By Kelsey Riley
All eyes will be on Chantilly this weekend as it stages the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and all its supporting features amidst ongoing construction at Longchamp Racecourse. One of those supporting features–an increasingly important one at that–is Arqana's Arc Sale, which year-after-year turns out progressive runners that go on to win prestigious races in all corners of the globe.
The Arc sale this year takes place Oct. 1 after racing at Chantilly at the Pharis yard, just minutes from the racecourse. The historic yard was once owned by Marcel Boussac and has stabled such champions as Teddy, Corrida, Tourbillon, and Djebel as well as its namesake, Pharis.
This year's Arc sale will see a boutique catalogue of horses-in-training go under the hammer, a number of which boast significant recent updates. Spain Burg (Fr) (Sageburg {Ire}) (lot 8), winner of the Listed Criterium du Bequet – Ventes Osarus at the time of cataloguing, boosted her resume with a win in last Friday's G2 Shadwell Rockfel S. at Newmarket. Toulifaut (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) (lot 25), the first winner for her sire in France, kept her unbeaten record intact and became Frankel's first stakes winner in the G3 Prix d'Aumale Sept. 8 and was catalogued for this sale as a wildcard with an entry in Sunday's G1 Prix Marcel Boussac. Sans Equivoque (Ger) (Stormy River {Fr}) (lot 11), on the board in all six lifetime starts, earned her first stakes win in the Listed Prix de la Vallee d'Auge Aug. 15, and added the G3 Prix Eclipse Sept. 21. Banzari (GB) (Motivator {GB}) (lot 22) is another filly to have gone from listed winner to Group 3 winner since the printing of the catalogue, having won the Sept. 17 G3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte.
It is not just well-performed fillies that make up the Arc sale catalogue. Accomplished and progressive males set for sale include the stakes-winning Darabad (Fr) (Dansili {GB}) lot 37, a half-brother to G1 Prix Ganay winner Dariyan (Fr) (Shamardal); Drummer (Ger) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) (lot 42), group-placed over a mile in his last three starts; dual listed winner and group-placed Maximum Aurelius (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}) (lot 46); and Justwantacontact (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) (lot 51), a progressive 3-year-old who is a stakes winner since the catalogue.
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