ONE of the most memorable occurrences in a sale ring happened last Friday in Deauville. A little over an hour after the selling started, a son of Street Sense out of the stakes-winning Seattle Slew mare Mystic Melody strode into the ring.

Offered by Willie Bowne’s Mocklershill and sold in partnership with Jim McCartan, the colt was a bargain purchase for just $15,000 last September. His low price then can largely be attributed to his being announced as a cribber. This time around there were no impediments to his sale and he established a new record for a breeze up lot at Arqana when selling for a staggering $1.4 million, no less a behemoth than Coolmore being beaten in the bidding war.

He was the sole purchase for Kerri Radcliffe at the sale and was bought for Phoenix Thoroughbreds. The half-brother to two winners will join Radcliffe’s husband Jeremy Noseda to be trained. His dam is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Woodward and Travers Stakes winner Alpha. After signing for the most expensive breeze up lot in Europe in 2017, Radcliffe commented: “I’ve been to every breeze up sale in the world this year and this is the nicest horse I’ve seen.”

The colt was the outstanding lot in the consignment from Mocklershill which grossed almost €3.6 million for 16 lots sold, averaging €224,375. Four more of the draft sold for €200,000 or more, and they represented a quarter of all the lots in this category. Next best from the Tipperary-based vendor was a son of Zoffany out of a half-sister to the dam of last year’s very smart juvenile Capri. Selling for €400,000 he was the most expensive of a number of purchases made on behalf of Al Shaqab Racing. This was well ahead of his yearling price of €55,000 in the same ring last October.

Bloodstock agent Richard Knight on behalf of Hussain Lootah paid €320,000 for Mocklershill’s daughter of Mastercraftsman, the first foal of the winning Galileo mare Goddess Of Love. The grandam Maroochydore, by Danehill, was a stakes winner at two. Browne acquired her for €100,000 last August at Arqana.

Mocklershill sold a daughter of Redoute’s Choice and a son of Choisir, both purchased for Al Shaqab Racing and both costing €200,000. The filly is a half-sister to the Group 3 winning two-year-old My Name Is Bond and she doubled in value since her purchase last August, while the colt is a son of the Italian stakes-winning juvenile Coco Demure and he cost just €27,000 last year.

Shadwell France spent a bid shy of €1.5 million on four lots and their shopping list was topped by Con Marnane’s Bansha House Stables’ daughter of Siyouni and the stakes-placed Choisir mare Reech Band. Angus Gold explained her attraction: “She is a beautiful, quality filly, by a stallion who is particularly successful with fillies and out of a Choisir mare who could run, as Jean-Claude Rouget told me. She will be trained by him.” The filly was a €75,000 yearling buy. .

Six sons and daughters of Siyouni averaged €332,500 and four of them sold for €200,000 or more.

Roger Marley’s Church Farm and John Cullinan’s Horse Park Stud have had a number of pinhooking successes this year and another came in the shape of their Siyouni colt out of Ponte Di Legno, sold for €550,000 to Dick O’Gorman for Godolphin. The colt topped the v.2 Yearling Sale at Arqana last year at €125,000.

SackvilleDonald gave €260,000 for Powerstown Stud’s Siyouni half-brother to listed winner and Group 1 placed Coup De Theatre, a nice return on a €90,000 yearling investment made by Tom Whitehead, while Marley and Cullinan stuck again with a Siyouni filly, the first foal of a winning American Post mare whose grandam was the French 1000 Guineas winner Baiser Vole. She was sold to Richard Frisby, again for €260,000, and she failed to find favour in the ring last year and was retained at €37,000.

Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud averaged almost €250,000 for six lots and three of these were standouts. A son of Kendargent and the Group 3 winning Italian juvenile Bugie D’Amore was the pick of the sale for Stephen Hillen and Richard Hughes and cost the duo €470,000. He tripled in value since October when he sold for €155,000. Shadwell France got the sale off to a flying start when they paid €400,000 for the fourth lot in the ring, Grove Stud’s Style Vendome colt out of a Diktat mare who was stakes-placed in Germany. He cost €45,000 last year.

The most expensive of Charlie Gordon-Watson’s purchases was Grove’s son of Intello from a winning Invincible Spirit mare Bahama Spirit. Hailing from one of the best families in the stud book, the colt cost the agent €340,000, leaving ample profit for Holland who purchased him for 70,000gns last year. He will be trained for Cheveley Park Stud by Roger Varian.

Choisir was a sire in demand and all three of his lots sold made €200,000 or more. The most expensive of the trio was Bansha House Stables’ grandson of Victoria Star, a full-sister to successful racehorse and sire Mozart. He will race for Al Shaqab after being bought by Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock for €360,000. He was snapped up by Con Marnane for €47,000 last year. Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm paid €30,000 in Germany for a daughter of Choisir from an Aga Khan family and resold her for €260,000 to Richard Knight Bloodstock for Dubai businessman Hussain Lootah.

Only one French-consigned lot made it into the list of top 20 sold and this was Paul Basquin’s Haras du Saubouas’ Elusive City filly out of a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix Morny winner and sire Myboycharlie. She sold for €320,000, exactly 10 times her yearling cost last August. Angus Gold bought her for Shadwell France.

Roger Marley and John Cullinan had two other notable sales. Their Kendargent colt out of the Invincible Spirit stakes winner Mystic Spirit is a half-brother to five winners and he cost Charlie Gordon Watson €280,000 (a €60,000 yearling) for Cheveley Park Stud, while Alex Elliott and George Scott paid €200,000 in a private deal for their Dabirsim colt, the first foal of a winning Street Cry daughter of the Group 1 winner Nadia.

Jim McCartan offered the only lot by Scat Daddy, the sire of Caravaggio, and this first foal of the stakes winner My Perfect Ten cost Charlie Gordon Watson, acting for Al Shaqab, €260,000. She was unsold at Keeneland last September at $85,000.

David Redvers got his name on the buyer’s sheet when giving €260,000 for a son of Havana Gold, a sire he knows well. An additional entry to the sale having missed an earlier sale appointment, he was sold by Michael Murphy’s Longways Stables who paid 16,000gns for him last October. The dam Up in Time is a Grade 2 winning daughter of Noverre. Longways also sold a Wootton Bassett colt from a stakes wining Cardoun dam for €240,000 to Meridian International, a substantial increase on his €55,000 yearling cost.

Arqana CEO Eric Hoyeau commented: “The Arqana Breeze Up Sale has become truly global and is firmly set on all buyers’ calendar. We are delighted to have seen so many international buyers battling it out at the top end of the market, including several who were attending this sale for the very first time.

“Our wholehearted thanks go to the consignors, who invest in a higher standard of yearlings every year and do a fabulous job of turning them into young athletes out of them.

“The comfort of our Deauville complex is another great asset and we will surely consider the option of keeping the sale here even when the French Guineas returns to Longchamp.”