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From France To Doncaster: The Key Pointers For The Premier Yearling Sale

DONCASTER, England–A serious tempo was set to the European yearling sale season at Arqana last week with strong trade recorded in the August and V2 sales. If the momentum is to continue into the Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale this week, Goffs could be in for a productive week.

G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Sacred Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was sourced here 12 months ago for £52,000 while similarly smart two-year-old Jasour (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) cost £85,000.

Both juveniles have flown the flag for the Donny yearlings with their exploits on the track this season and, judging by the footfall on the sales ground on Sunday, there is a long queue of buyers eager to find the next Sacred Angel and Jasour.

The two-day sale kicks off on Tuesday at 10am and there are plenty of pointers to take from Arqana that could shape the way things play out at Doncaster and beyond.

Blue Point Here To Stay

There was huge expectation placed on Blue Point's first runners this season and he has lived up to his billing with a Royal Ascot success and 25 individual winners in Britain and Ireland alone.

Big Evs (Ire) has been the flagbearer for Blue Point (Ire), with Mick Appleby's colt following up his Windsor Castle victory at Royal Ascot with a Group 3 success in the Molecomb at Goodwood before running down the field in last Friday's Nunthorpe.

Blue Point has eight horses rated 90 or above in Britain and Ireland and these are the sort of statistics that are willing buyers to reinvest in the Kildangan Stud-based stallion's yearlings.

An average of €191,364 for 11 yearlings sold at an aggregate of €2,105,000 at the August Sale would suggest that Blue Point has more than justified the belief placed in him by breeders. His yearlings won't be easy to buy this week.

Pinatubo and Earthlight Off To A Strong Start

The strength of the Darley roster was there for everyone to see at Arqana. If it wasn't a son or a daughter of Dubawi (Ire) selling for a couple of million euros, well then it was one of the legendary stallion's sons Night Of Thunder (Ire) or Ghaiyyath (Ire) who were catching the imagination.

Pinatubo (Ire) was the one of the most popular freshman sires at Arqana while fellow Darley stallion Earthlight (Ire) certainly struck a chord with his first yearlings.

Of the nine Pinatubos to sell in the August Sale, they averaged €195,000 with buyers including Wesley Ward, Oliver St Lawrence, Robson Aguiar and more.

There are three Pinatubos and eight Earthlights on offer at Doncaster. One would wager that they will be in high demand.

Sergei Set To Make a Splash

If the first yearlings by Sergei Prokofiev (Can) are as popular as the foals were, the Whitsbury Manor Stud-based stallion could be in for a good week.

Sergei Prokofiev embarked on his stud career on a fee of £6,500 and rewarded breeders with an average of almost £30,000 for 52 foals sold in Britain and Ireland in 2022.

Last weekend was a good one for the Scat Daddy line, as pointed out by Coolmore's Mark Byrne on Twitter, with Ten Sovereigns (Ire), Justify, and Sioux Nation responsible for a number of smart winners.

Good judges Julie Woods, Freddy Tylicki, Larry Stratton, Harry Dutfield and Tom Whelan nominated the progeny of Sergei Prokofiev as being ones to keep the right side of in the TDN last year and plenty can be expected from him this week.

Hello Youmzain One To Take From France

Fair to say Hello Youmzain (Fr) really captured the imagination at Arqana. Etreham's newbie had 19 sell for an average of €128,789 in the August Sale and 12 sell for €42,458 at V2.

Many are tipping him to scoop champion first-season sire honours in France next year and it's easy to see why given how well his stock was received.

The dual Group 1-winning sprinter is represented by two yearlings this week and the momentum could continue to build behind Hello Youmzain at Donny.

Golden Horde A Dark One?

Golden Horde has just one yearling at Doncaster [219] but he could be an interesting sire judging by how his first yearlings were received at Arqana.

They came in different shapes and sizes last week, with Peter and Ross Doyle signing for a strapping colt from Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces draft for €80,000 in the August Sale catching the eye. Six of the seven yearlings by the G1 Commonwealth Cup winner sold for an average of €35,833 at the V2 Sale and it was notable that Richard Fahey, Jean-Claude Rouget and Sheik Sultan Al Khalifa featured among the list of buyers at V2.

Standing at Montfort et Preaux for €8,000, Golden Horde won't have many yearlings to represent him in Britain and Ireland this year. Along with lot 219, a filly consigned by Kildaragh Stud, Golden Horde has a couple of yearlings to sell at Book 3 at Tattersalls.

