Haras des Capucines

Christopher Head trainee Houquetot (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}--Happen, by War Front) endured a first defeat in three career starts when runner-up in last month's G3 Prix Francois Boutin and bounced back with a game victory in Sunday's G3 Prix La Rochette at ParisLongchamp. The 11-10 favourite, previously successful in two seven-furlong heats at Compiegne, broke smartly and raced in a prominent second from flagfall in this fourth start at the specialist distance. Stoked up with a quarter-mile remaining, he joined long-time leader Sir Tommy Cen (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) entering...

Next week, when the international sales scene shifts to France for the Arqana August Yearling Sale, a good chunk of American agents, owners, and trainers will head on over for the party. No one ever needs an excuse to go to Deauville, but if you're looking to justify your trip to your principals or partners, look no further. We've got you covered. The selected sessions of the Arqana sale run from the 16th to the 18th, Friday to Sunday, and are followed by the V2 sale on Monday. "This is...

Second-crop sire Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) was without a 'TDN Rising Star' representative prior to Saturday, but James Fanshawe trainee Kind Of Blue (GB) rectified matters for the Kildangan Stud resident at Doncaster and €170,000 Arqana October graduate Tiego The First (Fr) doubled the tally with a sparkling last-to-first triumph in Monday's Prix Hunyade at Saint-Cloud. Tiego The First dwelt badly at the break and forfeited several lengths to his rivals, but recovered to latch on to the tail of the field and raced with just one behind passing through...

For a horse who won the G2 Gimcrack S. as a juvenile before torching the sprinting scene with a sequence of four straight Group 1 victories the following year, Muhaarar (GB) has been a surprisingly slow burner in his second career as a stallion, certainly compared to the fast start that was expected of him when he was retired to stand his first season at Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's Nunnery Stud in 2016. It seemed like all the ingredients were there for Muhaarar to make an immediate and significant impact,...

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....

Champion sprinter Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who has moved to Haras du Petit Tellier for the 2024 breeding season, will stand for €14,000, co-owner Haras des Capucines announced on X. Now owned by Shadwell and a consortium of French breeders including Haras des Capucines, and Haras de Saint-Pair, the bay is managed by Capucines Bloodstock, with Eric Puerari taking point. The 11-year-old's year was highlighted by the victory of his son Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire) in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains. That runner would go on to place...

Shadwell Stud's Champion Sprinter Muhaarar (GB), who has stood the last two years at Haras des Faunes in the south of France, will now be owned by Shadwell and a consortium of French breeders and will be moved to Haras du Petit Tellier in Normandy, according to Eric Puerari. Puerari said that Muhaarar's stud fee would be announced at the end of the year. The group of breeders is comprised of Jean-Pierre Dubois and several generations of his family, Haras des Capucines, Haras de Saint-Pair, and several others. Sheikha Hissa...

There is something about the straight track at Ascot that seems to bring out the best in Charlie Appleby's runners and Saturday's G3 Jersey S. had a familiar feel as last year's winning team again prevailed with Noble Truth (Fr) (Kingman {GB}). Talented at two, the Listed Flying Scotsman S. winner and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up had threatened to head south mentally but a gelding operation after his latest six-length success in Newmarket's Listed King Charles II S. over this seven-furlong trip Apr. 29 put him on the right...

The trade winds, in the clipper age, blew west to east. But horsepower has reversed the flow; and for many years one of the most skilled navigators, for European horses to America, has been the debonair Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock. The cargos are more contested nowadays, he says, with a lot of sharp traders driving up prices. But the fact is that Zerolo recently scaled a new pinnacle, with the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe success of a Deauville yearling bought for an American patron. Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni...