By Emma Berry
A new name appeared on the European sales circuit in 2021 with the birth of the French company Auctav, a composite of the words 'Auction Avantage'.
Auctav sought to create an opportunity to the advantage of the bloodstock industry in France and beyond from the chaos wrought on the bloodstock industry by the Covid-imposed travel restrictions. It founded an online sales platform across the range of racing disciplines, featuring not just Flat and National Hunt sales, but also those for trotters and Arabian horses. As the established sales houses explored this type of venture and added online platforms to their own major sales bases in Newmarket, Doncaster, Kildare, and Deauville, Auctav has grown in the opposite direction and now has a physical presence of its own, at the historic Haras de Bois Roussel in Bursard, between Deauville and Le Mans. It is here on Saturday that Auctav will host its first 'in person' Flat sale.
“We had two sales here for trotters in August and one for jumpers last month,” says Auctav's director general Arnaud Angeliaume of the company's progression from holding 'Flash sales' online on an almost monthly basis to hosting the sales crowd at a beautiful stud farm in the Alencon region. Founded in 1902, Haras de Bois Roussel has previously been owned by the Wildenstein family and Leon Volterra, among others, and is now home to the Auctav offices and sales complex.
“Auctav does things step by step,” he continues. “We started with trotters and National Hunt horses because they are easier markets to start with, but now we are better known and are confident about how we do things it is the time to have Flat sales. That is a very competitive market but what has helped us is some publicity from our Flash sales through Go Athletico (Fr). He has run really well since we sold him. He was a Listed winner when we sold him and since then he has won a Listed and a Group 3.
“We have had a huge selection of horses offered to us. We had more than 200 horses proposed to us and we have just kept it to 80 to 90.”
Saturday's sale covers plenty of bases within the Flat sphere. It contains 52 yearlings, a pair of two-year-old fillies by Cloth Of Stars (Ire), and 14 broodmares, including Perfect Approach (Fr), a daughter of New Approach (Ire) and the G2 Prix Kergorlay winner Ponte Tresa (Fr) (Sicyos {Fr}), who is offered as lot 61 by Haras de Colleville in foal to their resident stallion Goken (Fr).
Also catalogued, as lot 76 from Jedburgh Stud, is Piscine De Ruinart (Fr) (Zoffany {Ire}), a three-year-old half-sister to the Group 3 winner and Grade I-placed Indian Blessing (GB) (Sepoy {Aus}) as well as to the black-type earners Montalbano (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}) and Glade (GB) (Bertolini). And, perhaps surprisingly for the time of year, 11 foals complete the catalogue, including six by Muhaarar (GB), and colts by Galiway (GB) and Kendargent (Fr),
“Alain Chopard, who stood Muhaarar at Haras des Faunes for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, was happy to work with us on this project and to select several foals to sell by the stallion, who has had very good results this year,” explains Angeliaume. “It made economic sense to strike while the iron was hot. It is a little earlier in the year to sell mares and foals than is traditional, but for breeders it is helpful to have cashflow.”
There are 120 permanent stables at Haras du Bois Roussel with the capacity to house more horses in temporary stabling. However, Angeliaume acknowledges that the timing of the sale, coming as the two-week Tattersalls October Sale closes and three days before the start of the Arqana October Sale, is part of the reason that Auctav restricted its catalogue for the forthcoming sale.
“There are so many sales through this period, so if you want the buyers to really look at your catalogue it has to be selective,” he says. “We want buyers to know that every page has been selected for a reason – because it is a black-type family, or because there have been good results in the family.
“This Saturday is a time when some bloodstock agents come back from Tattersalls and start to look at Arqana, so there is the option to come to Bois Roussel, but what is our strength is that even if they can't come to the sale there is still the possibility to bid online.”
He adds, “That's how we started and we worked a lot at first on the online side. We work a lot on the photos and we prefer to go to see the horses at the stud. We have a huge repository and that is very important because we want no bad surprises for the purchaser.”
Auctav's 'Vente de Plat' takes place on Saturday, October 14, from 12.30pm local time.
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