Cover image courtesy of Zuzanna Lupa photography

Courtesy of TDN Europe

At A Glance

>> The 76 yearlings sold during the session brought €16,625,000 (AU$27 million) in turnover, at an average of €218,750 (AU$356,000) and median of €100,000 (AU$162,708).

>> For the ninth year in a row, Monceaux is at the top of the vendors’ table for Arqana’s flagship sale, with 23 yearlings sold for just shy of €10 million (AU$16.2 million).

>> A daughter of Dubawi (Ire) tops the session when knocked down for €2.5 million (AU$4 million) .

>> Dubawi (Ire) leads the stallion averages and aggregate with four lots sold at €870,000 (AU$1.4 million) and a total turnover of €3,480,000 (AU$5.66 million) .

>> Fawzi Nass and Oliver St Lawrence are the leading buyers with five purchases at just over €3.5 million (AU$5.7 million) through the first two days.

Filly tops session

Dubawi (Ire) was again the dominant force during the second session of Arqana’s Deauville Select Sale, with a filly by Darley’s leading stallion realising €2.5 million (AU$4 million) to top proceedings.

The prominent team of Anthony Stroud and Godolphin struck on the opening day of the auction when they secured a daughter of Dubawi for a session-high €620,000 (AU$1,006,133).

Fawzi Nass was the under-bidder, but on the second day he wasn’t to be denied this and with Oliver St Lawrence secured the sale-topper out of the draft of the sale’s perennial leading consignor Ecurie des Monceaux.

For the ninth year in a row, Monceaux is at the top of the vendors’ table for Arqana’s flagship sale, with 23 yearlings sold for just shy of €10 million (AU$16.2 million).

While the clearance rate, which dropped a little from the first day to 68.5 per cent, tells its own tale in regard to the selectivity of the market, there was no denying the more buoyant feel to proceedings on Thursday.

The 76 yearlings sold during the session brought €16,625,000 (AU$27 million) in turnover, at an average of €218,750 (AU$356,000) and median of €100,000 (AU$162,708). Last year’s record average for the three days of the August Sale was €187,671 (AU$305,470) and the cumulative average for the two days so far is now €180,790 (AU$294,135).

That is likely to drop somewhat after Friday’s final session and overall, the median is currently €105,000 (AU$170,890), while the two-day aggregate is €30,680,000 (AU$49.9 million).

Monceaux magic

It was a toss-up as to whether Monceaux’s full-brother to Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) or the half-sister to Group 1 winners Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Sistercharlie (Ire) ( Myboycharlie {Ire}) would play the leading role, but it was the latter who stole the show.

She is a chestnut daughter of Starlet’s Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is now challenging more established names in the Monceaux broodmare band for top honours.

The sales record of her offspring started in a moderate manner, just €12,000 (AU$19,500) was needed to buy her first foal at Arqana’s October Sale but, the filly subsequently named Sistercharlie has played her own important part in ensuring that the siblings who follow in her wake will never be overlooked at a yearling sale.

Add to Sistercharlie’s seven Grade I victories the French Classic win of half-brother Sottsass and the value of Starlet’s Sister’s progeny have soared.

With Stroud in his usual spot in the gangway to the right of the rostrum, the consistent bids that came from that direction led to the assumption that this was another Dubawi that would soon be heading Godolphin’s way, but Nass and St. Lawrence had other ideas.

They were late to the party, but stayed the longest and made the most noise when placing the final bid that had the gavel hit the wood in their favour. The pair had been active throughout the session, signing up new recruits for KHK Racing, the operation of Bahrain’s Sheikh Khalid Al Khalifa. The Dubawi filly will race for him in partnership with his brother Sheikh Nasser.

“She is a very beautiful filly with an exceptional pedigree,” Nass said. “She will be trained in England, we don’t know where she will go into training yet, but we’ll make up our minds soon. A filly with a profile like that arouses plenty of interest, and we are very glad to have bought her.”

Nass, who trains his own string of horses in Bahrain, also picked up the sole yearling by American Pharoah in the catalogue for €320,000 (AU$521,000).

