Cover image courtesy of Arqana
Bred by one of the most respected studs in Europe, the close relation to dual Classic winner and leading sire Lope De Vega (Ire) was the standout on a day which had a strong clearance rate for an elite sale of 84 per cent, with the 112 yearlings sold from 133 offered during an elongated first day of France's premier auction bringing turnover of €19,862,000 (AU$28.51 million).
The reworked format for 2022 means that direct comparisons at this stage could be misleading, but the first-day average of €177,339 (AU$255,000) and median of €120,000 (AU$173,000) were both up on the equivalent overall figures in those sectors for last year's sale.
Ammerland in wonderland
There was a moment when the only yearling son of Shamardal for sale this year looked as though he could be bound for Japan, with trainer Yoshito Yahagi pushing Anthony Stroud all the way to €1.6 million (AU$2.3 million) to secure the colt on behalf of Godolphin.
Shamardal, a shining light at Kildangan Stud for over a decade, died in March 2020 and the scarcity of young stock by the champion racehorse added to Stroud's desire to secure the colt.
Not least because Lot 21, the final yearling by Shamardal to be offered at public auction, is a close relation to one of the legendary sire's best sons, Lope De Vega, who is now a leading stallion in his own right.
“They're not making any more Shamardals so it's not like we can wait,” he quipped shortly after signing the docket.
“He's been a fantastic stallion for Godolphin and we're very pleased to get this horse. He's from a fantastic family from an excellent breeding farm. It's a stallion's pedigree as well.”
“He's (Shamardal) been a fantastic stallion for Godolphin and we're very pleased to get this horse. He's (Lot 21) from a fantastic family from an excellent breeding farm. It's a stallion's pedigree as well.” - Anthony Stroud
Bred in southern Germany by Gestut Ammerland, the Shamardal colt is out of Lope De Vega's half-sister Lady Frankel (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who carried the stud's famous red and green silks to Group 3 success when winning the Prix de Lieurey just a stone's throw from the Arqana sales complex at Deauville back in 2017.
Stroud added, “We all thought that he had excellent conformation, and was a very good mover.
“He is a fine horse and is bred by an eminent breeder. Normally a horse like this wouldn't come on the market but we've been able to acquire him.”
Anthony Stroud | Image courtesy of Zuzanna Lupa
Crispin de Moubray, bloodstock advisor to Dietrich von Boetticher's Gestut Ammerland explained the decision to sell the well-related colt.
“He's the sort of horse that we wouldn't normally put on the market, but we have decided to reduce the number of horses in training and the easiest way to do that was to put all the yearlings through a sale with a reasonable reserve on them,” he said.
“He was very busy–I think he was shown 150 times in two and a half days. He has never had a problem, he's obviously out of a half-sister to Lope De Vega who was a Group horse herself, and he's a second foal, so she's a young mare.
Lot 21 - Shamardal (USA) x Lady Frankel (GB) (colt) | Image courtesy of Zuzanna Lupa
“Our Shamardal is the only one on the market this year, I believe, so that makes him a rarity, and I think certainly for both the principal bidders that was a big part of it.”
Good day for McStay
Mark McStay admitted to being surprised about being able to pick up Blue Diamond's Decorated Knight (GB) half-sister (Lot 93) to Classic-winning Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for €260,000 (AU$374,000) on a day where he also bagged colts by Sea The Stars (Ire) and Dubawi (Ire) on behalf of Bon Ho, the owner of smart stayer Deauville Legend (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who is G1 Melbourne Cup bound.
Nashwa, one of the best fillies in Europe, landed the French Oaks before running out an ultra-impressive winner of the Nassau S. at Goodwood, and McStay confirmed that her little sister would be trained in England for an existing client.
He said, “Lovely filly. Her sister speaks for herself – she's done it all this year. She has a proper pedigree and is a nice model. I was surprised to get her at such a nice price but she's for an existing client. She'll go to one of the top trainers in England and hopefully, she can emulate her sister for all that it will be a hard thing to do.”
Mark McStay applied a certain amount of thinking on his feet with the purchase of Lot 16, initially led out of the ring unsold by Ecurie des Monceaux.
Mark McStay | Image courtesy of Avenue Bloodstock
After a private sale was agreed at €300,000 (AU$432,000) for the colt by Dubawi, McStay went on to pick up Lot 53, a son of Sea The Stars, consigned by Baroda Stud.
McStay said, “He (Lot 53) was bought for Mr Ho, who owns Deauville Legend, and he also has a nice horse in Australia by Sea The Stars called Irish Legend. He likes Sea The Stars and was keen to buy one.
“This horse came well-recommended by David Cox of Baroda Stud and it's an interesting family because a lot of the good horses in it are fillies. There was one stakes winner in the family by Cape Cross, the sire of Sea The Stars. We'll decide on a trainer at a later date but we've been lucky at Arqana before so hopefully he's the next Deauville Legend.”
"This horse (Lot 53) came well-recommended by David Cox of Baroda Stud and it's an interesting family because a lot of the good horses in it are fillies." - Mark McStay
McStay added, “The Dubawi was also for Mr Ho. He's been keen to buy a Dubawi over the past few years but they're always very well-contested for. When he didn't sell, I went up to Henri Bozo and shook hands with him on a private sale."
