Arqana August Catalogue Online

The catalogue for the Aug. 13-15 Arqana August Yearling Sale is online and can be viewed at www.arqana.com. Having already produced the likes of Angel Bleu, Hello You, Mangoustine, Rougir, Sealiway, Noble Truth, Meditate and Skalleti, the 2022 renewal is comprised of 313 yearlings which will be sold over three days, a departure from the two-day format previously. The sales times are as follows:

  • Saturday, Aug. 13: 2p.m. – lot 1 to 145
  • Sunday, Aug. 14: 5.30p.m. – lot 146 to 230
  • Monday, Aug. 15: 5.30p.m. – lot 231 to 313

 

Stallions represented this year include Adlerflug, Arrogate, Camelot, Churchill, Dark Angel, Dubawi, Frankel, Galileo, Galiway, Justify, Kingman, Kodiac, Lope De Vega, New Bay, Night Of Thunder, No Nay Never, Sea The Stars, Shamardal, Siyouni, War Front, Wootton Bassett and Zarak.

The catalogue, which features 17 siblings to Group 1 winners, includes:

 

  • lot 10: a brother to Sealiway, Champion S. and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère winner, offered from Haras de Colleville
  • lot 21: the second foal by Shamardal out of group winner Lady Frankel, a 3/4 brother to Lope De Vega, from Gestüt Ammerland
  • lot 62: a half-sister by Siyouni to the champion Native Trail, last year's Champion 2-Year-Old and the winner of the G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas this season, from Haras d'Haspel
  • lot 66: a daughter of Too Darn Hot out of dual group Winner Night Music, from the family of Classic winner Night Magic, from Haras du Cadran
  • lot 93: a half-sister by Decorated Knight to Nashwa, winner of the G1 Prix de Diane Longines, from the first ever consignment from Blue Diamond Stud at Deauville;
  • lot 154: a brother to Sottsass (Siyouni), also a half-brother to Sistercharlie and My Sister Nat, from Ecurie des Monceaux
  • lot 171: a half-brother by Intello to dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine TREVE, from Haras du Quesnay
  • lot 220: a half-brother by Too Darn Hot to Classic Winner Beauty Parlour, from the close family of MIGHT AND POWER, from Baroda Stud
  • lot 234: a daughter of Sea The Stars, the first foal out of Channel, the Prix de Diane Longines winner, from La Motteraye Consignment
  • lot 276: a brother to G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp scorer WOODED (Wootton Bassett), from Haras d'Etreham.

For more information, visit www.arqana.com.

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The Weekly Wrap: While The Light Lasts

Last orders are being called for the European Flat turf season. Cheltenham and Aintree have been knocking loudly on the door but there are still some important scores to settle on the level, and in Paris, where this correspondent was fortunate enough to be billeted this weekend, the major Group 1 action was conducted in a blaze of life-affirming autumnal glory that may almost sustain us until the spring.

The four Group 1 races around the world on Saturday, in England, France and Australia, went to the offspring of Irish-based stallions, with State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) getting the ball rolling in the Cox Plate.

A combination of travel difficulties and the stringent new veterinary checks means that there are fewer European horses in town for the key races in Melbourne this spring but that didn't stop Moonee Valley's flagship race going to the sole international challenger, trained by Jospeh O'Brien, who has already lifted the Melbourne Cup twice in his relatively short career.

Bred at Tinnakill House by Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne, the 3-year-old State Of Rest has already clocked up more airmiles than many of his older stable-mates and it was perhaps a bold move to take him to New York for the GI Saratoga Derby off the back of one third-place finish this season in a listed race at the Curragh. But it was one that paid off handsomely for his owners in the Teme Valley Racing syndicate. He had the Belmont Derby winner Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) behind him that day in fourth and 77 days later he returned on the other side of the world to cause a bit of a stir in the Cox Plate. 

It was a great day for Irish racing, as not only was he bred and trained in the country, but State Of Play was ridden by one-time journeyman jump jockey Johnny Allen who has carved out a great career for himself on the Flat in Australia.

In his post-race interview conducted after a prolonged enquiry into possible interference between State Of Play and runner-up Anamoe (Aus), Allen remembered his former boss, the late Joe Crowley, who was also the grandfather of Joseph O'Brien.

“I'm sure if he's looking down from above he'd have a smile on his face,” said Allen, before adding, “There were too many Paddys in [the enquiry] and the boys were saying they couldn't understand us.”

Sweet Success For Sansgter

Ten years after Joseph O'Brien rode Camelot (GB) to victory in the then-Racing Post Trophy for his father, Aidan O'Brien was in the limelight again at Doncaster when sending out his tenth winner of the renamed Vertem Futurity, appropriately enough with a son of Camelot, Luxembourg (Ire).

