By Chris McGrath
The frost that whitened the sales ground when proceedings began was stealing back under a golden crescent moon by the time the second day of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale drew to a close on Sunday. After the excitements of the premier session, this proved rather more of a test for those whose fuel gauges are running low at the end of the sales season. One pinhooker expressively summed up the state of play for many professionals: “I'm all right, I have all my shopping done by this stage,” he said. “Which is another way of saying I've run out of money.”
He was evidently not alone in this, though the 16.38% fall in year-on-year aggregate turnover for the session–from €6,030,000 to €5,042,500–partly reflected a drop in lots offered from 280 to 255. Sure enough the average held up well, up 4.64% to €27,555 from €26,332, but the clearance rate was another story, slipping from 81.79% to a modest 71.76%. The median was virtually unchanged at €22,000, up from €21,000.
In fact, the only three six-figure lots of the day only just reached that level. But if nothing could quite rival the high emotion of the previous evening, when his 15-year-old grand-daughter had sold her first mare for €850,000, there was another sentimental journey for Jan Sundstrom when he shared in a bid of €105,000 for lot 301, Vezina (Fr) (Bering {GB}).
Now snow white and approaching her 17th birthday, the grey's previous foals include Morandi (Fr) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who won the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in 2012 and chased home Intello (Ger) in the Prix du Jockey-Club. “I bought her four years ago and now I'm buying her again for a partnership that includes some very good friends,” said agent Jeremy Brummitt, indicating Sundstrom–whose daughter Anna supervised the mare's preparation at Coulonces.
The price has depreciated since Vezina's last visit here, when she brought €280,000. To be fair, however, there could yet be plenty of mileage in her–at least if her venerable dam is anything to go by. Marie De Vez (Fr) (Crystal Palace {Fr}) produced no fewer than 13 winners, including the dam of runners-up in both the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and the G1 Prix Vermeille. For her own part, Vezina is carrying her 10th foal after visiting Kendargent (Fr) and will next seek a sibling to Morandi from Holy Roman Emperor. “We were burning the midnight oil to come up with that one,” smiled Brummitt. “We're look forward to seeing her grand-daughter in the Prix de Diane–it's a long-term plan!”
Grassick Adores Westadora…
Sundstrom, of course, is best known on the French Turf as the breeder of Le Havre (Ire). And one of the flourishing Cauviniere stallion's daughters won a ringing endorsement from Cathy Grassick after she gave €80,000 for lot 391, Westadora (Ire) (Le Havre {Ire}), a 3-year-old who won twice this year for Jean-Claude Rouget.
“Easily the best physical here today,” pronounced the agent. “And she offers plenty of outcross options too. We hope we'll have a beautiful broodmare at the end of her career, but she will go back into training now–still in France, though we haven't decided yet who with.”
Westadora, another member of the Coulonces consignment, is the first foal of an unraced Montjeu (Ire) mare but traces to the Juddmonte mare Interval (GB) (Habitat) as fourth dam.
More Re-Stocking At Cadran…
Like Sundstrom, Pierre Talvard had featured prominently the previous day when playing up some of his “winnings” banked from the sale of the dam of Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) on lot 153 for €750,000. And he stoked up the embers of the second session when landing lot 479, Comique (Distorted Humor), for €100,000. “It's for a group of friends and I just love the mare,” shrugged the master of Haras du Cadran, as one of them–Alain Decrion–signed the docket.
The 6-year-old, carrying a foal by Makfi (GB), is out of the serial stakes producer Corrazona (El Gran Senor), herself a Grade I winner in the U.S. and a half-sister to GI Wood Memorial S. winner Thirty Six Red (Slew O'Gold).
Shuffle Hot To Trot…
Nobody could have complained had the page of lot 283, Melbourne Shuffle (Street Cry {Ire}), been inserted into the premier session that opened the sale, and the Haras d'Etreham mare duly became the first of the second day to make six figures. The 4-year-old, carrying a first foal by Siyouni (Fr), is a daughter of Liffey Dancer (Ire) (Sadler's Wells)–a sister to two Group 1 winners in Listen (Ire) and Seqouyah (Ire), the latter also being the dam of the top-class Henrythenavigator. As such, Liffey Dancer cost 2.5-million guineas as a yearling but unfortunately never made it onto the track. But she has at least now produced a black-type performer in Pichola Dance (Ire) (Distorted Humor), who won twice for Roger Varian this year and recently finished third in a listed race at Newbury.