No Guess work for Desmontils
The second highest-priced yearling through the ring was Lot 133, a Sea The Stars colt out of Shamtee (Ire) (Shamardal {USA}), with Sebastien Desmontils paying €675,000 (AU$972,000) to secure him on behalf of Hisaaki Saito.
Operating under the banner of Chauvigny Global Equine, Desmontils has secured some smart horses for Saito, including dual juvenile scorer Good Guess (GB) (Kodiac {GB}), bought for 420,000gns (AU$751,000) at Book 1 at Tattersalls last year.
Desmontils had to fight off a strong challenge by trainer William Haggas for the Sea The Stars colt but was visibly delighted to secure him after a long and drawn-out battle.
He said, “The sire is really good, the broodmare sire Shamardal is very nice as well and the pedigree is exceptional. We're delighted and he has been bought for Hisaaki Saito.
“He is a great mover and will be trained in Chantilly, like all of Mr Saito's horses, and will go to either Fabrice Chappet or Henri Devin.
“He (Lot 133) is a great mover and will be trained in Chantilly, like all of Mr Saito's horses, and will go to either Fabrice Chappet or Henri Devin." - Sebastien Desmontils
“It's a big price to pay for a horse and now he needs to be good – he has everything going for him to be good.”
Castillon begins in style
Only a handful of lots into the sale there was a strong indication of what was to follow when Haras de Castillon's Wootton Bassett (GB) colt out of Just With You (Ire) (Sunday Beak {Jpn}) was the first to pass the half-million mark. The half-brother to two black-type winners was sold at €550,000 (AU$792,000) to M.V. Magnier.
The colt represents an equine family that has been kind to the Jeffroy family, with the most recent highflyer to have emanated from its fold being this year's G1 Poule d'Essais des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) runner-up Texas (Fr), who is also a son of Wootton Bassett.
“She has been really popular all week,” said Benoit Jeffroy of Lot 5. “It's a family that we have had for a long time now and it's good that she has made a lot of money. It's good for connections. Let's hope we see her at a high level on the racetrack. We still have the mare. She has a lovely Siyouni colt foal at foot but we didn't cover her this year because she foaled late.”
M.V. Magnier and Benoit Jeffroy | Image courtesy of Zuzanna Lupa
Haspel in the spotlight again
William Haggas, trainer of the majority of the horses owned by the Tsui family's Sunderland Holdings, went to €380,000 (AU$547,300) for a filly by Sea The Stars out of a Kodiac (GB) half-sister to Classic winners St Mark's Basilica (Fr) and Magna Grecia (Ire).
As he conducted the bidding Haggas was standing with Jean Lesbordes, who trained the great Urban Sea (USA), dam of Sea The Stars and Galileo (Ire), for Ling Tsui, and he said after signing for Lot 17, “She is a very nice filly and is by a sensational stallion. Very nice horses by the stallion deserve to make a lot of money.”
The filly was bred by Jose Delmotte's increasingly prominent Haras d'Haspel, whose name has been in lights plenty in recent seasons thanks to another of the stud's graduates, the Champion 2-Year-Old and G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). Last year that colt's half-sister by Kingman (GB) was one of the top lots of the August Sale when sold to €950,000 (AU$1.37 million) to Godolphin. Though that high wasn't reached on Saturday by the latest member of the family to walk the ring, the Siyouni yearling filly (Lot 62) out of Needleleaf (GB) (Observatory {USA}) still made the day's top five when sold for €550,000 (AU$792,000).
Brant and Magnier combine in illustrious duo
Another Juddmonte family was to the fore near the top of the leaderboard with the sale of the three-parts-sister to the Fabrice Chappet-trained Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) for €460,000 (AU$662,000) to the partnership of Peter Brant and M.V. Magnier.
The combined might of Camas Park and Glenvale Studs consigned the daughter of Gleneagles (Ire) on behalf of breeder Adam Bowden of American-based Diamond Creek, who celebrated his first European Group 1 winner when Onesto win the Grand Prix de Paris last month. He could be seen next in the G1 Irish Champion S. before a bid for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock was in the hot seat to bid on the filly (Lot 75) and when asked what he liked about the daughter of Onshore (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), he said simply, “Everything.”
Zerolo added, “The pedigree is there, she is a half-sister to a really good horse. He could be an Arc winner and she might look very cheap by October.”
Sea, sun and deckchairs
Like all bloodstock agents in town this week, Oliver St Lawrence has been pounding the sale yards in intense heat, so he took a more laidback approach to bidding by waving his catalogue for Lot 89 from the comfort of a deckchair on the Arqana lawn.
The daughter of Sea The Moon (Ger) he bought for €350,000 (AU$504,000) is from a family which he clearly appreciates as he bought the filly's half-brother, the highly rated Naamoos (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), at this same sale three years ago.
Lot 89 - Sea The Moon (Ger) x Praise Dancing (Ire) (filly) | Image courtesy of Arqana
The siblings, which include Listed winner Padovana (Fr), who is also by Sea The Moon, were bred locally at Haras de Bourgeauville, which is run by the Lybeck family and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
“We loved the filly,” St Lawrence said. “For the last three years, I have bought from this farm. She is a lovely-moving filly and seems very sensible. She's for Fawzi Nass and partners and we'll have to think about a trainer.”
The Arqana August Yearling Sale continues on Sunday (local time)