In many ways Luxembourg weaves some old and new strands of the Coolmore/Ballydoyle empire neatly together. The colt, who is now 9/2 favourite for next year's Derby, was bred by Ben Sangster, whose father Robert bred Luxembourg's great grandsire Sadler's Wells. Both man and horse have played such significant roles in the development of Coolmore. 

Luxembourg carries the colours of one of the syndicate's newer members, Georg von Opel, who races under the Westerberg banner, and whose significant investment in bloodstock in recent years is certainly deserving of a colt with such promise. 

The same can be said for the likeable and reserved Ben Sangster. Not one to blow his own horn, he can certainly permit himself a quiet smile of satisfaction following a successful autumn on the track and in the ring. At Goffs in late September, Sansgter sold Luxembourg's full-brother for a sale-topping €1.2 million. Three days later at Newmarket he enjoyed a Group 1 victory as an owner in partnership with his wife Lucy, son Ollie, and James Wigan when Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), trained by Sangster's step-sister Jane Chapple-Hyam, won the Sun Chariot. Bought by Liam Norris as a foal for 55,000gns as an intended pinhook, Saffron Beach was never really supposed to run for the partners, but a foot issue scuppered her appearance at the yearling sales. Bad luck turns to good luck.

Now Sangster can spend the winter dreaming of becoming the breeder of a Derby winner, having already notched one Epsom Classic in this regard with the Oaks heroine Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Jane Chapple-Hyam is likely to be high on Ballylinch Stud's Christmas card list after this season for not only has she provided resident stallion New Bay with his first Group 1 winner in Saffron Beach, but last week she sent out an exciting youngster from his second crop in Claymore (Fr), a €5,000 yearling purchase-turned-£10,000 breezer who stormed the Rowley Mile for a four-length novice victory over Godolphin favourite Noble Order (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) on Wednesday.

It was a good week for New Bay with four new juvenile winners, while his G2 Champagne S. winner Bayside Boy (Ire)–another in the Teme Valley Racing ownership–finished third in the G1 Vertem Futurity after filling the same spot in the G1 Dewhurst S.

A Day To Remember For Ferguson…

Marc Chan's Angel Bleu (Fr), bred by Pan Sutong at Ecurie Des Monceaux, has been highly tried this season but has answered almost every call. Having made three starts for two wins before Royal Ascot, the son of Dark Angel (Ire) was perhaps a touch unlucky in the G2 Coventry S when finding himself short of room as he attempted to make his run, and he has thrived since then. Runner-up on his next start at Ascot in the listed Pat Eddery S., he bounced out three days later to take the G2 Vintage S. at Goodwood in soft sound and has relished even more testing conditions when taking back-to-back Group 1s in France. Three weeks after his Prix Jean-Luc Lagardare victory he battled home to take the Criterium International by a head from Coolmore's Ancient Rome (War Front).

Angel Bleu's trainer Ralph Beckett indicated at Saint-Cloud on Saturday that a return to France may well be on the cards for the youngster for the Poule d'Essai des Poulains next spring.

It was another good day weekend for the Brits in Paris with all three Group 1 contests falling to cross-Channel raiders. For James Ferguson, only in his second season of training, it was a day he will never forget as the diminutive El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) led his rivals a merry dance when making all in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud to give his trainer a first Group 1 success.

Bred by Cecil and Martin McCracken, the tenacious El Bodegon joins his full-brother Best Solution (Ire) in being something of an outlier among Kodiac's stock as a colt who clearly relishes a decent trip. Those reserves of stamina are doubtless drawn from his dam's side, as he has Eva Luna (Alleged) as his third dam, with her offspring including the St Leger winner Brian Boru (GB) (Sadler's Wells) and his full-sister Soviet Moon (Ire), who is the dam of Derby and Arc winner Workforce (GB) (King's Best).

Best Solution, who was second in a strong renewal of the same race in 2016, which was won by subsequent Arc winner Waldgeist (GB), with fellow subsequent Group 1 winners Capri (Ire), Wings Of Eagles (Fr) and Rekindling (GB) behind him, became a stalwart of the Godolphin operation, landing two Group 1 races over a mile and a half in Germany en route to winning the Caulfield Cup. He is now standing at Gestut Auenquelle alongside Soldier Hollow (GB).

“Pretty incredible,” was how Ferguson described his first Group 1 winner as El Bodegon returned to the winner's enclosure. “We love the horse and we planned this as his next race after his previous win in France, but to be ahead with a furlong to go wasn't really part of my plan. I thought he would have to work very hard but he has obviously improved with every run and he takes travelling very well.”

He added, “This horse is not overly big but he has a lot of presence and it's very exciting to wonder what we might have for next year. You have to aim high when you have a horse like this.”

