From Kremlin Cottage Stables

by Hugo Palmer

This week sees the start of the first of the premier yearling sales in Europe with the well supported Arqana August Yearling Sale in Deauville. Leading young trainer, Hugo Palmer will be heading over to Northern France in the hope of finding a future superstar. Meanwhile, at Deauville Racecourse, Kremlin Cottage's stable star, Galileo Gold, will be seeking to add a 3rd Group 1 of his remarkable season in the Prix Jacques le Marois on Sunday.

I have always liked the Arqana sales in Deauville very much; it is a strong sale and we have already seen various graduates claim Group 1 successes this season including Almanzor (Fr) (Wooton Bassett {GB}) in the French Derby; Royal Ascot winner Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) (Coronation S.); Jemayel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) (Prix Saint-Alary); and Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) (Lockinge S.). We bought Home of the Brave (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) from there in 2013 for €80,000 and he was a gorgeous yearling who really stood out. He, incidentally, runs in the Hungerford S. at Newbury on Saturday and it would be great for him to win his first Group 2 with a potential career at stud in mind.

With Arqana being the first of the major yearling sales in Europe, you have to take the time of year into consideration. We will be looking at these yearlings in Deauville on the 12th August and, in comparison, we will be looking at Book 2 yearlings at Tattersalls on the 12th October where they will be a fair bit more developed–two months is a huge percentage of their life and is something that can't be ignored.

What do you look out for in a yearling?
I'm looking for an athlete more than anything. I remember when I was working for Gai Waterhouse out in Australia and she asked me to look at a yearling for her, I opened the catalogue but she knocked it out of my hand! She said: “You don't need to look at the catalogue, the catalogue is only a price tag. Look at the horse and tell me about it.” As a result, I've always tried to, in conjunction with the agents I've worked with, buy the individual ahead of the pedigree.

The Frankel Factor
After the phenomenal start to his stud career, there will be plenty of attention on Frankel's yearlings and there are nine of his progeny going through the ring at Arqana. They were very hard to get hold of in terms of price last year, I think the yearling average was around 450,000 guineas and with only three of his offspring in Britain and Ireland failing to win thus far, that price is only going to increase.