By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin
DEAUVILLE, France–If two of the certainties in life are death and taxes, the third, in the world of bloodstock at least, is that if a yearling out of Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) turns up at the Arqana August Sale then he or she will steal the limelight.
This time it was a colt (lot 154), a full-brother to the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) no less, whose arrival in the ring around 6 p.m. ensured standing room only in Arqana's upper tier as industry professionals and holidaymakers alike strained to see which players would go into battle to try to buy him. In the end, it came down to who could hold their nerve the longest between David Redvers, standing alongside Sheikh Fahad Al Thani and looking down into the seats below where Yoshito Yahagi was taking instructions by telephone. The Japanese trainer eventually had the final nod at €2.1 million to push the colt's breeder and vendor Ecurie des Monceaux back into the top spot on the list of consignors.
“It's a really good pedigree and he's a very well-made colt. I loved him. He's Sottsass's brother, and My Sister Nat was second to my horse [Loves Only You] at last year's Breeders' Cup. She's also a very good filly.”
The globe-trotting trainer, who earlier in the day had saddled Bathrat Leon (Jpn) in the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville, said, “I will take him to Japan and I hope he will win the Japanese Derby, then I hope to bring him back to France later.”
It's €2.1 million for the full brother to Sottsass from Yoshito Yahagi @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/lwHkNQ3xaS
— TDN (@theTDN) August 14, 2022
Of course it is not only Sottsass and My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) to have advertised the merits of their mother at the top level. It was the outstanding Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) who really got the ball rolling for the mare with her seven Grade I wins, and 3-year-old filly Pure Dignity (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who topped this sale two years ago in its later September slot, has also impressed on her sole winning outing to date for Roger Varian.
A frenetic post-racing session at Arqana brought another €15,612,000 to the overall tally, which has been boosted by the sale of three seven-figure lots so far. The 67 yearlings sold on Sunday evening represented a clearance rate of 84%, with the average climbing to €233,015 and the median to €140,000. Comparative figures for the reformatted sale will be provided at the end of the final session on Monday.
@BozoHenri (@EcurieMonceaux) reflects on selling the full-brother to Sottsass at @InfoArqana.
Yoshito Yahagi purchased the colt for €2.1 million. pic.twitter.com/IEPtOS7fsL
— TDN (@theTDN) August 14, 2022
The Pride of Monceaux
The session started in sensational fashion for Ecurie des Monceaux with the sale of the Siyouni colt, and through trade was patchy at times, the leading consignor quickly reasserted its dominance at Arqana, and by the end of two days had sold 25 yearlings for €8,810,000.
Monceaux principal Henri Bozo said of Sottsass's brother, “That was a fantastic sale. You always have to be very happy when you sell a horse at a price like that. It was a great pride. It's a great pride to have a mare like that, it was a great pride to have the staff to bring a horse like that to sale. It's really only happiness. It will be very interesting to follow a horse in Japan and with a trainer like Mr. Yahagi. So it will be a new step and very interesting. To be honest, I had no idea who was going to buy him.
“There were three or four groups of serious players interested in him, and I didn't know who was going to buy him, but I was confident he was going to sell well. The horse was showing himself well. He's a good horse–he's a very good horse–and he came into the ring with so much pride and self-confidence. It was very nice.”
Late in the session, the names of both Monceaux and Siyouni were back in lights as the first foal of the listed-winning Shamardal mare Aviatress (Ire) (lot 216) became the third millionaire of the sale when sold for €1.4 million to Alex Solis and Jason Litt on behalf of the filly's co-breeders Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods, a parents-daughter team who have owned horses since 2012.
Solis said, “The Roths actually owned the mare with Henri. We are partners and we've known about her the whole time. She's been a star since she was a foal and we were very excited to watch her grow and to come here. She's a spectacular filly. The Roths race a lot of fillies but this one had to come to auction as she was owned in partnership and we didn't want to let her go.”
Monceaux also sold a Dubawi (Ire) filly out of the listed-winning Galileo mare Birch Grove (Ire) for €575,000. It was perhaps no surprise to see the auctioneer bring the hammer down for lot 226 towards the buyer in the corridor to the right of the rostrum, the favoured of Anthony Stroud, who signed for the filly on behalf of Godolphin.
