Capucines Aligns Arqana Stars

CAPUCINES ALIGNS ARQANA STARS 
By Alix Choppin 
Eric Puerari and Michel Zerolo’s Haras des Capucines has ranked amongst the top three vendors at Arqana’s Breeding Stock sale for the past three years, and has also been responsible for the sale-topper on two occasions since 2006, the year Arqana was born. In fact, every time a mare has commanded seven figures on the Deauville market to date, she was consigned by Haras des Capucines. First to achieve the feat was Mandalara (Ire) (Lahib), who went down to Nobutaka Tada for €1.7 million in 2006. The 9-year-old mare was the dam of that season’s champion 3-year-old filly Mandesha (Fr) (Desert Style {Ire}), who had completed a Group 1 treble in the colors of Princess Zahra Aga Khan, winning the Prix d’Astarte, Prix Vermeille and Prix de l’Opera. Six years later, Puerari and Zerolo were behind the €1,175,000 sale of Wild Wind (Ger) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) to Three Chimneys. The 4-year-old, who was a listed winner and multiple Group 3- placed in Ireland for the Magnier/Tabor/Smith partnership, hailed from the close family of Kingmambo and was offered carrying her first foal, by champion sire Galileo (Ire). 

At this year’s Arqana December sale, which kicks off tomorrow, the duo at the helm of Haras des Capucines will be busy supervising the sale of 32 mares and four foals on behalf of a variety of clients. And they look set for another vintage renewal. The stars of the draft are a pair of group-winning fillies who both carried the colors of leading U.S. turf owner Martin Schwartz. Schwartz has enjoyed an enduring love affair with fillies bought from French training yards, starting in 2005 with Angara (Fr) and then Gorella (Fr), who won him back-to-back renewals of the GI Beverly D. S. Since 2006, Schwartz has worked with Miami-based Michel Zerolo, who seems to have masterminded an unstoppable martingale to source “turnkey” Grade I winners. The tandem has enjoyed victories at the highest level courtesy of Elusive Wave (Ire), Zagora (Fr), Stacelita (Fr), Samitar (GB) and most recently Alterite (Fr), who sells at Deauville as lot 188. 

“What Mr. Schwartz enjoys most is to buy fillies with the potential to win graded races,” said Zerolo. “Big race victories are what he is after, but he is not a breeder. This is the reason why all these top class racemares get sold once their racing days are over.” 

Alterite (Fr) (Literato {Fr}) went close to Group 1 glory in her native country, running third in the Prix Marcel Boussac over 1600 meters as a juvenile and second in the 2000 meter Prix St Alary the following year. Transferred to Chad Brown after her sixth-placed effort in the Prix de Diane, she secured that elusive Grade I victory on her first attempt stateside in the Garden City S. She also ran second in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. and third to Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in last season’s GI Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Alterite was bred by former French Defense Minister Herve Morin, who raced both her sire, G1 Champion S. victor Literato (Fr), and dam, the unraced Ana Luna (GB). She hails from a solid family developed at Chryss O’Reilly’s Haras de la Louviere, which includes dual Group 3 scorer Celimene (Ire) and Group 1 winner Ask for the Moon (Fr). 

The second representative of the Schwartz stable is lot 181, Xcellence (Fr) (Champs Elysees {GB}). Bred and trained by Francois Doumen, the 3-year-old took the Classic trial G3 Prix Imprudence over 1400 meters and ran third in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, on the back of which she was privately sold to the Florida-based owner. She has been placed on all her four starts since, including a third in the G1 Prix de Diane and a close second in the GII Sands Point S. following her transfer to Chad Brown. Xcellence’s dam is a half-sister to the Group 1 winner Kasbah Bliss (Fr) (Kahyasi {Ire}), and she is from the first crop of Juddmonte resident Champs Elysees {GB}, whose fee was doubled for 2015. 

Puerari commentated on the high profile duo, “This sale represents a major event for us as well as our clients, and we strive to put together a quality draft every year. I think we have a very strong group this time, headed by two highly exciting breeding prospects. Fillies with Group 1 form are hard to come by and particularly this year; With the foal and yearling sales being so strong, there has been a real scarcity at the top end of the market. We feel lucky that Mr. Schwartz entrusted us with Alterite and Xcellence, who both represent tremendous opportunities for breeders.” 

He continued, “Alterite proved repeatedly that she was a top class racemare, and while Xcellence is not a Group 1 winner, she has some outstanding form in the French Classics as well as in America. Both have outcross pedigrees, which broadens their appeal even further.” 

Cheriearch (Arch) (lot 94) is another black-type performer from the Capucines draft. She won the Listed Prix La Sorellina a couple of years ago and is offered in foal to Holy Roman Emperor (Ire), who enjoyed a solid year courtesy of Designs on Rome (Ire), winner of the G1 QEII Cup in Hong Kong, and Rich Tapestry (Ire), victorious in the GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship. 

Among the lesser performers, yet with mouth-watering pages, are Totsiyah (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) (lot 194), an unraced 2-year-old daughter of Marie Laurencin (GB), herself a half-sister to the Group 1 winners and sires Footstepsinthesand (GB) and Pedro The Great; Yellow Edge (GB) (Nayef) (lot 234), an unraced 3-year-old filly who is out of a full-sister to Classic heroine Reams of Verse (Nureyev); Zina Blue (Fr) (Anabaa Blue {GB}) (lot 307), a half-sister to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud scorer Morandi (Fr), in foal to that horse’s sire Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) and Talema (Fr) (Sunday Break) (lot 337), a half-sister to the group-winning juvenile Mambia (GB) (Aldebaran), in foal to this season’s French sire sensation Le Havre (Ire). 

The Capucines draft also comprises four foals, three fillies and one colt, all boasting stellar pages. Lot 93 is a daughter of the above-mentioned Cheriearch (Arch), by Three Chimneys’ Exchange Rate. The son of Danzig is known in Europe as the sire of G1 Prix Morny hero Reckless Abandon (GB) as well as of Ball Dancing, who was placed at Group 3 level in France before winning the GII Sands Point S. from the aforementioned Xcellence. Lot 110 is one of only two Sea The Stars (Ire) fillies in the catalogue, and she is out of a daughter of Group 1 heroine Favourable Terms (GB).