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'If it feels good, it looks good' - inside the minds of the breeze-up riders

Tom Peacock speaks to Rory Cleary and Andrew Slattery about playing a different role on the track

Nina Carberry's Masar colt breezes in Dubai
Andrew Slattery stepped back into the breeze-ups at the recent Goffs Dubai SaleCredit: Dubai Racing Club

Watching a breeze-up can be a somewhat monotonous occasion which is hard to decipher for those without skin in the game as a hundred or more horses take their turn on a racetrack to gallop for a couple of furlongs. 

For those two-year-olds involved, there may be no more important minute in some of their lives, and to the people watching from the sidelines, there will be far more information to be gleaned than meets the eye first time.

Videos and personally recorded times are pored over, maybe even broken down into stride lengths and biomechanics. The next day they will head into the sales ring and, to a certain extent, the value of that breeze will be converted into guineas, pounds or euros.

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Tom PeacockBloodstock features writer

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