Arqana

Lily Hart (lot 207) came into Arqana's Vente d'Elevage a sought-after prospect; a Listed winner and Group-placed four-year-old filly, by Galileo and in foal to Wootton Bassett. She was, said Haras du Cadran's Pierre Talvard, his number one selection of the sale, and when the hammer fell and she was his at €1.05 million, he was temporarily too moved to speak. "She was my selection of the sale," he said, wiping tears from his face. "I would have done anything for her. She is a daughter of Galileo, winner of...

Group winner Half Sovereign took the lead at Arqana's Vente d'Elevage when selling for €2.6 million to Henry Lascelles on Saturday evening. A winner of the G3 Prix Miesque for Karl Burke, lot 195 is a granddaughter of the stakes-placed Wedding Party (Groom Dancer), who foaled a trio of black-type horses. Consign, Ltd., offered the juvenile filly, who was acquired by Burke for just 12,000gns out of the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale. Bred by Haras des Trois Chapelles, the Spratt Properties and Elaine Burke-owned bay is a daughter of Baileys...

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE -- For the second time in as many years, the young team at Consign Ltd is bidding to close out the sales season in style when high-class filly Half Sovereign is offered as a wildcard during Saturday's session of the Arqana Vente d'Elevage. When the TDN cameras visited Harriet Jones and Chloe Battam in July last year, the newly-founded Consign Ltd was preparing to get the ball rolling with a bumper draft numbering 18 horses at the Tattersalls July Sale. Then, less than five months later, Jones and...

by Sue Finley and Katie Petrunyak  For European consignors, the sales season is less a sprint than a marathon, beginning in the August heat at Arqana and running nearly straight through to a frenzied finale of breeding stock sales just as the winter chill signals the season's end. While many Irish and British teams pack up their supplies for the year once their last mare has stepped out of the ring at Tattersalls, plenty see the value in making one final trek across the Channel. It's the last stop in...

A breeding right to Mehmas topped Thursday's Arqana November Online Sale when going the way of Hugo Merry Bloodstock for €180,000. The sire of nine individual Group winners and 48 stakes winners from his first five crops, the Tally-Ho Stud stallion's leading performers in 2025 include the top-level winners Believing and Wise Approach. A share in the unbeaten Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Ace Impact was another highlight of the sale when knocked down to Horse France for €152,000. Based at Haras de Beaumont,...

Nope. Just can't figure it out. Why on earth, at the end of another grueling sales cycle, would so many Americans scrape together the last of their resources, in energy and funds, and get on a plane for one final auction in France? Setting aside, that is, the langoustines and truffles; the calvados and cider; the designer boutiques; the Christmas lights that transform an elegant summer resort into a filmset apt for a French remake of It's A Wonderful Life; the medieval villages huddled, in the early dusk of midwinter,...

A share in Grade 1 sire Nirvana Du Berlais (lot 22) was added to the Arqana Online November Sale set for Thursday, November 27 from 4-6 p.m. local time. A winner of the G1 Prix Cambaceres, the son of Martaline is the sire of G1 Prix Maurice Gillois winner Leader Sport, as well as Punchestown Grade 1 winner Lulamba, who placed at the highest level at Cheltenham. The Haras de la Hetraie resident is also responsible for debut British hurdle winner Manganese. For the complete sales catalogue, please visit the...

Four additional wildcards, including G1 Preis der Diana second Spanish Eyes (Zarak), have been added to the Arqana Vente d'Elevage on December 6-9. Consigned as lot 248f, the mare was also placed in the GIII Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes and the GII Beverly D. Stakes. She is a sister to group winner Sirjan (Zarak) and is also from the family of three-time Group 1 winner Sosie (Sea The Stars). Lot 248g is G3 Prix Fille de l'Air second Salmarak (Zarak). The five-year-old is from the family of Arc hero...

The stallion Chanducoq (lot 709) topped the Arqana Autumn NH Breeding Stock Sale in Deauville on Thursday when selling for €450,000 to Valentin Adam of Adam Bloodstock on behalf of Haras de Cercy's Jacques Cypres. Offered by Haras de la Barbottiere, the 12-year-old is the sire of Grade 3-winning hurdler Rooster Crowning among several other winners. He is also a half-brother to fellow Cercy stallion Cokoriko. "We were keen to get some Voix du Nord blood, as he gave us so much," said Cypres of the son of Voix Du...

Wednesday's session of the Arqana Autumn Sale consisted of 117 lots of National Hunt-bred yearlings. Of the 106 offered, 69 (65%) sold for a gross of €2,192,500. The average was up slightly to €31,775 (+1%) from €31,493. The median rose 10% to €22,000. A total of 208 National Hunt yearlings went under the hammer during the Autumn Sale this year, with 22 more lots than in 2024. The clearance rate increased five points at 68%. The average, at nearly €30,000, was slightly down by four points. The turnover increased by...

Nat Barnett Bloodstock bought three yearlings during the second session of the Arqana Autumn Sale on Tuesday, including the €160,000 top lot, a son of notable jumps stallion Doctor Dino. Sold as lot 540, the AQPS son of Diane De Grugy (Ballingarry) is a full-brother to dual Grade 1-winning hurdler Jade De Grugy. Aready named Oteuil De Grugy, the Windermere Stud-consigned colt is from the same family as top-notch AQPS chaser Sire De Grugy (My Risk). "For me, he was the horse of the sale," said Barnett. "I've bought him...

Fresh from sending out four winners at Cheltenham's November Meeting, Dan Skelton issued another statement of intent in his quest for a first British trainers' championship when revealed as the new trainer of the two most expensive lots sold during Monday's opening session of the Arqana Autumn Sale. In the space of three lots, the three-year-olds Mets Ta Ceinture (Hunter's Light) (lot 380) and Merci Mam (Karaktar) (lot 378) sold for an aggregate sum of €1,230,000. Both horses went through the ring following the decision to dissolve the partnership between...