A third seven-figure yearling @InfoArqana as Alex Solis and Jason Litt go to €1.4 million for @EcurieMonceaux's filly out of Aviatress and by @AgaKhanStuds' Siyouni. pic.twitter.com/cgGSZ4ljg2
— TDN (@theTDN) August 14, 2022
Blueblooded Kingman for Japan
Yoshito Yahagi wasn't finished when signing for the session-topper and later provided Elise Drouet of Domaine de l'Etang with a great return by going to €560,000 for a colt by Kingman (GB) from the family of Arc winner Waldgeist (GB). Offered this time as lot 183, the son of the Group 2 runner-up Waldjagd (GB) (Observatory) had been put through the ring as a foal and made €280,000 when co-breeder Drouet bought out her partner, Ecurie de Cachene.
The colt has plenty of pedigree behind him to support such lofty prices. His half-siblings include Group 2 winner Waldbiene (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) and listed winner Urwald (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), while his granddam Wurftaube (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}) is responsible for the G1 Deutsches Derby winner Waldpark (Ger) as well as the dam of G1 St Leger winner Masked Marvel (Ger) and granddam of Waldgeist.
Haras de la Louviere Fillies Star
Lady O'Reilly's Haras de la Louviere is a staple of the Arqana August Sale and within three lots on Sunday evening the stud recorded two excellent results for fillies bred in two separate partnerships.
Lot 199, a filly by Siyouni (Fr) who was sold for €600,000 to Nicolas Clement, was bred with Charles-Henri de Moussac. She is a daughter of the dual Grade III winner Aigue Marine (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), whose dam Aiglonne (Silver Hawk) was bought by the partners more than two decades ago and is the dam of Group 1 winner Mekhtaal (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).
After signing for the filly in the company of her new owner, Clement, who also trains her half-sister, the listed winner Fenelon (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), explained, “I met Dr. Tallaj last year at Saratoga and he has horses with my brother, Christophe. We bought Galifa here in December and started a company called RT Racing, the same as he has in America. We've had three winners and we want more so [we] bought this filly.”
Dr. Ramon Tallaj added, “This filly will be running in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in a couple of years' time. Nicolas will make that happen. The atmosphere here is very good. This is my first time and I will continue coming back.”
It's Siyouni day at Arqana: following the €2.1m colt, Haras de la Louviere's filly out of G3W Aigue Marine sells for €600,000 to Nicolas Clement. pic.twitter.com/wPZ20Q3yVg
— TDN (@theTDN) August 14, 2022
Just moments later the second foal of the listed-placed Ambivalence (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) (lot 202), a daughter of Wootton Bassett (GB), brought €750,000 when knocked down to Richard Knight.
The agent was unable to disclose the filly's new owner but said of the filly whose fourth dam is the influential Allegretta (Ger), “She will stay here in France. She was bought for a client of mine who picked her out and we thought she was an absolute queen. For me she was the best filly in the sale. I love the stallion Wootton Bassett and the mare is stakes-placed. She's also a second foal, which I love as well.”
Reflecting on the sale of the two fillies, Lady O'Reilly said, “We were lucky. They are two well-bred and very athletic fillies, and I think in this sale the physique has to correspond with pedigree. So we just got lucky: good stallions and good mares from very good families.”
She continued, “The Siyouni is in partnership with Charles-Henri de Moussac. We bought her granddam Aiglonne 24 years ago and we raced her and we still have a filly.
“The other one we also bought the granddam with Edouard de Rothschild and she's from Urban Sea's family. We have her and we have three other fillies that we are putting in training.”
Lady O'Reilly noted that Aigue Marine has a filly foal by the late Le Havre (Ire) and is in foal to Wootton Bassett, while Ambivalence is now in foal to Sea The Stars (Ire).
Juddmonte Snap Up Two Colts
On a day when Inspiral (GB), one of the best daughters of Frankel (GB), swooped to G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois glory, backed up by the Group 3 victory of Eternal Pearl (GB) in the Prix Minerve, Juddmonte pounced to secure lot 148, a handsome chestnut colt by the stud's decorated stallion and from the breeder of Eternal Pearl for €450,000.
Simon Mockridge of Juddmonte revealed that the Haras de Saint Pair-drafted colt out of Spain Burg (Fr) (Sageburg {Ire}) will be trained in Ireland. He added that a decision on whether he will be sent to Ger Lyons or Dermot Weld, the only handlers employed by the world-famous operation in that country, hasn't yet been made.
He said, “Spain Burg (Fr) was a very good 2-year-old, had plenty of speed, and Frankel is having a fantastic season. He's had seven Group 1 winners this season and we saw Inspiral winning today, which was great.”
