What Became Of The Arqana August Sale Top Lots? 

So what became of the likely lads and lassies? Since 2011, there has been a seven-figure top lot each year at the Arqana August Sale. 

We are talking about some of the best-bred horses in Europe here. Yearlings that have been given the best possible chance of being good from the day that they were born. But did time prove them worthy of their top lot status?

We all know that, in this business, money doesn't guarantee anything. If that was the case, what a boring sport this would be.

However, it's fair to say there has been some correlation between the Arqana August Sale top lots and high-class runners, with Magic Wand (Ire) perhaps being one of the best examples. 

This Galileo (Ire) daughter of the Listed-winning Dansili (GB) mare Prudenzia (Ire) boasted the most obviously high-class pedigree when being offered under the hammer here in 2016. 

A half-sister to Irish Oaks winner Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), who became something of a sales ring show-stopper herself when lighting up the Goffs November Mares Sale in 2013 at €6 million, Magic Wand was destined to draw a huge amount of interest at Arqana. 

It seemed fitting that Coolmore, whose colours were carried by Chicquita following that €6 million transaction, landed Magic Wand for a sale-topping €1.4 million and it proved to be money well spent by what she achieved on the track. 

A Group 1 winner in Australia, the hardy and ultra-consistent Magic Wand filled the runner-up spot in some of the world's most prestigious races–the Hong Kong Cup, Irish Champion Stakes and Arlington Million–which led to her amassing career earnings well in excess of €4 million. 

Bred by Monceaux, a name synonymous with big-ticket lots at Arqana, in partnership with Skymarc Farm, Magic Wand is certainly one of the top lots who lived up to her billing and is rightly thought of as something of a poster girl for the sale. Her influence continues as a broodmare given she is the dam of recent TDN Rising Star, Ecstatic (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}).

Of course, it doesn't always work out that, for a seven-figure investment, you net yourself a globetrotting superstar. Other big-money buys have not been as lucky. 

It was a decade back where the well-bred Fadillah (GB) (Monsun {Ger}) commanded €1.2 million and, while she began her career with a pair of victories, was ultimately beaten in a Goodwood handicap off just 79 on her third and final start.

A sister to five winners, including German Oaks winner Soberania, Fadillah subsequently sold for 700,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale to Katsumi Yoshida and she has already produced a winner in Japan. 

In 2015, a Dubawi (Ire) colt from the Monceaux draft smashed a 13-year-old record of €2 million when selling to John Ferguson on behalf of Godolphin for €2.6 million. 

The horse would go on to be named Parabellum (Ire) and he still holds the record as the most expensive yearling ever sold at the Arqana August Sale. However, he failed to build on his initial promise on the level.

A Galileo half-brother to Ectot (GB) and Most Improved (Ire) was the only horse to grace the seven-figure mark in 2016 when selling to Coolmore and, while he [South Pacific (GB)] managed to win the King George Stakes at Royal Ascot for Aidan O'Brien, he was ultimately no star and was later sold to continue his career in Australia. 

It has been something of the Dubawi show ever since 2016, with the Dalham Hall-based stallion siring all bar one of the seven-figure top lots in the intervening period. Al Battar (Ire) [sold for €1.55 million in 2017], Swift Verdict (GB) [sold for €1.4 million in 2018] and Queen Of My Heart (GB) [sold for €2.4 million in 2021] all proved inauspicious on the racetrack. 

However, Magic Wand's half-sister Philomene (Ire), who fetched €1.625 million in 2019 to Godolphin, carried her top lot status with distinction on the racetrack by winning twice, including the G3 Prix Penelope, and chasing home Joan Of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Prix de Diane. 

The only horse since 2017 to top the Arqana August Yearling Sale on seven figures is Siyouni's son Shin Emperor (Fr) – a full-brother to Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr). Bought by Japan's training legend Yoshito Yahagi for €2.1 million, Shin Emperor hit the frame in the Japanese Derby back in May. 

But the best is still expected to come from the colt, who is firmly on course for a European campaign in the second half of this season. 

Should Shin Emperor's career culminate with him emulating his brother in the Arc, which he is understood to be training towards, he would prove the ultimate flag-bearer for the seven-figure top lots at Arqana.