With just 150 horses catalogued, the Osarus Yearling Sale, which takes place on Tuesday, is reduced to the size of catalogue last offered at September in La Teste de Buch a decade ago.
Osarus had made some inroads in the French market to the extent that Tattersalls took a majority stake in the business in 2014. But its sales never really took off in the way that they had at one time suggested they might and the pandemic only exacerbated the problem, with the its September fixture not taking place at all in 2020, and yearlings originally bound for Osarus being amalgamated within a larger-than-usual October Sale at Arqana. The auction house's location in south-west France may also have been a factor in the sale's decline in fortunes in recent years, with an increasingly packed sales calendar rendering it less convenient for trainers and agents to attend.
One of the stand-outs among the sale's list of notable graduates is the admirable Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}), who was sold for just €8,000 at Osarus five years ago by Haras de Clairefontaine on behalf of breeder Didier Blot. Now six, his 12 wins include two Group 1s and he has amassed earnings just shy of £1,250,000.
Buyers on the hunt for the next Trueshan could do worse than to head to the eight-strong consignment of Marie-Laure Collet's Haras de Clairefontaine, and one would think that Anthony Bromley and Alan King would be beating a path to her door, as not only did Trueshan emanate from that draft but so too, four years earlier, did Sceau Royal (Fr). The son of Doctor Dino (Fr) was bought for €14,000 by Philippe Sogorb before being sold on as a winning 3-year-old from the stable of Guillaume Macaire. Now 10, he has won another 15 races for King, including the G1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase.
First-crop yearlings by former British-trained Group 1 winners Donjuan Triumphant (Ire) and Robin Of Navan (Fr), both of whom ended up at stud in France at Haras de la Barbottiere, feature in the catalogue. Among the more established sires, Miswaki's son Panis is represented by three yearlings, all from Haras des Faunes, and he can lay claim to having provided another of the Osarus Yearling Sale's star graduates from the other end of the distance spectrum in the Group 1-winning sprinter Sands Of Mali (Fr), who has his own first crop of yearlings at the sales this year.
Alain Chopard's Haras des Faunes, a prolific source of winners, was the leading vendor at last year's sale, with 19 lots sold, including the €50,000 co-top lot by Gutaifan (Ire), who now stands at the stud to the east of Bordeaux. That colt is now named Hattam (Fr) and is in training with Richard Fahey for Middleham Park Racing.
The sale commences at 1pm local time and can be viewed live online.
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