By Adam Houghton
Today's lowdown with Emmanuel Talvard of Haras du Cadran brings the curtain down on the series TDN have been running in the build up to this year's Arqana August Sale, but don't be fooled into thinking it's all about the powerhouse consignments here in Deauville where the first of 325 catalogued lots–from, quelle surprise, Haras des Capucines, the largest consignors of all–will go under the hammer at around 2pm on Friday.
For every Capucines, the team who will be busy from the first lot on Friday to their final lot, 320, late on Sunday, there's a handful of smaller operations like that of Philippe Brosset and Ciara O'Connor, for whom countless hours of hard work will be distilled into one evening on Sunday when their only two lots, 288 and 301, take their turn through the ring.
The hard work continued on the Arqana sales grounds on Wednesday morning as the two fillies in question, by Hello Youmzain (Fr) and Kingman (GB), respectively, were paraded endlessly for potential buyers, all under the watchful eye of Brosset and 15-year-old Garett, the youngest son he shares with wife O'Connor.
Within a few minutes in their company it's clear that this a family-run operation to its very core, but what's not clear is why they settled on the name Applewood Stud, a very English-sounding title for their base located around 45 minutes outside of Deauville?
“Ciara and I met in America,” begins Brosset's explanation. “On and off, I worked for Coolmore in America for five years. At the time I was assistant manager on the main farm and then they gave me the responsibility of a little annex which was called Applewood Farm. I loved this little farm. It was very good experience for me and the people there have been very good to me.
“When I came back, I said to Ciara, 'Why not call it Applewood Farm?'. And she said, 'Not farm–let's call it Applewood Stud'. So, that's the reason for the name.”
The name Brosset is already a well-respected one in this industry after his time as director of Haras du Mezeray, having taken over that position when Henri Bozo moved to Monceaux in 2003.
“Then Mezeray was sold to Nurlan Bizakov so I had to find my own way,” Brosset continues when telling the story of how Applewood became what it is today. “I got support from some of the old clients from Mezeray, like Charles-Henri de Moussac, who used to own the stud. He said, 'If you get your own place, I will help you'. And that was kind of the dream, for Ciara and me.
“We found Applewood in Vieux-Pont and we fell in love with the place when we went there. It was half set up already and this year we built a barn with 17 stalls and paddocks just for the yearlings. We have roughly 60 acres and the goal will be to have what I'd call a select nursery. We'll have around 15 mares, so with their babies we'll have around 35-40 horses all-year round.”
One of those mares is the now-18-year-old Idle Tears (GB) (Selkirk), a half-sister to the high-class sprinter and sire Dream Ahead, who delivered a notable result for the Applewood team in their first year of consigning when her filly by Soldier's Call (GB)–since named Wasabi (Fr)–was offered at the 2022 Arqana October Yearling Sale.
“She is our lucky mare and we've had her for a long time,” Brosset says fondly of Idle Tears. “We sold her [Wasabi] for €75,000, which for us was a dream in our first year. She was bred to be speedy, but at three she won her first start over a mile and a half at Saint-Cloud, by 20 lengths on heavy ground. She's been placed since that and has a few Group entries in the fall.”
As for this year's consignment, there is no mistaking Brosset's affection for Lot 288, the Hello Youmzain filly out of the Iffraaj (GB) mare Rose Et Or (Ire), already the dam of the Listed-placed Sun Flare (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}).
“I love that filly,” Brosset beams. “She was bred by Noir Et Or Elevage which is Charles-Henri de Moussac. The funny thing about this mare is I know her grandmother and I know her mother–I know the whole family! She looks sharp and she looks strong–she looks precocious and speedy.”
“The second one belongs to Gestut Wittekindshof,” he adds of Lot 301, who is out of a half-sister to the G1 Preis der Diana scorer Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), herself dam of the G1 NHK Mile Cup winner Schnell Meister (Ger) by the same sire as this filly. “She's more of a Classic type. She's by Kingman, who you can't fault this year–he's a flying machine.”
Whatever that hour on Sunday brings for Brosset, O'Connor and the whole Applewood team, don't expect them to be challenging the likes of Capucines and Cadran with bumper consignments at Arqana in the years to come. This is an operation with many other strings to its bow, not to mention a young man who seems to have inherited his parents' work ethic if the way Garett runs the show in his father's brief absence is anything to go by.
“We'll do some consignment, but that wouldn't be our main purpose,” Brosset sums up. “I would be happy to consign only the homebred horses. We've got lots of support from the English and Irish people, who might ask us to consign a horse for them, and this year we have the Kingman filly for German breeders. They send their mares during the season to us and they're happy with us–and we're happy with them!
“That's the way we'd like it to go–we don't want to do a big consignment. I went through that and now the goal is to develop a family place. I'm hands on, every day on the farm, and I've got one employee with me. We'd like to keep it small and selective.”
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