By Emma Berry
The 2-year-old sale season has been subject to great upheaval but, as things stand, Osarus will be the first breeze-up sale to be held in Europe in 2020 on May 27. It will also be the first Thoroughbred sale in Europe to be conducted online.
Unlike fellow French sale house Arqana, the Osarus breeze-up catalogue is made up almost entirely of horses being prepared within France. The only outside sales consignor listed is John Burke's Irish-based Hyde Park Stud. There have been 11 withdrawals from the 79 lots catalogued for the sale's original date of April 8, but another nine horses will be added as supplementary lots this week having been transferred from the cancelled BBAG breeze-up in Germany.
Emmanuel Viaud, managing director of Osarus and one of its auctioneers, will still be on the rostrum for the sale on May 27, but he will be in the unusual position of having no horses in front of him, with the lots set to be auctioned via video link. The website France Sire will be hosting the online auction and filming the breezes, which will take place on May 6 and 13 in two different locations.
Viaud explains, “In France we will be able to go outside again from 11 May and the racing will also be starting on that day. I could not imagine doing this sale without the races having started again.
“The horses in the sale who are based in the west region or in Normandy will do their canters on 13 May at Argentan, so our thanks to the president of Argentan racecourse who has allowed us to do that. Roughly 50 2-year-olds will do their canters there on that day. The rest of the catalogue will do their canters at Mont Marsan in the south on the afternoon of May 6. All the canters will be filmed by France Sire and the vet files will be taken afterwards.”
Hyde Park Stud, which will offer three fillies by Outstrip (GB), Tamayuz (GB) and Morpheus (GB), will be providing videos of their breezers. Trainers and agents will be allowed to attend the breeze sessions at Argentan and Mont Marsan.
Viaud continues, “Racing professionals can have a document to say that they are coming to see the horses for their job. We don't want to have 500 people there but we will be expecting some bloodstock agents and trainers to come to the racecourses. Then after that they can go to visit the horses with the individual consignors. The videos are one thing but of course people prefer to see the horse in person if they are planning to buy.”
Prospective buyers must register with the sales company by emailing compta@osarus.com and will need to have pre-approved credit
“Buyers will need give an idea of what they will be wanting to spend, ” says Viaud. “We will give them a code before the sale which will allow them to bid online, and buyers can also bid by telephone.
“We have attracted some more horses from the Baden-Baden sale that has been cancelled, including a well bred filly by Helmet (Aus), who will be sold by Larissa Kneip, and a colt by Sea The Moon (Ger). Their pedigrees will be available on our website by Monday or Tuesday.”
He adds, “It's the first time that a sale will be done this way in Europe with the horses being sold directly online. We will do our best to make it as easy as possible.”
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