Twelve months ago, a son of Galileo (Ire) topped
the opening session of Arqana’s August Yearling Sale and it was a
case of deja vu as the latest renewal of the Deauville showcase
got underway on Friday. Consigned by Edouard de Rothschild’s
Haras de Meautry as Hip No. 30, the February-foaled colt is the first
produce of the listed scorer Olimpic Girl (Darshaan),
herself a daughter of the smart stakes scorer Lille Hammer (Sadler’s Wells),
who was placed in the 1993 Prix de Royallieu (Fr-G2). Olimpic Girl’s page also
includes the high-class German mare Slenderella (Ger) (Alpenkonig), winner of
the 1984 Preis der Diana (Ger-G2).
In the end, it was Bertrand le
Metrayer Bloodstock, acting on behalf of Nathan Tinkler’s
Patinack Farm, who saw off Coolmore with a bid of €770,000
to secure the topper.
Tinkler, the Australian millionaire, had made his first venture
to Deauville last December when he bought the top-priced filly
Jambu (Ocean of Wisdom) from the Haras de Fresnay le Buffard draft. Earlier
Friday, he had paid €280,000 for Haras de la Reboursiere et de
Montaigu’s Hip 8, a filly by Sadler’s Wells out of the useful stakes performer
Maid of Dawkins (Kendor) from the
family of multiple highweight and Group 1 winner Grey Swallow (Ire).
“My job is to buy horses for
Patinack Farm and this is a classy colt, who is strong, well-balanced and also a
beautiful walker,” Patinack’s
Managing Director Roger Langley explained. “Mr. Tinkler was keen to have
some horses in training in France and we made our choice among
the many good-looking animals. This is a nice and strong sale. Of
course, in Australia we would not be looking for the same type of
animals as races are more speed-oriented, but here you can find
real nice horses perfectly suited for European racing. There were
also some very nice fillies in the sale. He is the first horse we
will have in training in France and will probably be trained by
Richard Gibson.”
For his consignor, the price paid for his
homebred came as no surprise.
“This was a really nice colt by a
hot sire and the first foal of a gifted mare from a really good
family, so I was not prepared to let him go at any price,”
Eduoard de Rothschild said. “In fact, I had decided that he would
not sell for less than €700,000 and I did bid to that price. When
he passed that mark, I let the others battle and I am happy with
what he made. I wish them good luck with the horse.”
There was a general hope that Sheikh Mohammed would become
more closely involved in this sale and that came to fruition
early in the day when John Ferguson made an instant impact with
the first of his nine purchases. Haras du Mezeray’s Hip 7, the
sole Seeking the Gold offering cataloged in this year’s sale, is
the first foal out of 2004 Premio Lydia Tesio (Ity-G1) winner Lune
d’Or (Fr) (Green Tune), who was later third in the Yorkshire
Oaks (Eng-G1). Ferguson, who was ending a five-year drought at the
auction, won the day with a bid of €700,000 for the filly and
later added another from the same draft of Charles-Henri de
Moussac’s operation to the roster.
Hip 55 by Oasis Dream (GB) is out of Straight Lass (Machiavellian), making
her a half-sister to 2006 Prix la Force (Fr-G3) winner Barastraight
(GB) (Barathea [Ire]). Her full brother Naaqoos
helped her cause significantly when registering an impressive
success in a debutantes event at the local track earlier in the
month and is a possible for next Sunday’s Prix Morny (Fr-G1).
“There are some very good yearlings in the sale and obviously
these two fillies are some of them,” Ferguson said after
prevailing with a bid of €670,000 for the
latter filly. “They both come from very good
families, one being the first foal of a Group 1 winner and the
second from a top Weinstock family. These fillies would fit in
any major sale in the world and it is a tribute to the Arqana
management who has succeeded in having them and others here.”
There was another first in Deauville on Friday as Prince Mitab
bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz paid a notable first visit to the sales
ring. By the close of play, the son of the King of Saudi Arabia
who is in charge of the King’s stables, had spent 1.54 million
on a quintet of yearlings under the banner SKAS.
Seated next to
Andre Fabre, the largest of his purchases was the €650,000 he
paid for Ballylinch Stud’s Hip 35, the half-sister to Red Rocks
(Ire) (Galileo [Ire]) by Rock of Gibraltar (Ire). Out of listed winner
Pharmacist (Machiavellian), the filly counts among her
half-siblings are the Linamix duo of Medicinal, a
listed winner who was also multiple Group 2-placed and Pill, who was
third in her debut in a decent contest last week. All of his purchases will be trained in France by
Fabre.
While an air of optimism preceded this sale, just how much the
worldwide economic situation would cast its shadow over affairs
was unknown. In the event, the opening salvo of the first major
component of the European Sale season showed no knock-on effect
from the general doom and gloom. With an average of
€214,277 and a
median of €170,000, up by 17 percent and 42 percent,
respectively, on 2007 and a clearance rate of 78 percent, it was
as near to a complete success as Arqana could have hoped for.
“We had 15
percent less horses to sell compared to last year, mainly because
of genuine late withdrawals and that has somewhere affected the
gross, but obviously we are delighted with the figures of this
first day,”
Executive President Eric Hoyeau reflected afterward. “We have easily maintained a high clearance rate and
the average and the median have gone up significantly. The median
is getting closer to the average, which is always an excellent
sign. We have sold 34 yearlings for €200,000 or more, compared to
24 a year ago. These figures totally reflect the improvement of
the quality in the catalogue, the confidence the breeders had in
this sale and the positive answer of the buyers.
“There was a very
good and serene ambience at the sales today and it also shows
that this new format, which was initiated for the first time in
2006, is just ideal for Deauville. With such figures at the end
of the first day you can feel some relief and be reasonably
optimistic for the outcome of the sale on Monday, as we still
have some very nice animals to sell.”