A RECORD-breaking four-day December Sale at Arqana brought the curtain down on an exceptional year’s trading, with most of the sales posting new highs. The company’s overall turnover advanced by 14% to just short of €120 million and this included one purebred Arabian sale.

The calendar’s highpoint came at the August Yearling Sale where turnover just failed to reach the €40 million mark, headed by the sale of a filly by Monsun from the immediate family of Sea The Moon who was purchased by Tony Nerses for €1.2 million. A colt by Invincible Spirit was the highest priced of his sex when the half-brother to Chicquita made €1.1 million, while the third yearling to realise a seven-figure sum was a daughter of Galileo that sold for €1 million.

That elusive price range was reached again last week when the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes winner Alterite was sold to Narvick International for €1.1 million on behalf of Northern Farm. The four-year-old daughter of Literato was also runner-up in both the Prix Saint-Alary and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and placed in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Narvick spent over €2.2 million on seven lots to end the sale as the leading buyers.

WERTHEIMER BROTHERS

The Wertheimer brothers were to the fore and made two significant purchases at the sale. Their highest outlay of €725,000 was for Blarney Stone, an Irish-foaled daughter of Peintre Celebre and this winner over 12 furlongs at Chantilly is a half-sister to the French 1000 Guineas winner Beauty Parlour. Their dam was a stakes winning half-sister by Giant’s Causeway to the great Might And Power, winner of seven Group 1 races including the Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup.

An hour earlier the brothers paid €450,000 for the four-year-old Abys, a daughter of Montjeu and a stakes-placed winner of two races. She is a full-sister to a pair of Group 1 winners in Corre Caminos, successful in the Prix Ganay, and Recital, winner of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud at two years. Another high-class sibling is Racinger who won the Group 2 Prix du Muguet and a host of Group 3 contests.

The Wertheimers were among the leading vendors too, parting with 17 lots and the most expensive of these was the stakes-winning Rainbow Quest mare Silver Rain, the dam of stakes winner Baahama and the stakes-placed Opposite. She was sold with an attractive covering by Oasis Dream in a private sale to Horse France for €275,000.

AGA KHAN OFFERING

The Aga Khan Studs ended the week as the leading vendors, selling 30 lots and grossing just over €3 million in the process. Far and away their star offering was Behkara. This Group 2-winning daughter of Kris and the champion Behera was a smart performer on the racecourse and has done very well at stud, with her first four runners producing three stakes winners. They include the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Behkabad. She was sold for €700,000 in foal to Declaration Of War and Hugo Lascelles was the purchaser on behalf of a British breeder.

Fifth on her only start this year, the three-year-old Zamindar filly Zotilla has a top-class female line. Her siblings are headed by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Flotilla who went on to land the French 1000 Guineas the following year. Her dam is the stakes winning Sinndar mare Louvain and she is a half-sister to the brilliantly fast G Force, winner in 2014 of the Haydock Sprint Cup. This is also the family of Lethal Force. Zotilla set David Redvers of One Agency back €550,000 when the hammer fell. She is likely to be bred to Invincible Spirit.

Group 3 winner Via Medici was offered in foal to Dansili and this daughter of another Group 3 winner in Via Milano was snapped up by Narvick International at €480,000, again for Northern Farm. Other significant purchases by Narvick were the Group 3 Grand Prix de Vichy winner Hippy for €200,000 and the Selkirk mare Appeal, in foal to Siyouni, for €170,000.

China Horse Club has been making a significant contribution from the buyers’ bench this year and they were forced to €420,000 to acquire the listed winner Summer Surprice. This daughter of Le Havre is out of a granddaughter of Mofida and that stakes winner is ancestress of Zafonic, Zamindar, Announce, Elmaamul, Reams Of Verse and many more high-class runners.

Anthony Stroud Bloodstock signed for more than a million euro worth of stock and the most expensive was Stellar Path at €380,000 on behalf of Irish breeders. This daughter of Astronomer Royal won the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs and two listed races and is a full-sister to Weary (formerly Sir Patrick Moore) who is a group winner and runner-up in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes.

