Arqana

Listed winner and Group 3-placed Fun With Flags (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), who boasts an entry in the Prix de Diane, will add major intrigue at the Arqana pop-up sale next Monday.  Trained by Jerome Reynier, Fun With Flags has won three of her four starts, and was only beaten a little over two lengths in the G3 Prix Cleopatre at Saint-Cloud last time.  Sold by Airlie Stud as a yearling at the Goffs Orby Sale for €50,000 to Kingsfield Stud, Fun With Flags was then knocked down to Erika Gilliar...

Jean-Pierre Dubois's homebred 3-year-old filly Sparkling Plenty (Fr) (Kingman {GB}--Speralita {Fr}, by Frankel {GB}), unsuccessful in three black-type outings this term, added to her victory in last season's Listed Prix Delahante with a power-packed display--coming from last to first and outclassing five rivals--in Sunday's G2 Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly. Sparkling Plenty, the well-backed 21-10 favourite coming back off a sixth in last month's G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, was under a firm hold and anchored at the tail of the field through halfway in this one-mile distaffers' test. Nudged...

A juvenile colt by Justify is one of 134 Flat-bred 2-year-olds catalogued for the mixed Arqana Summer Sale on July 1-4. The mixed sale features the 2-year-old breezes on Monday, July 1 beginning at 1 p.m., while the Flat juveniles and 176 2- and 3-year-old stores will sell on Tuesday, July 2 at 10 a.m. Wednesday's session features 200 horses-in-training from 2 p.m., and the final session, on Thursday, July 4, includes 115 mares and filles, beginning at 11 a.m. Graduates of the sale have enjoyed success on the Flat...

Entries for the €1.2-million Arqana Series are set to close on June 1. The series comprises four races for two-year-olds and one for three-year-olds and are open to horses who were offered at the Arqana yearling sales--August, September, V2, October and November--as well as foals and juveniles who were sold at the December Vente d'Élevage and breeze-up sales, respectively.  Four of the races will take place at Deauville in August with the remaining contest getting underway on the eve of the Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp.  The series kicks off...

Star Bloodstock, the consignment that unearthed talents like Malavath (Ire), A'Ali (Ire) and more, is set to wind down its breeze-up operation and concentrate entirely on producing future top-notchers on the racetrack instead.  The shift in focus has reaped immediate rewards with the aptly-named Make Haste (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}), a leading Royal Ascot contender after posting a stunning debut success at Naas for trainer and breeze-up consignor Diego Dias, being snapped up by Gainesway and LNJ Foxwoods.  Bought by Byron Rogers, Star Bloodstock and Dias at the Tattersalls Book...

Second-crop sire Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) was without a 'TDN Rising Star' representative prior to Saturday, but James Fanshawe trainee Kind Of Blue (GB) rectified matters for the Kildangan Stud resident at Doncaster and €170,000 Arqana October graduate Tiego The First (Fr) doubled the tally with a sparkling last-to-first triumph in Monday's Prix Hunyade at Saint-Cloud. Tiego The First dwelt badly at the break and forfeited several lengths to his rivals, but recovered to latch on to the tail of the field and raced with just one behind passing through...

Arqana's Summer Sale, originally set for July 2-4, will now be held from July 1-4. There was a significant increase in entries across all categories of the mixed sale, which resulted in the expanded stand. The breeze session will take place at Deauville-La Touques Racecourse on Monday, July 1. On Tuesday, July 2, Flat-bred 2-year-olds and National Hunt stores will sell beginning at 10 a.m. The sale will feature horses-in-training at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3, and the final day of the sale will begin at 11 a.m. on...

Having long served as Champion Bore regarding the schism between gene pools either side of the Atlantic, I always find it curious that Europeans so readily shed their inhibitions about American stallions once a 2-year-old is introduced to their domestic market by a compatriot pinhooker. That's presumably because they are nowadays so enslaved by the clock--whatever their contrary claims--that pedigree has almost been neutralized at 2-year-old sales. Functionality is all. Admittedly an elite sire will put a premium on a bullet time. But just as unfashionable local stallions have achieved...

Coolmore America stallion Justify continues to be popular at the Arqana May Breeze-Up Sale, and his colt out of Inchargeofme (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) was knocked down for €2.3 million to Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin later in the day. Coolmore was the underbidder. Sold as lot 110 from the draft of Oak Tree Farm, the bay is from the family of GIII Futurity S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf third Nagirroc (Lea). His dam was third in the GIII Mint Julep H. Bred by Nursery Place,...

Lot 62, a burly son of Justify and Curly Locks (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was the first horse to break the seven-figure mark at Arqana's May Breeze-Up Sale on Saturday, selling for €1 million to Alex Elliott, buying on behalf of Amo Racing. Consigned by Lynn Lodge Stud, the chestnut is out of a full-sister to dual Guineas winner and Group 1 sire Churchill (Ire), as well as G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Clemmie (Ire) and G3 Diamond S. winner Blenheim Palace (Ire). He was bred by Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt in Kentucky. Mags...

DEAUVILLE, France—Nothing good usually comes from constant scrolling on Instagram. That was until last week, when a poem popped up from none other than Muhammad Ali, widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time--and not a bad poet and philosopher it would seem.  The poem read, "Friendship is a priceless gift, that cannot be bought or sold but its value is far greater than a mountain made of gold. For gold is cold and lifeless it can neither be seen nor heard. In times of trouble, it is...

Group 3 winner Making Dreams (Ire) (Make Believe {Ire}) has been purchased for €750,000 by Katsumi Yoshida during Arqana Online's Pop-Up Sale on Friday. Trained by Karl Burke, the filly holds an entry in the G2 St Mark's Basilica Coolmore Prix Saint Alary on May 12, and also has been entered for the G1 Oaks at Epsom. Her dam, the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Sweet Dream (GB), is a daughter of the G1 Prix Vermeille heroine Sweet Stream (Ity) (Shantou). Nick Bradley Racing and Burke originally paid 33,000gns at the...