Arqana Breeding Stock Sale

Carenot (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), a half-sister to the G1 Phoenix S. winner Dick Whittington (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), topped the third day of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in Deauville at €72,000. The 10-year-old mare is a dual winner and her first three foals have all also won two races, including the Listed-placed Liberalist (GB) (Pivotal {GB}). Offered in foal to Earthlight (Ire) as lot 582 from Haras du Lieu des Champs, Carenot was bought by Whitehorn Bloodstock on behalf of Emir Alkas of Alkas Stud in Turkey. Alkas's...

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry DEAUVILLE, France -- The sales at Arqana this year have largely retained their momentum, but the company was not immune to the retraction that has been present across the market for mares and foals this winter. With the clearance rate being lowered to 71% from the 78% of 2022, the turnover fell by 20% to €36,467,000, and the average was down by 7% to €227,919.  Four millionaire fillies and mares featured in the opening session, compared to seven last year, but the one sector...

DEAUVILLE, France — Everything changes; everything stays the same. Here's Eric Puerari, rounding off another sales season, his Haras des Capucines consignment an unmissable fixture right next to the parade ring at Arqana. Yet once again, on the eve of the auction, Puerari will on Friday have noticed new faces, making their serious, frowning notes as his mares are led up and down. Will these last any longer than some who surfaced in the previous cycle? Who can say? Plenty of them, Puerari acknowledges, have an authentically competent, dynamic air....

Haras de Saint Pair's homebred Group 1 winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) has been given a wild-card entry to the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale. She will be offered carrying her first foal by Frankel (GB) as Lot 210 on Saturday, December 9. Trained by Paddy Twomey, Pearls Galore bowed out at the top of her game last season after winning the G1 Matron S. at Leopardstown during Irish Champions Weekend. In total, she won seven of her 17 starts, including the G2 Lanwades Stud S. and two Group...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin DEAUVILLE, France--A memorable anniversary year for Moyglare Stud was rounded off with some select purchases at Arqana's Breeding Stock Sale, including top lot, Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) (lot 199), at €3.2 million on a day when the the single session aggregate was more than the entire sale last year. The Co Meath-based farm owned by Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner and established by her father Walter Haefner celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022, and in quite some style on the track, courtesy of the Irish Classic winner...

Fresh off yet another productive Tattersalls December Mare Sale, where they have led consignors there for the past eight years, The Castlebridge Consignment embarked on somewhat of a less familiar journey to Deauville to hang up their well-known banner for Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale. The Castlebridge Consignment, which has bases in Newmarket and at Castlebridge Stud in County Meath, Ireland, has been absent from the Arqana sales grounds since 2017, but this week they returned with a group of nine fillies in training, broodmare prospects and mares in foal...

DEAUVILLE, France--As we have seen over the the last few weeks in Ireland and England, there remains a voracious appetite for breeding stock, and globally the Thoroughbred breeding industry continues to hold German bloodlines in the highest regard. With this in mind, there will undoubtedly be plenty of visitors from all over the world turning up to peruse the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale draft of Ronald Rauscher, which contains a number of well-bred fillies and mares with proper racing form. German-born and now based in Ireland, Rauscher is a consignor,...

Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) will form the cornerstone of a new Thoroughbred breeding operation at Haras de Hus after being bought for €2,500,000 by Anne-Sophie Yoh-Benet of YOHEA on behalf of a new owner. The 5-year-old mare was trained by Gianluca Bietolini for Albert Frassetto, John d'Amato and Mike Pietrangelo to win six of her 18 races, including two Group 3s. There remains a possibility that she could race on at the Saudi Cup meeting in February before being covered.

French 1000 Guineas runner-up and multiple listed winner Speak Of The Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) brought a bid of €1,950,000 from Michel Zerolo for Peter Brant of White Birch Farm and will now be transferred to America to be trained by Chad Brown. The 4-year-old was the third filly in training to have sold for seven figures in Deauville on Saturday evening following Purplepay (Fr) and Rougir (Fr). A winner on her sole start at two, Speak Of The Devil was second in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches...

By Kelsey Riley, Emma Berry and Sue Finley DEAUVILLE, France--Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) was the lone 3-year-old filly to win a Group 1 this year to be offered at a European breeding stock sale this season, and the G1 Prix de l'Opera winner proved the dearest, too, when bringing €3-million to top the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale on Saturday, purchased by Michel Zerolo on behalf of Peter Brant and the Coolmore partners. The price was the highest paid for a horse at any of the European breeding stock sales...

Purplepay (Fr), the Group 1-placed treble winner from the first crop of Zarak (Fr), was the first to reach seven figures  at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale when sold for €2,000,000 to Nicolas Bertran de Balanda on behalf of Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable. The 2-year-old filly, who was trained this season by Cedric Rossi, will continue her career in America under the care of Arnaud Delacour. Bred by Madame L Lemiere Dubois, she was originally bought at last year's Arqana Select Yearling Sale for €100,000. A winner on...

Group 1 winner Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}), who races for Albert Frassetto, John d'Amato and Mike Pietrangelo, will be offered at the upcoming Arqana Breeding Stock Sale from Dec. 4-7. Slated to sell on Dec. 4, the G1 Prix Jean Roment heroine and G1 Prix de Diane third also won the G3 Prix de Flore as a 4-year-old and the G3 Grand Prix de Vichy this term. In her most recent start, the Haras de Bourgeauville-bred was second by a nose in the G1 Prix de l'Opera on...