Mockridge added, “He's a phenomenal stallion and, of course, we want to support him. He'll go back to Barry Mahon who'll manage him in Ireland. He'll get broken and then we will decide with the family where the horse goes.”
Spain Burg won four times as a juvenile in 2016, including the G2 Rockfel S. at Newmarket, where she got the better of Juddmonte's Fair Eva (GB) (Frankel {GB}). She also fetched a whopping €1.5 million at the end of that 2-year-old campaign at the Arqana Arc Sale.
However, after failing to win in two starts at three for Nicolas Clement, Spain Burg was snapped up by White Birch Farm the following winter at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale for 650,000gns.
Six lots later , Juddmonte signed up a second colt (lot 155) of the evening, by Night Of Thunder (Ire) and consigned by Haras d'Etreham. Bought for €220,000, the bay colt is the second foal of the Jim Bolger-bred and -trained dual Group 3 winner Steip Amach (Ire) (Vocalised). The mare's half-sister Fidaaha (Ire} (New Approach {Ire}) is the dam of Malavath (Fr) (Mehmas {Ire}), winner of last season's G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte as well as being placed in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Brisk but Brilliant Business for Ballylinch
There can be few businesses that bag €860,000 within the space of 10 minutes, but Ballylinch Stud is not any old business. One of the most beautiful studs in Ireland, Ballylinch brought a strong draft to Deauville, including two fillies by their own Lope De Vega (Ire), and an Invincible Spirit (Ire) filly (lot 187) who elevated the County Kilkenny operation beyond the €1-million mark for the opening two days in quick-fire fashion.
Lot 190, the Lope De Vega filly out of Xaarienne (GB) (Xaar {GB}), the dam of three different black-type performers, did best and went the way of China Horse Club for €320,000.
The other Lope De Vega filly (lot 189) out of the homebred Witches Brew (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) was sold to Rabbah Bloodstock for €260,000, while the Invincible Spirit out of Wild Irish Rose (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was knocked down to Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock for €280,000.
Ballylinch Stud manager John O'Connor said, “They are three really nice fillies. With the way things fell, they went through the ring within the space of a few minutes of each other so it was very concentrated. We knew we had really nice fillies and we knew that a lot of people liked them.
“The Invincible Spirit filly was bought by Tom Goff, who is an excellent judge, and I understand she was bought for George Strawbridge but I'm not sure where she's going. Wherever she goes, I'm sure she'll do well.”
And she is bred to do well. Wild Irish Rose won twice for Aidan O'Brien, including the Listed Stanerra S. at Leopardstown, and is a half-sister to black-type performer Cradle Mountain (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and from a good Ballymacoll Stud family that can be traced back to Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells).
O'Connor added, “The Lope De Vega out of Witches Brew is a full-sister to Antonia De Vega (Ire). She's a lovely-moving filly and has a lot of residual value as a future broodmare but she should make a lovely racing filly as well.
“The last one [lot 190] was bought by Matt Houldsworth for China Horse Club and she was an exceptional filly. All three were very busy and they did what we expected.”
Witches Brew, who carried the Ballylinch Stud colours to victory and achieved black-type when in training with Eddie Lynam, is a half-sister to pattern horses Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead (Ire) and Dream Today (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and is from the family of French Oaks winner Caerlina (Ire) (Caerleon).
As well as winning twice, Xaarienne bagged black-type in France and has already confirmed herself as a proven producer of talent thanks to Group 3 winner See The Rose (Ire) (Kendargent {Fr}), who recently sold for 500,000gns at the Tattersalls July Sale.
The dream 10 minutes or so enjoyed by Ballylinch on Sunday followed on from a productive start with a filly by Too Darn Hot (GB), a colt by Waldgeist (GB) and a filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) fetching €475,000 collectively the previous day. The stud has one lot left to sell on Monday, a colt by Lope De Vega (lot 241).
Half-brother to Treve Goes To Al Shaqab
Al Shaqab Racing enjoyed some of its best days on a racecourse with Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), the dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine, and the story continues with the powerful owners securing the legendary racemare's half-brother by Intello (Ger) for €260,000.
Consigned by Haras du Quesnay, lot 171 was bought by Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International, who has had an extremely busy two days after signing for 14 individual lots.
De Watrigant said, “We bought him for Al Shaqab. Obviously to win the Arc with Treve gave the Al Shaqab team great joy. He was a beautiful colt.”
The final session of the Arqana August Sale gets underway on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
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