Le Havre Filly In Osarus Landmark

LE HAVRE FILLY IN OSARUS LANDMARK 
By Emma Berry 
As the sun began its lazy descent after another beautiful day in La Teste de Buch, the Osarus Yearling Sale scored a landmark result with its first six-figure sales-topper when Divona (Fr) (lot 262), a daughter of breakthrough French stallion Le Havre (Ire), sold for €130,000. Marc-Antoine Berghracht made the decisive bid for the half-sister to five winners out of the listed-placed Nostalchia (Fr) (Genereux Genie {Fr}), seeing off underbidder Nicolas de Watrigant to secure the filly for Pandora Racing. 
Describing the top lot as the stand-out of the sale, Berghracht added, “She was magnificent, an extraordinary filly. I’ve had luck buying at this sale in the past and I always like to come here.” As if to underline his point, the head of MAB Agency signed for 12 yearlings across the two days to be the leading buyer. 
Sylvain Vidal, who stands Le Havre at his Haras de la Cauvinere, bought several of the stallion’s offspring on Thursday, but this time around his name is on the page as the filly’s breeder. Divona was consigned though La Motteraye, an increasingly successful outfit run by Gwen Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte and based close to La Cauviniere in Normandy. 
A delighted Lucie Lamotte said as she and her partner led their team into the bar to celebrate, “This is wonderful. It’s great to top the sale and to have the first six-figure yearling here. But what is extra special for us is that we consigned her for Sylvain, who is a great friend and has supported us by sending us horses from when we first started out. We’re so pleased for him.” 
Her price tag helped to boost the sale’s aggregate to €3,597,000, up from €2,982,500 last year, albeit from 37 more horses sold. The 195 yearlings to change hands this time around set a clearance rate of 81%, with the average again being fractionally down on 2013 at €17,406 (from €18,437), while the median also dropped from €15,000 to €13,000. 
“I’m pleased that the average was only slightly down, as we sold 30% more horses this year, and I was afraid it would drop quite a bit,” said Osarus director Emmanuel Viaud. “It was a really big thing for us to have a top price in excess of €100,000, especially for me personally. I’ve been an auctioneer here since the beginning and I remember in the first year we had an average of just €7,000. I always hoped we would one day be selling a horse at that sort of price and now we’ve done it.” 
A Champs Elysees (GB) filly from the immediate family of Frankel (GB) had earlier equaled the previous record price of the sale when knocked down for €85,000. George Mullins signed the docket, but was unable to divulge the new owner of lot 232, other than to confirm she will be trained in Ireland for a Dubaian client. 
“She’s a great walker with a fantastic pedigree, but I didn’t think I’d have to go quite that far for her,” admitted Mullins. “Hopefully she’ll be worth plenty of money when she’s finished racing.” 
The chestnut daughter of the Desert Prince mare Marella–a half-sister to Kind (Ire), the dam of stakes winners Frankel (GB), Noble Mission (GB), Bullet Train (GB) and Joyeuse (GB)–was the leading light of Eric Lhermite’s Haras de Grandcamp draft, which, with 23 yearlings in the catalogue, represented the biggest consignment at the sale. 
Agent Tina Rau was delighted to sign for lot 205, a son of Linngari (Ire) who was the most expensive colt in the sale at €62,000, and topped trade for much of the day. The half-brother to G3 Prix Thomas Bryon runner-up Stillman (Fr) (Vespone ) will be trained in Chantilly by Nicolas Clement. 
“I love the sire, I think he’s really underrated and produces good runners,” said Rau. “This colt is probably a little more scopey than many Linngaris, and he’s a great walker with a fabulous attitude.” 
Out of the Daliapour (Ire) mare Kikinda (Fr), the colt was bred by Patrick Chedeville at Haras du Petit Tellier in Normandy, which has also been home to Linngari for the last four years. Chedeville said, “I’m absolutely delighted. You always come to the sales hoping to sell an expensive horse, but not necessarily expecting to. It’s wonderful to be at the top of the sale–for the moment, anyway.” 
There’s no keeping Kendargent (Fr) out of the limelight, especially not in his native France, and the Haras de Colleville resident was responsible for another two of the more expensive offerings during the second day of the sale, both of which were bought by Marseille-based handler Frederic Rossi, who trains for owner/breeder Jean-Claude Seroul. First through the ring and knocked down for €60,000 was lot 170, a colt by the name of War Reporter (Fr) whose family already has a proven track record with the stallion, his half-sister Damdam Freeze (Indian Rocket) being the dam of stakes-winning siblings Kendam (Fr) and Kenfreeze (Fr). 
“He walks well and he looks pretty precocious,” said Rossi, who five lots later gave €47,000 for Joiedargent (Fr) from the Haras de la Reboursiere et de Montaigu consignment. 
France’s champion trainer-elect, Jean-Claude Rouget, was busy throughout the sale, signing for a total of eight yearlings to the tune of €206,000, including a post-ring private transaction for lot 182, a Namid (GB) filly by the name of Goona Chope (Fr) who sold for €50,000 from Alain Chopard’s Haras des Faunes. It’s another family which has been well represented of late, notably through the filly’s half-sister, Gooseley Chope (Fr) (Indian Rocket), whose son Goken (Fr) (Kendargent) won the G3 Prix du Bois in June and was fourth behind The Wow Signal (Ire) in the G1 Prix Morny. 
Alastair Donald of SackvilleDonald was making his second trip to the sale and bought yearlings for UK-based trainers Ed Dunlop, Ed Walker and Harry Dunlop, while Ilke Gansera Leveque, buying with the Lamont Racing team, is taking three yearlings back to her Newmarket stable. Also represented among British trainers was Karl Burke, who bought four yearlings, Simon Crisford, William Jarvis and John Berry. Donald said, “We bought a Le Havre filly here last year and she’s held in high regard. It’s an enjoyable trip so we’re hoping we can hit on another good one to warrant coming back. They’re solid horses making pretty much how you value them, and many English trainers are becoming aware of the hordes of French prizemoney on offer for horses with premiums.” 
As he stated on the first day of the sale, Emmanuel Viaud was heartened by the swell in foreign visitors to his emerging company’s flagship sale. He said: “There’s been lots of activity on both days and it’s good to hear so many different trainers from different countries have bought horses. It’s all very positive. We’re very happy for the breeders who have supported the sale. It’s our main sale of the year and a lot of work goes into it, from selecting yearlings in the spring to the final hammer fall. Our team has worked hard and we are delighted with the results.” 
A particularly nice touch at Osarus is the hostesses bringing flutes of champagne to the buyer of each lot as the docket is signed. Plenty of people have toasted their new purchases in the last few days, and doubtless the team at Osarus will allow themselves a small toast for yet another step up the sales ladder for the young company.