“He’ll be trained in England. He’s an exciting horse, a nice American Pharoah out of a Distorted Humor mare so he should be quite versatile on the turf,” he said.

The colt’s dam Sea Of Snow (USA) (Distorted Humor {USA}) was third in the Listed Woodcote S. and from the family of the G1 English Derby winner Lammtarra (USA) (Nijinsky {Can}).

Nass and St Lawrence’s five purchases through the first two days made them the leading buyers with just over €3.5 million (AU$5.7 million) spent.

Their list also included a colt and a filly from the first crop of Cambridge Stud shuttle stallion Almanzor (Fr) at €260,000 (AU$423,000) and €250,000 (AU$407,000) respectively. The former, a colt consigned by Haras de Borgeauville, is a son of the Canadian Group 2 winner Minakshi (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), while the filly was bred by Steve Burggraf of Ecurie de Montlahuc, who raced her dam, the Listed-winning juvenile Penny Lane (Ger) (Lord Of England {Ger}).

Almanzor’s 12 yearlings sold so far in Deauville have returned a highly respectable average of €159,750 (AU$260,000).

Wootton Bassett in vogue

The recent announcement of Almanzor’s sire Wootton Bassett (GB)’s sale to Coolmore was followed by a purple patch for the 12-year-old son of Iffraaj (GB) on the racecourse, with Audarya (Fr) becoming his second Group 1 winner in the Prix Jean Romanet and Midlife Crisis (Fr) and Akmaam (Fr) his first two ‘TDN Rising Stars’.

There was as such some buzz around his yearlings on offer in Deauville this week and the dearest of those proved to be Haras de la Louviere’s second foal of the winning Nayef mare Sounaya (Ger), who was signed for by Jamie McCalmont at €300,000 (AU$488,000).

Watch: Lot 249 - Wootton Bassett (GB) x Sounaya (Ger) (colt)

Like Thursday’s €1.1 million (AU$1.8 million) Kingman colt, he is from the family of the six-time Group 1 winner Stacelita and her Classic-winning daughter Soul Stirring (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}).

Wootton Bassett’s other transactions on Thursday included colts to Yann Barberot for €240,000 (AU$390,000) and Chauvigny Global Equine for €200,000 (AU$325,500) and Wootton Bassett’s 14 sold during Part I of the sale averaged €126,929 (AU$206,600) . His current yearlings are his second crop bred on a €20,000 (AU$32,550) stud fee.

Magnier strikes

MV Magnier paid €1.4 million (AU$2.3 million) for G1 Mackinnon S. winner Magic Wand in 2016 and he secured her brother for €2 million (AU$3.25 million). Their dam Prudenzia (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) has had nine yearlings sell at Arqana for a staggering €10,195,000 (AU$16.6 million).

From a raft of Galileo (Ire) fillies at their disposal, the Coolmore team must have a soft spot for the tough-as-teak Magic Wand, who runs in Sunday’s G1 Prix Vermeille.

She went through an extraordinary 2019 campaign, when she raced in Dubai, America, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and Hong Kong.

Magnier had a tussle with David Redvers, but it was evident that this was one colt he was determined to add to the Ballydoyle battalions for next year.

“He comes from an excellent family and is by Galileo, who is having another great year. Prudenzia has been an incredible mare and has produced some special horses. We thought he was a lovely horse. He’s got a good hind leg and is a very good mover,” Magnier said.

Chappet to train Treve’s Sister

Sheail bin Khalifa Al Kuwari is best known as a champion owner of Purebred Arabians in Qatar, but he has begun to make his way into thoroughbred ownership in France.

Kuwari went to €520,000 (AU$847,000) to secure the sister to six-time Group 1 winner Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) through Gerard Larrieu of Chantilly Bloodstock from Haras du Quesnay’s draft.

“She’s a lovely filly, maybe better than her sister at the same age,” Larrieu said. “We will find out if she has the same engine, but we’re very lucky and happy to get her.”