EXTREME Choice has made an outstanding start at stud in his native Australia, so it made sense that his first offering at a European sale would intrigue potential buyers, if nothing else.
Offered by John Kilpatrick’s JK Thoroughbreds, the weanling filly in question matched expectations in the flesh at Arqana, where she topped Wednesday’s February Sale at €110,000.
Her rarity will make her difficult to part with for new owners Haras d’Etreham, with Nicholas de Chambure revealing the farm plans to race, rather than resell, their purchase. On her appeal, Chambure said: “She’s by an Australian stallion that has had limited runners, but has very good statistics.
“I think she’s the only Extreme Choice in Europe to go under the hammer! We like to have different bloodlines and she’ll be very easy to cross.”
Globetrotting family
Fittingly, the filly’s breeder is an Australian, who has already enjoyed success as a breeder in Europe, with Peter Anastasiou responsible for breeding Prix Ganay victor, Cloth Of Stars.
His latest success story has real cosmopolitan flair, being out of Grey Queen, who was bought by SF Bloodstock and Newgate Stud (who stand Extreme Choice) for $65,000 at Keeneland in 2018. Two years later, she produced a Lope De Vega filly, who went on to finish a close second in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks.
Grey Queen was one of just a handful of mares covered by Extreme Choice on northern-hemisphere time in 2023. His progeny even hold a rarity value in his native Australia, where the subfertile stallion’s first and largest crop numbered 45 foals.
What the son of Not A Single Doubt lacks in quantity, he’s made up for with quality, as he now boasts the highest stakes winners to runners ratio of any sire in the Southern Hemisphere. Knight’s Choice’s 90/1 win under Robbie Dolan in November saw Extreme Choice become just the second stallion to sire winners of both the Golden Slipper and Melbourne Cup.
These impressive statistics have seen Extreme Choice’s yearlings sell for up to Aus$1.6 million (€965,512) and his covering fee rise to Aus$275,000 (€165,947). Not bad for a horse who, at 15.2 1/2hh, some deemed too small when he first retired to stud. But, as he’s proven in other ways, that’s just a number.
Homecoming
Nine lots earlier, Fang Mich became the first six-figure sale of the afternoon, when knocked down to Philipp Graf Von Stauffenberg for an even €100,000. Stauffenberg and his wife Marion were leading contenders to buy the daughter of Starspangledbanner, having bred the bay and her half-brother, dual Group 1 winner Fantastic Moon (Sea The Moon).
Stauffenberg’s plans for their purchase also came as no surprise, the successful buyer revealing: “We came here just for her. We’re very happy to be able to bring her back to the stud. It’s a lovely maternal line. We’re thinking of covering her with either Sea The Stars or Sea The Moon.”
The Stauffenbergs bred the filly’s dam and granddam, but sold the former at Tattersalls in December for 725,000gns. Her Sea The Stars colt foal, a close relation to Fantastic Moon, sold to Juddmonte for 700,000gns a few days prior to that.
To be confirmed
Signora Merisi’s maiden cover remains undecided according to Eric Hoyeau, who secured the stakes winner on behalf of Ecurie X for €105,000. Arqana’s former chief executive and current senior advisor, Hoyeau commented: “She’s a lovely filly, that walks well and won a Stakes race in the United States.
“She’ll go to Haras de la Croix Sonnet first and then we’ll decide on a mating.” Hoyeau was accompanied by Francoise Bere of Haras de la Croix Sonnet, who has raced under the banner of Ecurie X in recent years.
Wednesday marked Signora Merisi’s fourth sales ring appearance and her price represented a significant increase on the $46,000 W Bloodstock paid for the daughter of Caravaggio via the Fasig-Tipton December Digital Sale a few months ago.
The six-year-old is out of an own-sister to the dam of Group 2 scorer Crypto Force and hails from the family of Pilsudski and Youmzain.
Mixed sales are difficult to compare year-on-year, given the unpredictable nature of what stock is offered, but Wednesday’s clearance rate of 80% could be taken as a positive reflection on market demand.
It justified Arqana’s slight slimming of the catalogue and trimming the sale from two days to one.
The top price failed to match last year’s high of €200,000, but three six-figure lots, as opposed to one, suggested there was a strength in depth to the buying bench. This was supported by a slight rise in the average price to €11,960, though the median fell from €5,500 to €5,000.