantly in the last 30-plus years,” notes Prior. “I think our first Craven Breeze-up Sale, or certainly our first breeze-up sale, was in 1989 here in Newmarket. I actually had a look at the turnover and it was touching on 800,000gns with an average of 10,000gns, and then last year turnover was 18 million gns, so that in itself tells the story of its growth.”He adds,”We've got 182 catalogued and within that you've got an immensely strong profile in terms of sire profile. I thinks there's 31 individual sires that have produced a Group 1 or Classic winner.“It's a sale at which you can really get a broad church of runners. The likes of [dual Group 1-winning juvenile] Vandeek have shown the precocity [to be found when] buying these horses. We've had the likes of Cachet, Believing and Native Trail that demonstrate the longevity of these horses, and certainly they can be bought with a three-year-old and older-horse campaign in mind as well. I think that that's its strength. You can buy a horse for Royal Ascot, but equally the Classic contenders are also among them.” The post Prior Looks Forward to Craven Sale’s ‘Broad Church’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.