ON the eve of one of the most important weekends in French jump racing at Auteuil, the 2022 Arqana Grand Steeple Sale was held at Saint-Cloud racecourse.

The first 21 lots through the ring were from the estate of the late Magalen Bryant, a leading owner and breeder in France. They realised a total of €1,043,000. Following the sale, her daughter, KC Graham, said: “This is a very special day for us, full of emotion. What can I say? We are very happy with the results of this sale. The horses sold well, they were eagerly awaited, and it’s a great tribute to our mother and to David Powell. We loved David’s genius, to whom we owe today’s results.”

Part of the Bryant estate, the three-year-old Just A Princess was knocked down for €260,000, the best price of the day. She was one of eight purchases by Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley, and he spent a total of €815,000.

Bromley then struck for Zarak The Brave, offered from trainer Stéphane Wattel and also from the Bryant estate. A winner earlier that year and placed a number of times, the son of Zarak (Dubawi) was knocked down for €200,000. Bromley said afterwards: “I’ve bought him for loyal clients of mine and he will go to Willie Mullins.

“The late David Powell showed me the horse as a two-year-old in Deauville, and I’ve kept my eye on him ever since. He’s run really well in conditions races and he looks like a horse that, once he’s been gelded, will make a nice juvenile hurdler. His rating on the flat means he could have a second job, and Willie is very good with that type of horse.”

Not surprisingly, the loyal owners turned out to be Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, the new purchase was indeed gelded, and he made a winning debut at Fairyhouse in a juvenile maiden hurdle, winning as his odds-on price would suggest he should. He was back at the same track a month later, but this time he was no match for his stable companion, Lossiemouth, and was beaten four lengths.

Too good

Off the track until the Punchestown Festival, he again found Lossiemouth too good, this time getting closer to her in the Grade 1 Ballymore Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle, the winner again in receipt of seven pounds. Just over three weeks later, and with Paul Townend back in the saddle, he found two better than him in the Grade 1 Prix Alain du Breil, and finished 12 lengths in arrears of the Mullins-trained winner, Gala Marceau.

Well, compensation was gained when Zarak The Brave lived up to his name, and he got his head in front where it mattered, and won the Guinness Galway Hurdle. The winner’s purse of €160,000 pushed the gelding into credit with his owners, and future plans with the four-year-old will be very interesting to follow.

The incredibly well-bred Zarak stood for €60,000 at the Aga Khans Studs, Haras de Bonneval, this year, and a share in him sold for €410,000 in January. He is one of the most exciting young sires in Europe, and it is only a matter of when he sires his first Group 1 winner on the flat.

His son and daughters, Zagray, Purplepay, Times Square and La Parisienne have all finished second in a Group 1, while Zarak The Brave and Bo Zenith have done so over jumps. His first crop are just four.

Right Tempo

Zarak The Brave is not the only stakes performer out of his winning dam, Tempo Royale, a daughter of Boris de Deauville (Soviet Star).

Incredibly, she was sold for €2,500 at Arqana in early 2021, and she is now the dam of three winners. In addition to the exploits of the Galway Hurdle winner, her daughter Right Tempo (Authorized) was placed in a listed hurdle race in the USA in May.

It is something of a surprise that Tempo Royale visited Zarak at all, given that there is virtually no blacktype in the pedigree until you go back to Zarak The Brave’s fourth dam. She was the smart Tempus Fugit (Salvo), winner of nine races in France and the USA. She was a multiple Group 3 winner in France, runner-up in the Grade 2 Black Helen Handicap in the USA, placed in the Group 2 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, and she ran fourth in both the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas and the Prix Saint-Alary. She bred a listed winner over hurdles in France and a stakes winner in the USA.

Memorable Plate

win for Alymer Stud

EAMON Waters’ Alymer Stud had a day to remember when their seven-year-old Ash Tree Meadow won the Tote Galway Plate. It was the first leg of a French-bred double in the National Hunt features of the week at Ballybrit.

Sold by the breeder, Haras des Loges, as a two-year-old at the Osarus Maisons-Laffitte November Sale in 2018, Ash Tree Meadow made a quick reappearance when he resold from Pine Tree Stud to Monbeg Stables at the following June’s Goffs Land Rover Sale. This time he realised €30,000, and joined Donnchadh Doyle, for whom he won a Fairyhouse point-to-point at the second time of asking, scoring by a dozen lengths.

This led to an entry for the Cheltenham April Sale, held in Newmarket, in April 2021, and Aidan O’Ryan and Gordon Elliott signed for Ash Tree Meadow (Bonbon Rose) at £135,000. He has since justified his purchase, this was his fifth win in the new colours, four over fences and was a fine fourth in the 2022 Galway Plate.

At the Goffs UK Spring Sale this year, Aidan Fitzgerald’s Cobajay Ltd bought the three-year-old filly Aerie (Masked Marvel) for £19,000, and she is already value, being a half-sister to the Plate winner. That was the same venue that saw the sale of Ash Tree Meadow’s point-to-point, hurdle and multiple chase winning half-brother Darcy Ward (Doctor Dino) a few years ago for £16,000. All of these are out of the Grape Tree Road (Caerleon) mare Alzasca.

Smart chaser

A winner at four on the flat in France, Alzasca is a half-sister to Pasha Du Polder (Muhtathir), and he was a smart chaser in Britain, winning both the Grade 2 Future Champion Novices’ Chase at Ayr and the Grade 3 Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury. Their dam Ambri Piotta. (Caerwent), won no less than 11 races in France, and one of these came in a listed race at Toulouse.

Bonbon Rose (Mansonnien) is the sire of Ash Tree Meadow, who is now the best runner he has sired since he went to stud in 2006. A Grade 1 winner over fences and a listed scorer over hurdles, both at Auteuil, Ash Tree Meadow is just his fourth blacktype winner, and only one of those was in France. His daughter Daylight Katie was a Grade 3 winner over hurdles for Gordon Elliott, while Pepite Rose was a listed chase winner in England. During his racing career, Bonbon Rose carried the colours of Irishman Sean Mulryan.