THE Arqana October Yearling Sale this year ran over five-days and has been presented this week in partnership with Osarus following the upheaval to the sales calendar caused by the Covid pandemic. The sale opened on Monday with a full day of Part 1 yearlings. Tuesday and Wednesday contained Part 2 yearlings, while the past two days contained the Part 3 offerings.
Understandably, sales companies are not issuing comparative figures at times and the 2020 sale renewals are not sometimes the same format as last year. This sale is a case in point.
The first day’s turnover of €9,498,000, along with €274,500 in private sales, resulted in an average of €58,270 and a median of €43,000. Some 80% of the 205 lots offered changed hands.
Making a huge impact at the opening session, Al Shaqab Racing signed for 13 yearlings which cost a total of €1,384,000. The most expensive of these was the sale topper, a son of Siyouni from Ecurie des Monceaux and he was knocked down to Mandore Agency’s Nicolas de Watrigant and Al Shaqab’s director of operations Paul Hensey for €525,000. The colt is the second foal out of the winning Dansili mare Prudente, herself a full-sister to the dam of the Group 1 winning mares Magic Wand and Chicquita.
After signing the docket, Hensey said: “He’s a magnificent colt. The whole team loved him from the moment we saw him. As well as a faultless conformation, he has one of the best pedigrees in the catalogue. We don’t know where he’ll go into training yet, that’s something we will decide in due course.”
Among the other purchases made by Al Shaqab were the penultimate lot in Part 1 of the catalogue, a Sea The Stars first foal of an unraced Intello daughter of the Group 3 winner Don’t Hurry Me for €135,000, and a Starspangledbanner colt out of the dual winning Dream Ahead mare Tokyoite. He cost the team €125,000.
Sea The Stars shines for Ballylinch Stud
A SUPPLEMENTARY entry for the sale was a Sea The Stars half-sister to the impressive Grade 2 Jessamine winning Lope De Vega filly Aunt Pearl. That unbeaten two-year-old is a rising star and the second foal and winner from the Norwegian classic winner and Scandinavian champion Matauri Pearl.
The filly was offered by Haras d’Etreham on behalf of Ballylinch Stud and was sold to Chantilly trainer Hiroo Shimizu, bidding beside bloodstock agent Daniel Cole, for €450,000. The filly will race for Japanese owner Shigeo Nomura.
“She’s an exceptional filly,” commented Shimizu. “She’s not big but we’ll give her some time. She reminds me of Deep Impact in her attitude and the way she almost floats as she moves.”
Anthony Stroud outstayed bloodstock agent Michel Zerolo for a daughter of Exceed And Excel from Haras du Mezeray, having the final say at €280,000 for the filly who is out of a winning Iffraaj half-sister to Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Coquerelle. Just two lots later Stroud went to €160,000 for a son of Iffraaj from Ecurie des Monceaux. The son of the listed-placed Invincible Spirit mare Royale Du Boisson has the multiple Grade 1 winner Kostroma as his third dam.
Also on Stroud’s shopping list was a colt from the first crop of Zarak at €112,000, offered from Anna Sundstrom’s Coulonces Sales.
Siyouni on fire
SIX sons of Siyouni, fresh from Sottsass, St Mark’s Basilica and Etoile giving him Group of Grade 1 successes this month, were among the 21 yearlings in Part 1 who sold for €100,000 or more. In addition to the top lot at the sale, the list included a relation of that colt.
Consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux, the son of Siyouni out of the Group 3 winner Pacifique, by Montjeu, sold for €210,000. The colt is set to join David Menuisier. The French-born trainer has enjoyed a lot of success with his Deauville purchases, having bought Wonderful Tonight in 2018. She won two Group 1s in a fortnight, the Prix de Royallieu at ParisLongchamp and the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot. “I’ve bought him for a client based in the southern hemisphere” commented Menuisier by telephone. “He’s a lovely horse from a good family. I love horses that can go a distance, and with a bit of luck he could be a Melbourne Cup-type horse in the future.”
