CONSIDERING the blockbuster trade at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale and Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale, hopes must be high for consignors at Arqana Breeze Up Sale next weekend.
It is one of the sales to which vendors send their best, drawn by figures that increased year after year.
In 2023, turnover passed the €20 million mark, which was bettered 12 months ago, when two lots fetched seven-figures. The €2.3 million top lot, a Justify colt sold by Oak Tree Farm to Godolphin, was subsequently named Ruling Court and won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket last Saturday.
The Justify colt sold by Lynn Lodge Stud for €1 million to Alex Elliott and Amo Racing, Angelo Buonarrotti, went on to finish third in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes, but died earlier this year.
Amo Racing also purchased Cathedral through Robson Aguiar for €800,000 and she remains an exciting prospect for Ralph Beckett, having finished second in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes.
Trade at the 2024 sale was, however, notably selective, bringing the clearance rate to 74% - the lowest since 2015. It will be a concern for those selling next week, with many consignors having rued buyers’ focus on breeze times at the season’s earlier sales.
Flying the flag
Among the buyers that consignors will be hoping to see in Deauville is Blandford Bloodstock, who topped the buyers’ table at Goffs UK with a spend of £2,602,000, while a frustrating two days underbidding at the Craven Sale restricted their final spend to 1,100,000gns – still the third highest of any purchaser there.
The agency’s Richard Brown has enjoyed success at Arqana previously, his purchases led by French 1000 Guineas winner Teppal, bought from Bansha House Stables for €105,000.
More recently, he bought Norfolk Stakes winner Shareholder from Gaybrook Lodge Stud for €460,000, while fellow Blandford agent Stuart Boman gave Kilbrien Stables €60,000 for Je Zous, a Group 3 winner last season.
Others to promote the sale in 2024 included dual stakes winner Columbus (€65,000), Group 3 scorer Without Words (not sold €175,000) and Hong Kong Group 3 winner Ensued (€260,000), who finished second in the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup in February.
Dual Grade/Group 1 winners bought at previous renewals include Eldar Eldarov, Mshawish, The Grey Gatsby and War Of Will.
Consignment of note
Despite carving a reputation for eye-watering prices, the Arqana Breeze Up Sale has produced a number of value buys over the years and a fine run by Mayfield Stables a few years ago proved that.
Tanya Browne and Reinaldo Souza’s operation sold Prix de Diane heroine Channel to Bertrand le Metayer for €70,000 in 2018. A year earlier, their draft included Homerique, who won three group/graded races and was beaten just a neck in the Prix de Diane – one of three placings at the highest level. She fetched €75,000, the same price they sold May Hill Stakes winner Rich Legacy for 12 months prior.
Next week they offer two colts, the first a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Outburst. He hails from the second crop of Romanised, who sired a Group 3 winner last month and a listed second in March.
“He goes well and shows speed,” Souza reports. “Even though you might think he’s a quick horse, I actually think he needs a mile. I’m very happy with him.”
On their Space Blues colt, Souza says: “He’s very nice, with a good mind and goes very well. I had his mother [stakes performer Duchess Of Danzig] too - she was a nice filly; big, strong and she did well in France after for Nick [Hartery].
“He’s pretty much like her, even the way he moves, the way he does things. He’s a big horse, but he has a bit of toe and he stays very well.”
Mayfield Stables’ top graduates didn’t fetch six-figure prices and, on the subject, Souza says: “We knew they were good horses, but at that time the breeze ups were different. It wasn’t all about clock. We try to keep the horses balanced, make sure they breeze well and straight, and keep their head right for the trainers.
“Now the whole thing has changed; people won’t buy a horse unless they clock. If you don’t tick all the boxes, you struggle, and unfortunately not everything that shines is gold. People think that a horse that goes fast over two furlongs is a good horse, but most of them find it hard to do on the track.”
Appealing pedigrees
Next week’s catalogue features 193 lots, which will breeze at Deauville Racecourse from midday on Thursday, May 8th. Friday is dedicated to inspections, with selling getting underway from 11am on Saturday, May 10th.
All leading sires are represented, from Dark Angel and Dubawi, to Night Of Thunder and No Nay Never, to Sea The Stars and Wootton Bassett. There are seven catalogued by Justify, whose progeny averaged €1,097,500 at last year’s sale.
On pedigree, possible highlights include:
Lot 8: Dubawi colt out of Queen Mary Stakes heroine Anthem Alexander, who also placed in two Group 1 sprints
Lot 9: Justify half-brother to three stakes winners, out of a half-sister to Blame
Lot 19: Siyouni half-brother to Preis von Europa victor Aspetar (Al Kazeem). Grandson of the top-class Alexandrova
Lot 21: Kingman half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Stone Age
Lot 23: Wootton Bassett half-sister to two Group 2 winners. Sold for €360,000 as a yearling to Satoshi Kobayashi on behalf of Masao Ogawa
Lot 49: American Pharoah filly out of a full-sister to the top-class Roly Poly and U S Navy Flag
Lot 54: Munnings colt out of Grade 1 performer Faithfully
Lot 55: Tapit half-brother to Il Paradiso, who was beaten just a neck in the Melbourne Cup. Their dam is a blacktype own-sister to Mastercraftsman
Lot 88: Gun Runner half-brother to two Grade 3 winners, out of a full-sister to Epsom Oaks winner Light Shift
Lot 100: Wootton Bassett filly out of a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Fancy Blue, from the family of High Chaparral
Lot 108: Night Of Thunder colt out of a Raven’s Pass half-sister to Taghrooda, from the family of Enzeli and Estimate
Lot 116: Camelot filly out of a Dansili mare – the same cross as Bluestocking and Los Angeles
Lot 121: Lope De Vega filly out of a Grade 1 performer, bred on the same cross as Lucky Vega
Lot 128: Mehmas colt out of Group 3 winner Penny Pepper, making him a half-brother to listed winner Nighteyes
Lot 145: Too Darn Hot colt out of a winning half-sister to Westover. Cost 125,000gns as a yearling
Lot 149: €280,000 yearling is a full-brother to Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie (Wootton Bassett), out of a half-sister to Speciosa
Lot 151: Siyouni colt out of a full-sister to Group 1 winners Japan and Mogul
Lot 175: Dark Angel full-brother to two group performers, including Angel’s Hideaway, who finished a close fourth in the 1000 Guineas
Lot 182: Mehmas colt out of an unraced full-sister to three stakes winners, led by Grade 1 heroine Kitten’s Dumplings
Lot 185: Miole half-brother to Norfolk Stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint second Valiant Force
Lot 188: Dubawi colt out of dual Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed Wekeela