The Motivator mare Skia won the Group 3 Prix Fille de l’Air and had a covering by Leroidesanimaux. From the immediate family of the Lowther Stakes winner Lucky Kristale, she cost Patrick Barbe €320,000.

Most expensive foal of the week was a filly by Oasis Dream who sold to Stauffenberg Bloodstock for €290,000. A half-sister to the listed winner Ana Americana who was placed in the Prix Saint-Alary, she is out of the Group 2 winner Ana Marie who was runner-up in both the Nassau Stakes and the Prix Vermeille.

EXPENSIVE MARES

Oceanic Bloodstock bought two expensive mares in foal to Irish-based stallions. The Desert Style mare Ascot Family was a wild card entry and it took a private sale at €275,000 to buy her. In foal to Henrythenavigator, this listed juvenile winner is the dam of the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin winner Family One and the stakes-placed 2014 juvenile Modern Family from two runners. The same purchasers bid €260,000 to secure Cheriearch, a stakes-winning daughter of Arch and in foal to Holy Roman Emperor. Her Exchange Rate colt foal sold earlier for €120,000.

The only mare in the sale in foal to Acclamation sold for €260,000. She was the winning Elusive Quality mare Mikkwa, a half-sister to the Grade 1 winner Riviera and out of a listed winning half-sister to Group 1 winners Septieme Ciel and Macoumba. This is the family of The Grey Gatsby. Carlos Lerner signed for her.

Badgers Bloodstock’s Tom Pritchard-Gordon was a notable participant and paid €230,000 for the unraced Oasis Dream three-year-old Aqua Bella. Her dam Aquarelliste was an outstanding racemare and won the Prix de Diane, Prix Vermeille and Prix Ganay and was second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. She has yet to produce a runner approaching her own quality but she is also an own-sister to dual Grade 1 winner Artiste Royal. Aqua Belle will head to Australia and to stud. Another Badgers Bloodstock buy was the unraced Mr Greeley three-year-old Doulmera, a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera winner Dalkala.

Doulmera was from the Aga Khan draft and she was eclipsed in price by the Medicean mare Shamiyra from the same consignor. In foal to Kendargent, Shamiyra did not run and her Dalakhani half-sister Shemiyla is a Group 3 winner in France.

Jean-Pierre Deroubaix’s FBA spent €185,000 on the unplaced Emerald Art, by Excellent Art. She was sold in foal to Mastercraftsman and anything she lacked in racecourse performance was compensated for in her pedigree. She is a half-sister to the dual Ascot Gold Cup winner Royal Rebel and to the unraced dam of Group 1 winners Getaway and Guadalupe.

BBA (Ireland) Ltd made an important purchase when they gave €170,000 for Jeanie Johnston, a stakes-placed winner of six races. By One Cool Cat, she is a half-sister to the multiple Group 3-placed Switcher and was sold in foal to Oasis Dream.

The first three days of the sale were devoted to flat stock, with the quality reducing as the sale went on. The final day was mainly made up of National Hunt stock but the day’s trade started with a bang when 21 shares were offered in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Montmartre. This son of Montjeu is the sire of the Group 1 Prix de Diane runner-up Amour A Papa and the stakes-placed jumper Zahra Des Pictons. Ghislain Bozo’s Meridian bought the stake in Montmartre for €180,000.

At the end of the sale chairman Eric Hoyeau said: “This is a new record for a sale which had already shown a 32% increase in 2013 compared to the previous year. This session can also boast being the only one of its kind to have posted a pleasing increase in the fillies and mares category in Europe. This success is linked to the strength of the catalogue, which was even stronger this year in spite of the increasingly rare supply of high end mares on the market. We were able to rely on the presence of very good families, which attracted an increasingly international range of buyers coming from all the breeding nations. We are also most satisfied with the activity of French breeders who reinvested in quality mares following a successful sales season.”

He further added: “The Breeding Stock Sale is the crowning glory of an unprecedented year for Arqana which has had record turnover figures for practically every sale this year since February. The overall turnover of approximately €120 million is up by nearly 14%. This is the strongest increase posted among any of the three principal sales companies in Europe.”