A full-brother to the outstanding champion chaser Sprinter Sacre (Fr) (Network {Ger}) would be a stand-out in any National Hunt catalogue and the 2-year-old AQPS gelding Flinter Sacre (Fr) duly led proceedings as Arqana's Summer Sale got underway in Deauville.
Topping the first session of the two-day sale, lot 152, consigned by Beatrice Nicco, brought the hammer down at €125,000, with agent Hubert Barbe acting on behalf of leading Irish jumps owner JP McManus.
An improved clearance rate, which jumped from 69% to 77% for 102 lots sold of 133 offered, helped first-day figures to improve across the board. The aggregate of €3,001,000 was up by 17.5%, while the average rose by 14% to €29,442 and the median increased from €16,000 to €22,000.
The increases were generated predominantly from the buoyant store-horse section, emulating the trend set earlier this season at sales of young unbroken jumping stock in Britain and Ireland.
This group followed a final batch of 27 Flat breeze-up horses offered at the start of the sale and headed, as so often at this venue, by a colt from the Grove Stud consignment (lot 8). The son of Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) is out of the 2-year-old winner Milena's Dream (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}) and was bought by Chantilly-based trainer Alessandro Botti for €74,000.
The Summer Sale continues today with a session of fillies and mares, followed by horses in training, from 11am local time.
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