Prior to starting out on his own, Ferguson, who turned 32 on Sunday, served time as a pupil assistant to Sir Mark Prescott and also as assistant to Charlie Appleby at Godolphin.  Touchingly, Appleby, along with William Buick and Godolphin's managing director Hugh Anderson, were among the first to embrace their former colleague at Saint-Cloud after their Godolphin representative Goldspur (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) finished third to El Bodegon.

And Also For Hornby…

The weekend's action in France also provided a memorable couple of days for Ralph Beckett and Rob Hornby. Beckett posted a Group 1 double when the Julian Richmond-Watson homebred Scope (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) landed the Prix Royal-Oak 24 hours after the victory of Angel Bleu at Saint-Cloud. 

The win was extra special for Hornby as it was his first Group 1 success on his first ride at Longchamp. The jockey, who was sidelined last December with a serious shoulder injury after a nasty fall at Wolverhampton, had clearly done his homework, however, and was spotted out walking the track before racing. 

He said, “It's unbelievable. I'm just delighted for everyone involved and for the whole team–it's been a Group 1 double on Saturday and Sunday.

“He had to dig deep off the elbow. They came at him on either side, but he just stuck his neck out; he's really thriving. I'd like to think that there's more to come next year. If it all keeps going the right way we could have a very exciting horse to look forward to.”

Hornby continued, “I'm very grateful to Mr Beckett for the opportunity and to everyone who has supported me the whole way through–Andrew Balding, who I was apprenticed to, and Jonny Portman, there are so many people to mention. My agent works very hard, we all work hard, so when it pays off on days like this it's very special.”

Last year's Prix Royal-Oak runner-up Valia (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) returned for a second attempt, finishing sixth this time around having won the G2 Prix Radio FG at the track back in July. The 4-year-old Aga Khan-bred filly also provided a footnote in history as the final Group 1 runner for her illustrious trainer Alain de Royer Dupre, who retires at the end of the season and has notably been training for the Aga Khan for 40 years. He will be succeeded at Aiglemont by his former assistant Francis Graffard.

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Luxembourg Spearheads Elite Cast

There is an abundance of potentially exhilarating 2-year-old action across Britain, France and Ireland on Saturday which will act as significant pointers to the 2022 Classics for which Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) is already favourite. Whether Ballydoyle's latest G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy hope is the next Epsom Derby winner in waiting, as the current ante-post lists suggest he is, we will in part find out mid-afternoon on Doncaster's Town Moor. Unbeaten in two starts, with the latter resulting in a 4 3/4-length success in The Curragh's G2 Beresford S. Sept. 25, the son of the 2011 winner of this prize known then as the Racing Post Trophy has since been the subject of an undeniable undercurrent of positivity. Showing impressive pace at the end of that contest, he is no less a 2000 Guineas than Derby contender at this point and interestingly this race has seen the last four winners go on to mile Classic success the following spring.

Aidan O'Brien is already responsible for nine winners of this and could equal the record of the late Sir Henry Cecil. “He was a very green baby when he won first time, but he looked very nice and he's had a little bit of time,” he said. “He's a big, rangy horse who travels very easily usually through his races. He finds things very easy, he's very easy to train and very natural really. The Doncaster race is a very prestigious race, it's a flat mile so they have to have quick feet and they have to stay as well. It's not a slog, you have to travel, it's a flat track and you would learn a lot about a horse. This year's race is no different, it's a very strong, competitive race. There are horses with plenty of form in it, horses with plenty of experience really.”

If the Westerberg colour-bearer fails to live up to the great expectations, Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will be there to expose him and at this point there is no reason for the large discrepancy between their predicted starting prices. Excelling this term for Mark Johnston, the strong-galloping bay had Imperial Fighter (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}), Dubawi Legend (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Noble Truth (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) behind when dominating York's G3 Acomb S. Aug. 18 before upstaging Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G2 Royal Lodge S. at Newmarket Sept. 25. “Any time you chuck your hat into the Group 1 ring, you know you're going to have to run like the wind but he deserves to be there,” Highclere's managing director Harry Herbert said. “He's improved with every run and I'm sure he's not stopped improving, so we're very excited and we hope he can be very competitive.”

Another setting an elevated standard is Teme Valley and Ballylinch Stud's Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), who beat the G3 Solario S. winner Reach For the Moon (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in the G2 Champagne S. over seven furlongs at Doncaster Sept. 11 before finishing a respectable third in the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket Oct. 9. Trainer Roger Varian has been convinced by his demeanour in the interim period to go again and commented, “He ran very well in the Dewhurst and he looks like he's going to be suited by stepping up a furlong. He should be okay with a cut in the ground–it was good-to-soft when he won the Champagne S.–and he brings a high level of form to the race, so we're looking forward to running him. He's a top-level juvenile and he looks like he might improve for going the mile.”

