David Cox of Baroda Stud

“They did a good job of getting everyone there. It was very strong trade for the right ones but being a select sale, it wasn’t all that easy; you either hit the list and got well paid, or it was a struggle. That’s just the way it is, unfortunately, with those select sales, Saratoga is the same.

“It could be just the way things are going forward. The better horses seem to be making a lot of money and it is a struggle lower down. With that sale, you don’t get the French trainers, they’d rather target October, they don’t bother going there, really, because they feel they won’t be able to buy anything. There were only a handful of breeze-up guys there, because they sort of feel the same.

“Whereas at the other sales, I think people could be a bit more realistic, other than a Book 1, which I think everyone should shop at anyway, and put the work in, because you never know what could fall through the net.

“We got on pretty well [at Arqana]. I didn’t have as good a year as other years, but we got the majority of them sold. Everyone said the best stock was on the last day and it was a very long, drawn out sale, so there wasn’t much buzz. The feeling on the first day was, if I like a horse, I’ll follow it in, but if I don’t get it, it’s not the end of the world. There’s a lot more yearlings to come through. You could probably see there’s plenty RNAs in the first day (clearance rate of 71.83 % compared to 79.78 % overall).

“What I found interesting was plenty of Americans came and they bought. Mike Repole bought two off me, and his comment was that he was leaving them in Europe to avoid the taxes. Some buyers were bringing back to America, and some weren’t, but it was good they came anyway. Arqana put on that flight out of Saratoga, at huge expense, which has to be a big bonus, whether the Americans are coming to shop or coming for a busman’s holiday.

“Godolphin were active, John Magnier was there every day. People like going to Deauville, but it is hard to judge the rest of the year and what the sales are going to be like based on Arqana. We’re very reliant, as we always are, on three or four big names.”

Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland

“Obviously, the results were very strong. It was the same old story; very strong at the top end. I would say the middle to the top was pretty strong and the bottom half was pretty friendless.

“It was very tough going on the first day, I noticed for vendors, although it did pick up over the second and third day. I think that was probably down to the fact that the sale is extremely drawn out, and in this day and age, it’s very hard for people to be away for so long, for buyers and for sellers, so hopefully the sales company will look into streamlining it a bit more and reducing it from three days to two days.

“There were two very short days, Saturday and Sunday, with only 80 lots, which was really crazy; a lot of people were complaining about that.

I think that may have had people sitting on their hands on the first night with hopes of buying some of the better ones later on.

“But overall, it was a very good sale. All the main players were there, bar one or two. I definitely thought the standard of the horse this year was significantly better than last year.

“I think maybe they had a better year in France regarding rearing horses, with the summer that they had there. We were very happy with what we bought. We hit the crossbar several times, we came up against some of the big powers, Amo and Godolphin, which are hard to beat, on a couple. But we were very happy with what we got. It’s been a lucky sale for me.

“I would say there was quite noticeable lack of interest from the breeze-up guys compared to other years. You would always have a couple of people flying at the lower end attending the sale to see if anything slipped through the market, and they weren’t in attendance this year.

“There was a certain amount of American interest at the sale, but not like other years. With these 50% tariffs for the sales going forward from America, I’d say it could be quite worrying for the sellers.

“Also, even though the breeze-up guys had a good year last year, I think they’re all going to be extra careful in what they’re going to be buying this year.

“So, I’d say we could be in for a rocky couple of months. But as we all know, it’s an extremely resilient industry, and so we’ll take a watching brief and see what happens.”