By Emma Berry
It is impossible to miss the draft from Haras des Capucines as you arrive at the main concourse of the Arqana salåes grounds. For a start it is the largest in the book with 45 yearlings catalogued for sale, and it includes a spacious seating area for viewers to take a break while working their way through lists.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Eric Puerari and Michel Zerolo consigning in Deauville under the Capucines banner. Following the August Sale they will also offer 20 yearlings for next week's V.2 Sale, from which they sold the Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Olmedo (Fr) (Declaration Of War) in 2016.
Eric Puerari says: “With Etreham, we have each of us been on the podium 20 times at this sale since the year 2000.
“Over the last few years the Arqana results have been good, and from Capucines we had this year's French Oaks winner, Sparkling Plenty, in our draft, even though she didn't get sold, and also Borna, who missed out on victory in the German Derby by a nose.
“Deauville is a really good source of group winners. Everybody knows it and that's what gives us confidence now. It's impossible to say what will happen, and of course for the first time in many years Jean-Claude Rouget will not be present at the sales and we will miss him a lot. He has been a driving force at the sales for so many years and hopefully he will be back in October. We of course also depend a lot on the international market and Arqana does a good job on bringing people to the sale.
“Of the three-year-old generation, from horses we sold two years ago, along with Sparkling Plenty and Borna there is also War Chimes, who was third in the Oaks [at Epsom] and altogether we have 11 black-type horses who were sold in that crop, including George Strawbridge's Vigatata [who was third in Sunday's G3 Prix Lady O'Reilly] .
“From this year's two-year-old crop Tiego The First, a very good Blue Point colt, won the Prix Roland Chambure and Houquetot has won twice [and was second in the G3 Prix Francois Boutin on Sunday]. It's quite lively for us right now.”
Draft highlights:
Lot 4, a filly by Kingman (GB) out of Tamazirte (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire})
You'll have to be ringside early to catch this filly going through. A winner at Group 2 and 3 level, Tamazirte was also runner-up in both the Prix de Diane and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. She has proved equally useful as a broodmare, and this filly is a full-sibling to her dual Group 3-wining son and first-season sire Chachnak (Fr), who has one winner from his five runners to date.
Lot 28, a filly by Frankel (GB) out of Waldjagd (GB) (Observatory)
“She's a spectacular filly and the two-year-old [Misunderstood] just won the Prix de Crevecoeur on his first start and is aiming for the Grand Criterium,” Puerari notes.
A black-type performer, Waldjagd is a daughter of the German St Leger winner Wurftaube (Ger) (Acatenango {Gr}) from an accomplished family which includes the Arc winner Waldgeist (GB) and St Leger winner Masked Marvel (Ire). The yearling is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Waldbiene (Ger) (Intello {Ger}) and Listed winner Urwald (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}).
Lot 218, a colt by Galiway (GB) out of Milena's Dream (Ire) (Authorized {Ire})
“We have a very good group of Galiway yearlings; several of them look very racy, including the brother to Etoile,” says Puerari.
Milena's Dream was herself fourth in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs as a juvenile and her standout performer at stud so far is the GI EP Taylor Stakes winner Etoile (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who was also won the G3 Prix Cleopatre.
Claim to fame: Along with two of this season's Classic winners in the aforementioned Sparkling Plenty (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) and G2 Derby Italiano hero Borna (Fr) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), graduates from previous drafts of Capucines at Arqana include the Breeders' Cup winner Zagora (Fr) and Flotilla (Fr). The latter also won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and she is joined on the list by fellow Group 1 winners Morandi (Fr), Never On Sunday (Fr) and Etoile, among others. Haras des Capucines has also sold the sole Classic winner to emerge from the V.2 Sale to date in Olmedo, while another Breeders' Cup winner, Audarya (Fr), was offered at the October Sale.
Last word: “We'll be showing horses from Tuesday and will be ready early each morning. I always admire the British and Irish buyers who are up very late in the evenings but then arrive very early in the mornings to see the horses. It's impressive: they are well organised and courageous.”
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