THE Wertheimer Brothers-owned and bred Flop Shot, the Group 3 winning son of New Approach and out of a half-sister to the Group 1 winner Plumania and to the dam of Group 1 winner Left Hand, led the way at the 2019 Arqana Arc Sale held near Saint-Cloud racecourse on the eve of the big race.

An imposing individual, the colt has never been out of the first three in six career starts and finished third on his most recent starts in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano and Prix Eugene Adam. Flop Shot will now race for White Birch Farm’s Peter Brant, in colours carried with distinction this year by Arqana graduate Sottsass who ran third in the Arc on Sunday.

Australian Bob Scarborough, the breeder of this year’s Group 1 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia and vendor of that classic winner’s Siyouni yearling colt who realised 1,300,000gns at Tattersalls on Wednesday, went to €750,000 for the three-year-old Cape Cross filly Cartiem, Arqana’s Freddy Powell taking instructions by telephone. Disappointing in Sunday’s Prix de l’Opera the day after her sale, she is already a Group 3 winner and third in the Group 2 Prix de la Nonette and her group-winning grandam is an own-sister to multiple Group 1 Australian winner Manighar.

Unbeaten in three starts and featured in last week’s Breeding Insights column of this paper, the wild card entry Chares, a two-year-old son of Ivawood, is set to continue his career in Hong Kong following his sale for €710,000. Dennis Loh, standing with Emmanuel de Seroux, had the final say for the Listed Criterium du Lyon winner. “He’ll first go into training in Newmarket before going to Hong Kong, but we don’t know with which trainer yet,” said Loh. “We are looking for very good horses for Hong Kong, and he ticked all the boxes. He’s very good-looking and walks well - his latest win was very impressive.”

Son of Slade Power

Later in the evening de Seroux’s Narvick International secured the dual listed runner-up Dan, a son of Slade Power, for €250,000. The three-year-old colt, like Cartiem, was trained by Jean-Claude Rouget,

Four lots made well in excess of last year’s top-priced lot and completing the quartet was Graignes, runner-up in the Group 3 Prix du Pin after the catalogue was printed. The three-year-old son of Zoffany was trained by Yann Barberot and was Group 1 placed at two and finished fourth in this year’s French 2000 Guineas. He was sold for €600,000 and finished fifth the following day in the Group 1 Prix de la Forêt in the colours of English owners FTP Equine Holdings, for whom ITS Bloodstock’s Sebastien Le Forban was acting. He said: “His new owners have horses in training in France and in England. He’ll go to England and we’ll decide on his career over there in the near future.”

Le Forban bought the listed 2019 two-year-old winner Les Hogues for the same owners in a private transaction, giving €180,000 for the daughter of Bated Breath.

There was no fairytale repeat of last year’s sale graduate Lily’s Candle’s success in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac for Nunzia after she sold for €420,000. Mandore International’s Nicolas de Watrigant had the final say for the two-year-old Epaulette filly who was runner-up in the Listed Prix des Jouvenceaux et des Jouvencelles on her second start. “The filly has been bought for a partnership of Haras de Bourgeauville and Solomon Kumin,” said Watrigant. “She’ll be exported to the United States.”

Third in the Group 3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte on his most recent start, the Andre Fabre-trained wild card entry Trais Fluors sold for €370,000 to Rupert Pritchard-Gordon and the son of Dansili will now run in the colours of Hong Kong-based owner Robert Ng, whose colours made headlines in recent seasons through the exploits of Romanised.

“He’ll be kept in training next year,” said the agent about the five-year-old entire who was runner-up at three in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. Pritchard-Gordon also purchased the winning three-year-old Sea The Moon colt Chevalier Cathare for €180,000.

Wild card entry Stone Tornado, runner-up at Group 3 level in Italy recently and a listed winner there, was knocked down for €300,000 to agent Hubert Guy. He said: “I’ve bought her for an association of breeders. She’s got good acceleration, and a very good live family. She’s good looking, walks well, and still needs to mature physically. With a little time, she’s going to be a lovely filly for the United States next year.”

The lightly-raced listed winner Alwaab, a three-year-old son of Toronado and from the immediate family of French and English Group 1 winner Qemah, sold to Chantilly Bloodstock for €230,000.

The president of Arqana, Eric Hoyeau, was pleased with the evening’s trade.

He said: “This is one of our best editions. Many international buyers made the trip and were active, testifying to the quality of the horses in the ring. We are proud of the work of our teams who have put all their energy into offering such a catalogue, and we thank all the sellers for trusting us with horses of such quality.”