The Arqana Lowdown: Ecurie des Monceaux

Twelve years the leading consignor at Arqana's August Sale, and usually in October, too, Ecurie des Monceaux will bring 39 yearlings on the short journey from its Normandy base to the sale paddocks in Deauville. 

Regulars at Arqana cannot fail to be familiar with the Monceaux brand. Its draft occupies the courtyard alongside the Villa Pégase, giving the impression during the last few days of yearling inspection that one is temporarily entering a cloistered world with Monceaux founder Henri Bozo as president. One of the most entrepreneurial  members of the French breeding community, Bozo has established a strong council of co-breeders as partners in the operation, many of whom have their own farms but have been happy to invest in the beau ideal of the commercial breeding world in France.

While Platonic (GB) (Zafonic), a shrewd purchase from Fittocks Stud 20 years ago, developed a formidable foundation at Monceaux, with such luminaries as the Group 1 winners Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Magic Wind (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) among her descendants, more recently the Monceaux name has been kept in lights by Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who died last November at the age of 14. In that relatively short life she made headlines as the dam of Arc winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and seven-time Grade I winner Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), while her offspring have topped this sale in 2020 (when run late as the Select Sale during Covid) and 2022, selling for €2.5m and €2.1m apiece to buyers from Bahrain and Japan.

Monceaux sold two of the four seven-figure lots at last year's sale, achieving the second- and third-top price for colts by Siyouni (Fr) and Dubawi (Ire), sold to Coolmore and Godolphin respectively.

This year its draft includes four of the five Dubawi yearlings in the sale along with 10 by France's leading sire Siyouni, and a liberal sprinkling of youngsters by Wootton Bassett (GB), Frankel (GB), New Bay (GB) and Zarak (Fr) among others. 

One sad absentee from Arqana this summer will be Lady Chryss O'Reilly, who died last August shortly after the sale had finished and was remembered on Sunday at the racecourse next door to Arqana where the Prix Minerve was run in her name. As well as running her own Haras de la Louvière operation, Lady O'Reilly had been a key partner in Monceaux from its early days. 

Henri Bozo says: “I think all of us breeders are good at breeding and raising horses but we are not so good at predicting what the market will do, so we will see what happens this week.

“We have a strong draft consisting solely of yearlings from our mares and from our clients' mares who have been bred at the farm, so it is a joint effort between us and our partners. I think this year there is a good mix of yearlings from proven mares at the high end, and we have also been trying to invest in young mares and bring new blood to the farm, so there are a number of yearlings who are the first or second produce of young mares. 

“We are lucky to have support from some very strong partners, and at the same time I am trying to increase the percentage that we own ourselves in the new mares. But the partnerships are very positive. It gives you extra input from different breeders.

“Lady O'Reilly was the beginning of the partnership policy that Monceaux had. We started investing in mares and yearlings and at the same time she was also investing and we had the same taste so we decided to go into business together. She was the ideal partner.

“We had a long talk with Patricia [Boutin, advisor to Lady O'Reilly] who came to see the stock here in the last few weeks and it will be very different without her. We have a great filly to sell out of Prudenzia from this special partnership. We always speak about Lady O'Reilly and remember her fondly, and I am very pleased to see that there is a race being run in her memory in Deauville.

“Our strategy is to keep things simple. I think it makes sense to sell horses that you know and that you've bred yourself. That was the first part of our strategy – to sell only homebred yearlings and not to consign for anyone else – and the second part was to keep things easy and understandable for people. 

“I have a lot of respect for Tattersalls and Goffs but it was our choice in the beginning to have a clear signal to buyers and to clients that we offer all of our crop at the same place. Some will wait for October to give them more time, but all of them can be purchased in Deauville at Arqana and none of them is sold privately or elsewhere. 

“We started Monceaux at the same time as Arqana started and there was a common dynamism. I thought it was nice to offer the result of teamwork on the local market, and thankfully it has managed to attract a wide audience. I am always very happy to go to buy a mare or a yearling at Tatts or Goffs, but we want to stick to that plan.”

Draft highlights: Where to begin? Perhaps with Lot 178, the half-sister to G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed The Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) from the first crop of St Mark's Basilica (Fr). But then we would have to mention Lot 270, another by the same young stallion and a half-sister to the Irish Oaks winner Chicquita and G1 McKinnon Stakes victrix Magic Wand, out of the aforementioned Prudenzia (Ire) Dansili {GB}). On Friday, Magic Wand's first foal Ecstatic (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) became a TDN Rising Star when winning easily at Tipperary.

“He was a hell of a racehorse,” says Bozo of St Mark's Basilica, whose first yearlings will be put to the market test in Deauville. “He was very good at two and three, winning the French Derby, and with a strong pedigree by a stallion who has done us well. We think he has a good chance and we decided to give him a good chance with some proper mares. We are happy with the ones we have.”

Along with the draft's four Dubawi yearlings, is a colt by his son Too Darn Hot (GB). Offered as Lot 306, he is out of the dual Group 1 winner Simple Verse (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) whose first foal, Queen Of The Pride (GB) (Roaring Lion), has won the G2 Lancashire Oaks since the catalogue was published. 

Lot 112 is a filly whose sire was also raised at Monceaux, Sottsass, and she is a half-sister to the G2 Prix de Royallieu winner The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) and this year's G3 Classic Trial winner Arabian Crown (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}).

“You can guess that we are delighted to see the promising debut of Sottsass's two-year-olds. They are good movers, they are not too heavy, and they are light on their feet,” Bozo adds.

Claim to fame: In addition to the success of the aforementioned Sottsass, Sistercharlie, Chicquita, Magic Wand and Feed The Flame, Monceaux and its partners have also bred and raised the Group/Grade 1 winners Paddington (GB), Mangoustine (Fr), Angel Bleu (Fr), Sea La Rosa (Ire), Blowout (GB), Intellogent (Ire), National Defense (GB), Ectot (GB), Charm Spirit (Ire), Most Improved (Ire), and Ancient Wisdom (Fr).

Last word: “Our strategy is to try to offer yearlings by proven stallions. We do use a few unproven stallions but most of the yearlings we are offering, especially in August, are by the most proven stallions accessible.”