Cover image courtesy of Zuzanna Lupa

At A Glance

>> Ecurie des Monceaux’s son of Siyouni sells for a record price when knocked down to Al Shaqab for €525,000 (AU$876,000).

>> A filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) bred by Ecurie des Charmes and Ballylinch Stud sold for €450,000 (AU$750,880) and will join Chantilly-based trainer Hiroo Shimizu.

>> Trainer David Menuisier signs for a Siyouni colt from the Monceaux draft for €210,000 (AU$350,514) on behalf of undisclosed Southern Hemisphere clients.

>> By the session’s end, 163 of the 205 yearlings offered had been sold at a clearance rate just shy of 80 per cent.

>> The average was €58,270 (AU$97,250) and the median €43,000 (AU$71,768), while turnover for the day was €9.5 million (AU$15.8 million).

>> With the Sale’s format having changed this year and extended to five days, no direct comparisons are being made with last year, when the shorter opening day’s average was €81,362 (AU$135,787) and the aggregate €8,788,000 (AU$14.6 million) from 105 horses sold.

Farm success continues

Hailing from the farm which supplied this year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr) by the same stallion, the April-foaled sale-topper (Lot 157) became the subject of a bidding duel between Al Shaqab and Godolphin, with the Qatari operation placing a late final offer as the hammer was about to be brought down in Anthony Stroud’s favour.

A member of Ecurie des Monceaux’s signature family, he is the second foal of his dam, who is a full sister to Prudenzia (Ire), the dam of Group 1 winners Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}).

One of their half-sisters, the G3 Prix du Lutece winner Pacifique (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), produced the winner of that same race this year in Paix (Fr) (Muhaarar {GB}), while half-brother English King (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) won the Listed Lingfield Derby Trial.

Prudente’s first foal, Hinoshita Kaizan (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), is now in training in Japan having been sold for €1.5 million (AU$2.5 million) at the August Sale two years ago.

“He’s a gorgeous horse and everybody on the team fell in love with him as soon as we saw him,” said Al Shaqab’s Chief Operating Officer Paul Hensey, who accompanied agent Nicolas de Watrigant in signing for the colt. “He’s got one of the best pedigrees in the book and is from one of the best farms you can buy from, so there was an awful lot to like about him.”

In common with plenty of sales, the day’s trade started a little hesitantly at Arqana, but it warmed up significantly in the late afternoon with a rash of six-figure lots.

“We’ve bought a few today but we’ve had plenty of competition for those that we were on. I think there’s good solid trade for the horses that are here,” Hensey said.

By the session’s end, 163 of the 205 yearlings offered had been sold at a clearance rate just shy of 80 per cent. The average was €58,270 (AU$97,250) and the median €43,000 (AU$71,768), while turnover for the day was €9.5 million (AU$15.8 million).

With the Sale’s format having changed this year and extended to five days, no direct comparisons are being made with last year, when the shorter opening day’s average was €81,362 (AU$135,787) and the aggregate €8,788,000 (AU$14.6 million) from 105 horses sold.

The Siyouni and Monceaux show

Sottsass has not been the only Group 1-winning colt for Siyouni in the last month as the Aga Khan Studs stallion was also represented by St Mark’s Basilica (Ire) in the Darley Dewhurst S.

Vendors with a Siyouni yearling in their draft were generally guaranteed plenty of visitors. Three of his colts filled the list of the Sale’s top six lots, and all three were brought to Deauville by Arqana’s perennial leading consignor, Monceaux.

From the same family as the top lot was 137, the half-brother to the aforementioned Group 3 winner Paix, who was bought for €210,000 (AU$350,514) and will join the stable of David Menuisier in Sussex, the trainer confirmed by phone.

He said, “I’ve bought him for a client based in the Southern Hemisphere. He’s a lovely horse from a very good family and I love middle-distance horses. With a bit of luck, he could be a colt for the Melbourne Cup in a few years. This is what my Australian and New Zealand clients are interested in.”

Eight lots earlier (129), another son of Siyouni had been knocked down in the name of Federico Barberini for €200,000 (AU$333,797). The son of 3-year-old winner Newton’s Night (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is bred on the same cross as both Sottsass and St Mark’s Basilica and is from the family of dual Group 2-winning sprinter Muthmir (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), whose dam Fairy Of The Night (Ire) is a Danehill (USA) half-sister to his dam.

Siyouni’s 11 yearlings sold through the first session of the October Sale returned an average of €146,545 (AU$244,546).