The whole package made enough sense for a group of friends from the world of trotting to take the plunge into Thoroughbred breeding at €100,000. Victor Langlais, who has learned the ropes by investing in a number of mares with Lady O'Reilly and Henri Bozo, explained, “Our aim is to develop a proper commercial enterprise. This is a family full of life that continues to produce stakes horses, and her foal will be brought here to sell.”
There is a good deal of that kind of endeavour at a sale like this–a case in point being the purchase of lot 387, Kirkinola (GB), for €83,000 on the Houldsworth-Howson account. A daughter of G2 Cherry Hinton S winner Spinola (Fr) (Spinning World) from the family of G1 sprinter Cherokee Rose (Ire) (Dancing Brave), she was consigned from Spain by Dehesa de Milagro. The 11-year-old won a listed race during her racing days but it was a date with Lope De Vega (Ire) that was pivotal to her appeal.
“She's for a client in England who's trying to buy mares in foal to good, commercial stallions with the hope of getting out in one hit if possible,” said Matthew Houldsworth. “That's the idea, anyway, and I'm a big fan of Lope De Vega. I saw this mare yesterday and really liked her: nice-sized, but with a bit of quality too, and of course she's a stakes winner too. I bought lot 46 yesterday for the same client, an Archipenko mare in foal to Kodiac (GB), for €95,000.”
The next mare through the ring also sold well as lot 388, Joe Hernon of Castletown Stud signing a €70,000 docket for Shake The Moon (Ger) (Loup Solitaire) in the name of Renello Bloodstock. Out of a half-sister to GI Arlington Million winner Mill Native (Exclusive Native), the 11-year-old is in foal to Intello (Ger). “She's for an existing client in Ireland and will go to a young Coolmore stallion, maybe Pride Of Dubai (Aus),” Hernon said. “Her physical was very good, she has a lot of quality and strength.”
Vigors Takes Long-Range Approach…
Having left town overnight, Charlie Vigors took a remote pinhooking punt on lot 456, a colt by New Approach (Ire) foaled on January 29. He entrusted the bidding–and presumably the transportation–to Merrick Francis, who duly gained the day at €80,000 for the colt, second foal of an unraced half-sister to the G1 Matron S. winner Emulous (GB) (Dansili {GB}) from the family of Cormorant.
“I saw him yesterday and I thought him the pick of the foals today,” Vigors said by phone. “The mare has a Camelot to run for her, so that's promising, and I'm happy to have got him at that price.”
Putting A Premium On France…
The feel-good factor on the French Turf–fostered by breeders' premiums and a clutch of emerging young sires–has extended across the Atlantic, judging from the €60,000 purchase of lot 331, Falabala (GB) (Nayef). The 5-year-old, carrying a foal by Anodin (Ire) (Anabaa), won a race at Chantilly for Freddy Head but was deemed surplus by the Wertheimer brothers and Tony Lacy seized the opportunity on behalf of Mike Carpenter.
“Mike is one of those Americans who are looking to have a presence in France,” the agent explained. “He's invested in plenty of broodmares but this is his first one over here and this is where we'll keep her. It's a nice family, the 2-year-old was placed first time out, and she had talent herself. She's a beautiful mare, very balanced, and I loved her attitude.”
Burns Hopes For Beginner's Luck…
It is not just the horses we expect to deliver on their pedigrees, and perhaps Jamie Burns will grow a mighty oak from his first acorn, lot 215, Divine Promesse (Fr) (Verglas {Ire}). Son of the breeders of New Approach (Ire), Burns bought this 10-year-old in foal to Intello (Ger) as his first solo venture at Lodge Park Stud in Co Kilkenny.
“I've been pinhooking a few years but this is my first mare,” he said after paying €59,000. “She's a good-looking mare and hopefully the stallion will take off.”
The deeper roots of the mare's family tree spread to two very fast horses in Dowsing and Stravinsky, while her half-sister Divina Comedia (Fr) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) won a listed stakes at Santa Anita this summer.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
