Breeze-up handler Brendan Holland, who had open-heart surgery on Tuesday, says watching Libertango win the Albany provided him with “a proper boost”Brenan Holland had good reason not to be at Royal Ascot to see Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up graduate Libertango (No Nay Never) storm to G3 Albany Stakes glory for George Boughey and Billy Loughnane. “I'm not in Ascot,” he explained shortly after Friday's opener, “I'm actually in ICU in Cork Hospital – couldn't make it to Ascot because I had open-heart surgery on Tuesday.”Asked how he managed to keep a lid on his heart rate during the race, the popular breeze-up handler and BUCA chairman replied, “I didn't – it's a long time since anyone has screamed as loud in a hospital as I did just there! I sounded like somebody coming back to life and I doubt my doctor will be too happy with me either. But hey, what are you going to do? Days like this don't come around very often.”Libertango was a €130,000 purchase from breeders Camas Park Stud at the Arqana August Yearling Sale. After posting one of the fastest breezes at the Craven, she changed hands to Rob Speers on behalf of owner Vefa Ibrahim Araci for 400,000gns. She is the first juvenile from this year's batch of breeze-up horses to do the business on the big stage at the royal meeting but Holland pointed to the fact that so many graduates have been flying the flag with distinction for the sector this week. He said, “It's been a great week for the breeze-ups on the whole. To have an older Group 1 winner with Ten Bob Tony (Night Of Thunder) in the Queen Anne and Rogue Diplomat (Calyx) winning the Royal Hunt Cup, that was great. “This year's batch of two-year-olds had been running well all week as well and I thought Mick's [Murphy, Longways Stables] filly [third-placed Light Of Dawn (Showcasing)] ran a cracker in the Albany as well. To have so many lined up, it just reaffirms that you can go to the breeze-up sales and find a horse to win at Royal Ascot. That has been proven time and time again over the past few years and it's great to see. They're not missing.”He added, “But on a personal level, it's been a tough old week – I was under the cosh a small bit. It's a great boost for me, but all of the family and staff as well.”While Holland admits that he faces a road to recovery, he said he has no doubt that Libertango, a filly he says always showed great quality, can continue to go from strength-to-strength. He said, “To be fair, Hubert Guy bought her and asked me to prepare her for the breeze-ups. I took a share in her but all of the credit has to go to Hubert as he picked her out. I'd seen her at the sales and I did like her – she had a lovely shape and a great back end. She's neat and, while she didn't grow significantly, she got stronger and always showed a great mind. She was very obvious from the get-go. Great quality.”The post ‘It’s A Long Time Since Anyone Screamed As Loud In Hospital As I Did Watching Libertango!’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.