A little earlier bidding for another son of Siyouni from Ecurie des Monceaux reached €200,000 before he sold to bloodstock agent Federico Barberini. He is out of a winning Galileo full-sister to Grade 3 winner Dress Rehearsal.
Johnny Murtagh, who this week was added to the roster of trainers who will saddle runners for HH Aga Khan in 2021, will handle the career of Siyouni’s son of the listed winner and Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas runner-up Baine, She cost the trainer, through Eddie Linehan Bloodstock, €100,000 and was one of three sons of the Group 1 winning two-year-old to sell for that amount.
Wootton Bassett’s stock popular again
HALF a dozen lots realised €200,000 or more on Monday, while there were 11 in the same bracket a year ago. Breaking through that barrier was the first foal by Wootton Bassett out of Texanne, a full-sister to the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan winner Never On Sunday. Consigned from Haras de Castillon, she was knocked down for €210,000 to LG Bloodstock.
The first lot in the consignment from J.K. Thoroughbreds was their best, a daughter of Wootton Bassett, winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere like Siyouni, and the fourth foal of the group-placed Acclamation mare Broken Applause. Her winners already include the group-placed juvenile Above and she comes from the family of Group 1 winners Owington and Dick Whitington. The filly cost Alain Decrion and Mandore Agency €130,000.
Stroud Coleman Bloodstock paid €105,000 for a Wootton Bassett son of the winning Elusive City mare Vega Sicilia. The dam is a daughter of Volvereta who won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille and was placed in both the Prix de Diane-French Oaks and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Unusual figure paid by Redvers
THE unusual sale ring price of €182,000 was paid for a Dabirsim own-sister to Group 3 Prix Imprudence winner Coeur De Beaute who was runner-up in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas, consigned by Haras de Grandcamp. On the telephone with David Redvers, it was Ecurie des Monceaux manager Henri Bozo who signed for the filly.
Bozo said, “She’s a lovely filly. David Redvers has bought her for a syndicate which includes Ecurie des Monceaux. We haven’t decided who will train her yet.”
A son of Le Havre from Ecurie des Monceaux sold to well-known French owner Jean-Louis Bouchard, standing with Gerard Larrieu, for €150,000. The second foal out of the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes-placed One Chance is from the top-class family of Spinning World and last year’s Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner War Of Will.
Federico Barberini was busy in Part 1 and made three six-figure purchases. They included sons of Sea The Moon and Pivotal who brought €135,000 and €100,000 respectively. Anastasia Wattel secured a colt from the first crop of the French Derby and Irish Champion Stakes winner The Grey Gatsby for €130,000, while Zied Romdhane paid the same amount for a colt by Australia, the first foal of the winning Dansili mare Pour Deux.
Lope De Vega’s son heads solid Part 2 sessions
SOME 82% of the lots offered in the two-day Part 2 of the catalogue sold for €6,265,500 and an average price of €25,381. Mandore Agency’s Nicolas de Watrigant and Paul Hensey for Al Shaqab Racing were again to the fore when purchasing the top lot on Wednesday, giving €95,000 for a Lope De Vega half-brother to the stakes-placed Sir Percy juvenile Mohab.
After signing the docket, Hensey said, “He’s a lovely colt with a great walk and is by a very proven sire. He is out of a Mr Greeley mare, which adds some brilliance to his pedigree, and we were strong on him. Up to this point, we have bought around 15 yearlings at the sales. It’s a tough year for breeders. Sheikh Joaan particularly wanted to support the breeders who used our stallions, but we have bought yearlings by other stallions as well.”
A son of Rajsaman proved popular as German trainer Henk Grewe and an internet bidder locked horns until the former had the final say at €85,000. The colt is a half-brother to five winners and out of a half-sister to Monsun and the dam of dual French classic winner Brametot. That price was matched on Tuesday by a son of Adlerflug who was knocked down to Federico Barberini. He is out of the listed winner Aliyfa who is already dam of the listed winner and Group 2 placed Alveena.