Jumping Jewels Close Arqana's Season In Style

As expected, the dispersal of the breeding operation of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede dominated the final day of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, which brought the curtain down on the bloodstock trading season in Deauville with increases in both turnover and average.

Nine of the 12 most expensive lots of the day hailed from the dispersal draft, which was presented on the owners' behalf by Haras du Lieu des Champs. As befitting their former celebrated status on the racecourse, the headliners Ma Filleule (Fr) (Turgeon) and Gitane Du Berlais (Fr) (Balko {Fr}) shared the honours at the head of the leaderboard after they each sold for €220,000.

Offered as lot 932, the 10-year-old grey Ma Filleule slipped her foal by Martaline (GB) several weeks in advance of the sale but she has a colt foal on the ground by the Haras de Montaigu sire after being barren to him in her first year at stud. She is likely to remain in France for the short term to be covered next season. Ultimately, however, she will join the elite band of National Hunt mares owned by Newbury Racecourse chairman and Champion Hurdle-winning breeder Dominic Burke, which board at Richard and Sally Aston's Goldford Stud in Cheshire.

“Dominic and [his wife] Val were over for the weekend but had to go home before today,” explained Richard Aston, who bought Ma Filleule on their behalf.

“She was the one we wanted before the sale and we didn't see anything to put us off once we got here. We all hugely admired her over the years but never thought we'd have the chance to buy her—when a chance like this comes up you have to take it.”

One of the best jumping mares of the modern era, Ma Filleule was thoroughly tested in open company, winning at up to Grade 2 level over hurdles, as well as landing the G3 Topham Chase over the Grand National fences and finishing runner-up to Uxizandre (Fr) in the G1 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. In 30 career starts, she won eight races and was placed a further 12 times, earning a career-high rating of 163.

Aston added, “She hasn't had the best start to her breeding career so we hope all her bad luck is behind her. If she can produce a foal to replicate her own performance it would be terrific. She'll stay in France to be covered. There are plenty of high-class jump stallions in the country who don't cover huge books, which is particularly appealing. Sadly Martaline will not be available but Doctor Dino (Fr), Authorized (Ire) and Kapgarde (Fr) are all being considered. We'll let the dust settle before we make a final decision.”

Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud in Ireland has solid dual-purpose credentials in the bloodstock world, both as a valued member of the buying team for Qatar Bloodstock and as a National Hunt pinhooker in his own right, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth (Ire) among his successes. Given the job of selecting a top-class broodmare on behalf of an unnamed client, he opted for the Grade 1-winning chaser Gitane Du Berlais (Fr) (Balko {Fr}). The 8-year-old (lot 934) is another to have made repeat visits to Martaline and has a filly foal on the ground as well as being back in foal to him. Her first offspring is a yearling filly by Kapgarde.

“She'll head first to the UK and will then come back to me at Rathmore to foal and be covered in the spring,” Molony said. “She's been bought with the intention of breeding to race. My client wants to build up a decent selection of National Hunt broodmares and this mare has the whole package: she has the looks, she's a Grade 1 winner in foal to a good stallion and she's young. Mares like this just don't come on the market very often.”

Trained by Willie Mullins after winning over hurdles in France for Robert Collet and being bought privately by Munir and Souede, Gitane Du Berlais went on to win six more races in Britain, Ireland and France including the G1 Scilly Isles Novices' Chase.

Anthony Bromley had already played his part in assembling this high-class band of jumpers for Munir and Souede during their racing days and on behalf of other clients of his Highflyer Bloodstock agency, he and partner David Minton stepped in again to buy the G1 Prix Maurice Gillois winner Utopie Des Bordes (Fr) (Antarctique {Ire}) (lot 938), who is in foal to Balko, for €120,000. They also went to €85,000 for Une Artiste (Fr) (Alberto Giacometti {Ire}), winner of the G3 Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, who was sold as lot 938 in foal to Martaline.

All told, the 21 horses sold through the Munir and Souede Dispersal accounted for €1,287,500 giving a significant boost to the final-day aggregate of €3,032,500 for 121 horses sold, which was up by 42% on last year. The session's average was €25,062 (+35%) and the median rose from €13,000 to €15,000. The only sector in which there was a reduction was the clearance rate, which dropped from a solid 81% 12 months ago to 70%.

For the four-day Breeding Stock Sale as a whole, turnover improved by 6% to €33,252,500 for 682 horses. The clearance rate of 76% was down by three points, while the average of €48,757 represented a rise of 7% and the median dropped slightly to €18,000.

“It was very heartening to see such a deep, international buying bench and for them to find the products they had been looking for,” said Arqana CEO Eric Hoyeau. “We must take our hats off to those bold breeders who keep upping their games and investing in quality mares in order to upgrade their production, breed winners and meet the buyers' expectations at the yearling sales. Our wholehearted thanks go their way, as well as to the buyers who supported the sale. The Breeding Stock Sale brings to an end our 2018 sales season, which despite its record figures delivered a number of warning messages which we are not considering lightly. We will start 2019 by putting a lot of thinking into analyzing the state of the market and working hard to identify everything that could be done to ensure our sales keep meeting the buyers' and vendors' expectations. In the meantime, let me wish all our clients a very happy end of the year and extend my thanks to our dedicated team for all their hard work.”