Seeking another Pearl

A late addition to the Arqana October catalogue transpired to be a very welcome one. The Sea The Stars (Ire) filly out of Matauri Pearl (Ire) (Hurricane Run {Ire}) had been withdrawn from the Select Sale last month and in the interim her 2-year-old half-sister Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) posted a record-breaking performance when winning the G2 Jessamine S. at Keeneland.

The latter is now en route to the Breeders’ Cup, while the youngster will join the Chantilly stable of Hiroo Shimizu. The second-season Japanese trainer signed for Lot 110b in association with Daniel Cole at €450,000 (AU$750,880) and she will race in the colours of Shigeo Nimura, the owner of this season’s winning juvenile Midlife Crisis (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

“She looks like she will make a lovely 3-year-old,” Shimizu said. “She is not very big but her way of moving puts me in mind of Deep Impact. She is light on her feet in the same way. I was instructed by the owner to buy an exceptional filly and, while she was not cheap, everyone was in for the same horse.”

The filly was bred in partnership by Ecurie des Charmes and Ballylinch Stud, the latter being home to Matauri Pearl, who is from a family which includes the late Monsun (Ger) and recent dual French Classic winner Brametot (Ire).

“Aunt Pearl broke the track record at Keeneland on her second start and that obviously took place in the intervening time between the sale here in September. It didn’t do this sale any harm and it didn’t do us any harm, it was mutually beneficial,” said Ballylinch Stud’s Managing Director John O’Connor. “The mare has a foal who is a full brother to Aunt Pearl and she is now in foal to Le Havre.”

Quickfire double for Godolphin

Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation played a major part in the success of the Tattersalls October Sale over the last fortnight and Anthony Stroud returned to action in Deauville to sign for a pair of yearlings on his behalf.

The agent went to €280,000 (AU$467,175) for Haras du Mezeray’s Exceed And Excel filly (Lot 165) out of the dual winner Rose Et Or (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), a half-sister to the G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Coquerelle (Ire) (Zamindar {USA}).

He returned two lots later for 167, a colt with Iffraaj (GB) on the other side of his pedigree, who was bought for €160,000 (AU$266,918). Bred by Monceaux in partnership with Trevor Harris of Newmarket’s Lordship Stud, he is a son of the Listed-placed Royale Du Buisson (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), whose first foal, Barakaat (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), was a winner last year for Sheikh Hamdan.

“The Exceed And Excel is an absolutely lovely filly,” said Stroud. “I was underbidder on the Siyouni [top lot] and it just shows how in this market, when we’ve had a long sales season, a horse like that can come in and make a really good price like that, as did the Sea The Stars filly who sold earlier.”

Stroud doesn’t only buy for Godolphin and he signed for a total of seven yearlings on Monday to make him the second-leading buyer after Al Shaqab Racing, which bought 12.

It is a Sale which has been lucky for the agent in recent years as Stroud bought the James Fanshawe-trained G1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) here three years ago.

“I always want to come to this Sale. It’s the fear of missing out on a champion,” he said. “But this Sale has always been very successful with its runners, though I think this year it has maybe been diluted a bit by horses going to the September Sale who might have come here.

“In fact, I don’t think we can really compare either of them to last year, everything is completely different this year.”

Ten for Wootton Bassett and Almanzor

On a day when it was announced that the G1 Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye winner Wooded (Fr) has been retired to start his stallion career at Haras de Bouquetot, his sire Wootton Bassett (GB), who recently left France for Coolmore’s Irish base, remained in the spotlight in Arqana.

Haras de Castillon, owned by Bouquetot’s manager Benoit Jeffroy, enjoyed a decent result when selling Lot 208 for €210,000 (AU$350,344) to Luck Greayer Bloodstock.

The colt hails from a line which has been successful for the Jeffroy family, notably through the G1 Prix d’Ispahan winner Never On Sunday (Fr) (Sunday Break {Jpn}), who is a full brother to the colt’s once-raced dam Texanne (Fr).

Alain Decrion and Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International combined to buy Lot 29, the Wootton Bassett half-sister to the Group 3-placed treble winner Above (Fr) (Anjaal {GB}) from JK Thoroughbreds for €130,000 (AU$216,900).

Wootton Bassett’s 10 yearlings sold on Monday fetched an average of €80,900 (AU$135,000), while his champion son Almanzor (Fr), whose first yearlings are selling this season, also had 10 change hands for an average of €61,300 (AU$102,284).