THE Arqana August Sale returns this weekend, beginning one of my favourite times of the year, European yearling sales season. Pity the agents, consignors, sales staff and trainers who must complete this marathon that rolls into foal and breeding stock sales, but for me, I’m enamoured by all the immeasurable potential, the possibility of future stars dotted through the thousands.
Horses don’t know their pedigree or the market’s measure of their worth, and they perform as such. Million-dollar babies will later delight and disappoint, not always in equal measure, while their polar opposites can defy the odds or confirm the majority’s expectations. The bargain buys can mean just as much to those who parted with hard-earned cash to secure them, and they all cost the same to keep.
This weekend, we kick things off in the classiest way possible, in the charming seaside town of Deauville. Buying and selling at the August Sale carries an air of prestige, the catalogue littered with impressive pedigrees and crammed full of the progeny of leading sires.
It provides the first test for a number of young stallions and presents the first yearlings by Baeed (9 lots), Bayside Boy (2), Blackbeard (6), Naval Crown (1), Sealiway (3), State Of Rest (2), Thunder Moon (1) and Torquator Tasso (2).
Great expectations
Siyouni and Wootton Bassett account for the largest numbers catalogued, with 20 lots each. Dubawi and Frankel each have three catalogued, while other top sires represented include Blue Point (6), Havana Grey (2), Kingman (7), Lope De Vega (12), Mehmas (14), New Bay (10), Night Of Thunder (11), No Nay Never (13), Sea The Stars (11), Starman (2) and Zarak (16).
The catalogue’s maternal lines are just as impressive, with a list of possible highlights featured below. Vendors’ expectations will be high, especially considering that this sale has produced an average price exceeding €200,000 at the last three renewals. Figures did fall last year, but 2023 was always going to be a hard act to follow.
The 2024 median may have represented an 18% drop, but €140,000 equalled the second highest in the sales history. Sixteen private sales, compared to eight at each of the previous three renewals, suggested that consignors readjusted expectations when it became evident that trade was not reaching the heady highs of 2023.
The clearance rate came in at 77.4%, which had only been bettered five times since 2000. Evidently, when yearlings are as well-bred as these, consignors are more willing to roll the dice and, when it comes to fillies, breeders would be keen to keep those from their best families. Keeping them in France also means that they will benefit from lucrative breeders’ premiums.
High flyers
La Mehana is a recent example of one who justified the breeders’ decision to retain. Not sold at €55,000 in 2020, the Al Wukair filly resold for €400,000 three years later after notching three listed wins and a Group 1 placing. She has since won a Grade 3 and Grade 2 in the US.
Her former trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, purchased the sale’s latest Group 1-winning graduate, Leffard, at the record-breaking renewal of 2023 for €150,000. Sold by co-breeder Haras du Cadran, the son of Le Havre relished his step up to a mile and a half in the Grand Prix de Paris, bringing his earnings to €470,033 when premiums are taken into account.
A number of other graduates have placed at the highest level this year; multiple group scorer Maranoa Charlie (€220,000) was narrowly denied in the Prix Jean Prat last time out, while Flora Of Bermuda gained her second Group 1 placing in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
The group-winning sprinter now looks excellent value at €52,500, as does €45,000 buy Horizon Dore, who has placed at the highest level on four occasions, and is a three-time winner at group level, with another three listed wins to his name.
Five August Sale graduates scored at the highest level in 2024. Four of those found favour as yearlings, their prices ranging from €50,000 (Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Vertical Blue) to €160,000 (Prix du Jockey Club victor Look De Vega). Sparkling Plenty was the one who went unsold at €600,000, but made up for it with a Prix de Diane victory and later price of €5 million.
Lot 13: St Mark’s Basilica half-brother to Coventry Stakes winner and August Sale graduate Rashabar, who was runner-up in two Group 1s
Lot 24: Dubawi colt out of a Group 2 winner, from the family of Bago, Emollient and Maxios
Lot 30: Wootton Bassett half-brother to Group 1 Preis von Europa victor Aspetar. Grandson of the top-class Alexandrova, from the family of Chicquita and Magic Wand
Lot 36: Siyouni colt out of a Kingman half-sister to Group 1 winners Timepiece and Passage Of Time, herself the dam of Time Test and Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Cosmic Year (Kingman)
Lot 39: Colt from the first crop of Baeed, out of a Dubawi half-sister to Group 1 winner and broodmare Beauty Parlour
Lot 50: Mehmas filly out of an own-sister to dual Group 1 winner Wonderful Tonight, from the family of Camelot
Lot 54: Siyouni filly out of E.P. Taylor Stakes winner Curvy, making her a half-sister to Group 3 winner Angeal and Grade 3 second Caisson
Lot 82: Kingman colt out of a Frankel half-sister to the top-class Lillie Langtry, herself the dam of Minding and Tuesday
Lot 93: Sea The Stars colt out of Falmouth Stakes scorer Giofra
Lot 98: Colt by New Bay (Dubawi) is a brother to Group 1 winner Zagrey (Zarak, by Dubawi) and Group 1 performer Graignes
Lot 101: Kingman filly out of a Frankel half-sister to Calyx (Kingman). Granddam placed in the Prix Marcel Boussac and hails from the family of Native Trail
Lot 102: Sea The Stars filly out of a half-sister to Sea The Stars’ dual Group 1 winner Emily Upjohn. From the family of Harzand, Hurricane Lane and Seal Of Approval
Lot 108: Siyouni colt out of a Galileo half-sister to Shamardal. His granddam is a full-sister to Street Cry
Lot 109: Dubawi filly out of an own-sister to top-class mares Tuesday and Minding, herself also the dam of Henry Longfellow (Dubawi)
Lot 125: Zarak half-sister to three group performers, including Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed The Flame and the Grade 1-placed Sacred Life
Lot 126: Siyouni colt out of a Kodiac half-sister to Group 1 winners Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) and St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni)
Lot 127: Colt from the first crop of Baeed is a half-brother to multiple group winner and Group 1 performer Maranoa Charlie. From the family of Going Global and Tiggy Wiggy
Lot 131: New Bay filly out of Group 3 winner and Group 1 performer Lady Frankel, who is a half-sister to Lope De Vega
Lot 140: Siyouni colt out of Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Lightening Pearl, whose previous progeny include a Group 3 winner and stakes performer
Lot 149: Frankel colt out of French 1000 Guineas winner Mangoustine (Dark Angel), from the family of Group 1 winners Flotilla, G Force and Lethal Force (Dark Angel)
Lot 182: No Nay Never filly is a granddaughter of dual Grade 1 winner Safari Queen. Her dam is a half-sister to Prix Saint-Alary winner Queen’s Jewel
Lot 206: Night Of Thunder half-sister to a host of stakes horses, namely Chicquita and Magic Wand. Out of a full-sister to the dam of Group 2 winner and Group 1 performer Vespertilio (Night Of Thunder)
Lot 220: Sea The Stars filly out of a listed-winning half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Recoletos, from the family of Shahrastani
Lot 224: Too Darn Hot filly out of a half-sister to Great Heavens, Nathaniel and Playful Act.
Lot 299: Already named What Ever, this Zarak filly is out of dual Group 1 winner Watch Me