Arqana August Sale

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE - It is the morning after the night before and Arqana president Olivier Delloye is still floating after records were broken at one of the most memorable August Yearling Sales that Deauville has seen. Doubtless there was a party, but Delloye is back on deck as there is more business to be done here in Deauville, with the one-day V2 session due to kick off on Wednesday.  And judging by the numbers who have stuck around for V2, it's safe to assume that buyers have stood up and...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- By Monday, it was noticeably quieter around the sales pavilion. The weekenders had packed their bags and many of the Brits had started to make their way back across the Channel, heading north for the promise of four days of top-class racing at York. But, where it mattered, things were still pretty lively, and if you run an auction house, the only action you really want to see is in the ring.  By lunchtime on the final day, six horses costing more than a million euros each...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE - Shattering a record set a decade ago, a Night Of Thunder filly out of the Ecurie des Monceaux blue hen Prudenzia (Dansili) was sold for €3 million to Amo Racing and was one of six seven-figure transactions on the final day of the Arqana August. There were eight across the sale as a whole. Such a lively last session ensured that the figures were well beyond those of a relatively quiet edition of the sale in 2024. The €266,576 average was not only up by 22% on...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE--Americans' plans for the Arqana sale were understandably shaken up when U.S. President Donald Trump made good on his threat to impose tariffs on the European Union and others in early August, meaning that French-bred horses purchased here-like all French products imported to America--would be subject to a 15% surcharge when they are brought back into America. Several buyers are deciding to break, train and race their horses in Europe instead, while others will brave the fee and come back to the U.S. On the final day of the...

The leading owners battled it out for the progeny of Wootton Bassett on a day when the Coolmore stallion was responsible for the €2.3 million top lot DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- What more can you say that hasn't already been said about Wootton Bassett? If Aidan O'Brien was asked to sum up the stallion, you can be sure the words, different, special and unusual would be the first ones to be ticked off that bingo card.  Even the most cynical of people will have to start agreeing with the master of...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE - Pound for pound, Camas Park Stud has produced the goods like no other consignment at the Arqana August Sale in recent years.  Queen Mary third Balantina (Ten Sovereigns), Saratoga Oaks runner-up Evershed (Churchill) and genuine Derby hope Isaac Newton (Camelot) are just some of the August Sale graduates that have been strutting their stuff on the track this year alone for an outfit that sold the 2022 European Champion Two-Year-Old Little Big Bear on this sale ground.  Put simply, few people run a tighter ship than Tim...

Antoine Bellanger is another young gun making waves in France. After spending over 10 years working under Henri Bozo at Monceaux, the 39-year-old set up his own consignment business at Arcadia Elevage in 2019, and the outfit has gone from strength to strength ever since.  Arcadia Elevage offers just one horse this week, a Sea The Stars colt [lot 295], and Bellanger said he is optimistic ahead of what is shaping up to be a strong Arqana August Sale.  What type of horse does well at this sale? The biggest...

Haras de Beaufay manager Sebastien Bloyet is next in the hot seat. Bloyet joined the famous stud farm a little under a year ago and says he is looking forward to offering a St Mark's Basilica colt [lot 13] at the Arqana August Sale this week. He shares all in TDN Europe's latest consignor Q&A ahead of the three-day sale which begins on Saturday in Deauville.  Can you tell us a little bit about the background of your consignment? I took over my role at the Haras de Beaufay in...

Circle the wagons and sally forth as one, for Deauville is in view, which means only one thing: it'll soon be Christmas. There is, however, a circuitous route to be navigated before we reconvene under the Normandy lights in December. And right now, surely even the older members of the travelling show can lift an enthusiastic heart, along with the odd glass or two, as the summer holidays merge happily with the beginning of the European yearling sales at Arqana and some damn good sport across the road at the...

Windermere Stud, which is run by Australian native Janine Gandy and Pierre-Hugues Henry, enjoyed a successful consigning debut at the Arqana July Sale with nine lots selling for an aggregate of €396,000 and an average price of €44,000. That debut draft included a €135,000 Doctor Dino gelding. The pair is hoping to build on that dream debut when consigning a Pinatubo colt [lot 122] and filly from the first crop of State Of Rest [231] at the August Sale at Arqana. The Pinatubo colt is out of a sister to...

DEAUVILLE, France -- An important marker in the history of Japanese racing was passed in December 2023 when Kyoko Maekawa became the first woman to be granted a training licence in the country. Now 47, Maekawa has worked at Ritto Training Centre in the Shiga Prefecture in western Japan for 21 years. As she completes her apprenticeship alongside the internationally successful trainer Yoshito Yahagi, Maekawa is in Deauville this week to expand her knowledge of the racing and breeding world in other jurisdictions. "I was granted my licence last year...

Today's lowdown with Emmanuel Talvard of Haras du Cadran brings the curtain down on the series TDN have been running in the build up to this year's Arqana August Sale, but don't be fooled into thinking it's all about the powerhouse consignments here in Deauville where the first of 325 catalogued lots--from, quelle surprise, Haras des Capucines, the largest consignors of all--will go under the hammer at around 2pm on Friday. For every Capucines, the team who will be busy from the first lot on Friday to their final lot,...