Michael Blencowe's Imperial Fighter, who followed his second to Royal Patronage in the Acomb with a second to Coroebus in the G3 Autumn S. at Newmarket Oct. 9, is already proven at this mile and trainer Andrew Balding is keen to have another crack at the Johnston runner. “I hadn't been happy with him after the Acomb for a while. I think he was just going through a growing spurt–I think he'd grown about an inch between York and Newmarket. I thought the Newmarket run was excellent–I think Coroebus is probably as good a 2-year-old as there is out there. He beat us fair and square, but we were clear second-best and I'd hope he'll be very competitive.”

There are a brace of Group 1 races for this generation at Saint-Cloud, with the Criterium International over a mile seeing Marc Chan's Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) looking to uphold the form of the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp Oct. 3. Beating the aforementioned Noble Truth and the re-opposing Ancient Rome (War Front) in that seven-furlong contest, he is bred to stay this trip being out of a full-sister to Highland Reel (Ire) but Ancient Rome already has winning form at the distance having captured ParisLongchamp's G3 Prix des Chenes Sept. 9 and he was finishing to real effect when third in the Lagardere. Aidan O'Brien has won this five times and saddles a duo headed by Glounthaune (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) who is having his third run on consecutive Saturdays having finished sixth in Newmarket's G1 Dewhurst S. and won Leopardstown's G3 Killavullan S.

In the other Group 1 contest, the Criterium de Saint-Cloud staged over 10 furlongs, the Oct. 9 G3 Zetland S. one-two Goldspur (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Unconquerable (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) re-oppose, with Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' a head in front of the Donnacha O'Brien trainee in that Newmarket contest over this trip. Trainer Charlie Appleby said, “We were pleased with how Goldspur won his race at Newmarket, when his stamina came to the fore. He broke his maiden on soft ground, so conditions in France shouldn't be an issue. This is another step up, but looks the right race for him and he brings a nice profile into it.”

Lady Bamford's Dreamflight (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who took this venue's G3 Prix Thomas Bryon over a mile at the start of the month, and the Wertheimers' Sept. 15 Compiegne maiden and Oct. 7 course conditions scorer Martel (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) make up a two-pronged assault from the Andre Fabre stable, while James Ferguson sends across the Sept. 29 G3 Prix de Conde winner El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) who showed that he had the stamina for nine furlongs in that Chantilly contest.

At Newbury, the G3 Virgin Bet Horris Hill S. over seven furlongs sees the Lagardere runner-up Noble Truth bid to make his experience tell and trainer Charlie Appleby said, “We were obviously delighted with Noble Truth's performance in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, when he showed that he can cope with heavy ground. He looks the one to beat if he can bring that level of form to the table again.” He faces the Never Say Die Partnership's impressive Sept. 14 Yarmouth six-furlong novice scorer Light Infantry (Fr) (Fast Company {Ire}) from the David Simcock stable armed with some smart juveniles this season, and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Dubai Poet (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) who was third behind Coroebus and Imperial Fighter in the Autumn S. “He didn't quite see out the stiff mile at Newmarket and the return to seven furlongs on testing ground should be right up his street,” trainer Roger Varian, who is also represented on the card by Staghawk Stables' Sept. 25 Newmarket maiden winner Miss Carol Ann (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in the Listed Radley S. for 2-year-old fillies over the same trip.

Leopardstown's Classic pointer is the nine-furlong G3 Eyrefield S., where a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' clash in Newtown Anner Stud Farm's Duke de Sessa (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Gillian Khosla's Caroline Herschel (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). While the former has disappointed since his impressive Aug. 21 Curragh maiden win when sixth of seven over the same track and seven-furlong trip in the Sept. 12 G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S., Caroline Herschel is set to be tested for the first time following her 3 1/2-length debut success over a mile at Killarney Oct. 2. Jim Bolger's Boundless Ocean (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) appears for the third time in nine days and looks to gain recompense for his luckless fourth in Saturday's G3 Killavullan S. at Leopardstown, while two other maiden winners who look to have more to give are the Donnacha O'Brien-trained Flaxman Stables Ireland homebred Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) and J P McManus's Good Heavens (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) from Joseph O'Brien's yard.

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Lagardere For Angel Bleu

Marc Chan's Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), not seen since winning the G2 Vintage S. at Glorious Goodwood on July 27, will resurface in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Oct. 3 at ParisLongchamp.

A progressive colt for trainer Ralph Beckett, Angel Bleu broke his maiden at Salisbury on Apr. 25 before taking a Pontefract conditions race on May 28, and he won the Vintage just three days after finishing second in the Listed Pat Eddery S. at Ascot.

“All being well he'll head for the Lagardere on Arc weekend–that's the plan,” said Beckett. “I think Longchamp will suit him really well. We had aspirations to go to The Curragh for the [G1] National S., but the ground was so quick over there and as a result we thought we'd hang on for Longchamp and hope it rained.”

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