Nevertheless, judging by his stock at Arqana, Golden Horde remains an interesting young sire at an affordable level.

Breeze-up Handlers Out In Force

Kenny Rogers famously said that one of the gambler's secrets to survival is knowing when to walk away from the table and there was plenty of that in France from the breeze-up fraternity.

While Mick and Sarah Murphy from Longways Stables picked up five yearlings, Tally-Ho Stud added two and different operators like Matt Eves of Star Bloodstock were dotted around the sales results across both sales, the trip to Deauville didn't yield much for the majority of breeze-up handlers.

This will be the week where many operators buy their first breezers for the upcoming season and that will add to what is expected to be strong trade.

Other Newbies To Note

We were provided with an early glimpse of the yearlings by Arizona (Ire), Kameko, Mohaather (GB), Threat (Ire), Without Parole (GB) and Shaman (Ire) at Arqana but Doncaster will mark the debut Far Above (Ire), King Of Change (GB), River Boyne (Ire) and Sands Of Mali (Fr).

Of that bunch, Mohaather could be the pick. His sole yearling failed to sell at the August Sale but he has a nice bunch of yearlings to go under the hammer this week and, with a foal average of over £40,000 last year, plenty can be expected from his yearlings.

The post From France To Doncaster: The Key Pointers For The Premier Yearling Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Dark Angel’s Angel Bleu Pounces Late For Celebration Mile Triumph

Marc Chan's 2021 G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and G1 Criterium International hero Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}–Cercle De La Vie {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) had been in and out of form in eight outings since registering those career highlights as a juvenile and backed up a fourth in last month's G2 Summer Mile with a last-gasp win in Saturday's G2 William Hill Celebration Mile at Goodwood.

Fourth through halfway and scrubbed along approaching the quarter-mile marker, the 9-2 chance was afforded a dream seam underneath the stands' side rail inside the final furlong and kept on strongly under late rousting to deny 'TDN Rising Star' Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) by a half-length in the dying embers. Nurlan Bizakov's slow-starting Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) made relentless headway in the straight and finished 1 1/4 lengths adrift in third.

The post Dark Angel’s Angel Bleu Pounces Late For Celebration Mile Triumph appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Racing World Mourns Death of Lady O’Reilly

Highly successful and longstanding owner-breeder Lady Chryss O'Reilly, the owner of Haras de la Louviere in Normandy, has died at the age of 73.

As recently as Saturday, she was represented as the breeder of two Group 2 winners in Britain and Ireland. At Newbury, Witch Hunter (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) won the Hungerford S., while Vespertilio (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), bred in partnership with Ecurie des Monceaux, won the Debutante S. at the Curragh.

As ever, Lady O'Reilly was present at Arqana in Deauville during the last week, where her consignment of yearlings once again put her among the top ten vendors of the August Sale. Haras de la Louiviere also topped Arqana's V.2 Sale on Tuesday with a Kodiac (GB) colt out of Rainbow Vale (Ire) who was sold for €200,000 to Arthur Hoyeau.

Born in America in 1950 as Chryssanthie Goulandris, she held dual US and Greek citizenship. Her parents John Goulandris and Maria Lemos hailed from two Greek shipping dynasties, and she shared her passion for racing and breeding with two of her uncles: George Goulandris owned the 1962 Oaks winner Monade (Fr), while Constantin Goulandris was the former owner of La Louviere and bred two champion trotters.

As well as operating under her own banners of Skymarc Farm and Petra Bloodstock Agency, Lady O'Reilly was also one of the breeding partners in Ecurie des Monceaux. With her husband, the businessman and former Irish rugby international Sir Anthony O'Reilly, she previously owned Castlemartin Stud in Ireland, and she was a former chair of the Irish National Stud.

Lady O'Reilly's achievements as a Thoroughbred breeder span almost 50 years and include the Group 1 winners and influential sires Highest Honor (Fr) and Lawman (Fr), as well as the latter's fellow Classic-wining half-sister Latice (Ire). She also bred the 1996 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Helissio (Fr), G1 Pretty Polly S. winner Chinese White (Ire), and G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Lightening Pearl (Ire) among a host of stakes winners. She was inducted into the ITBA Hall of Fame in 2013.

A hugely popular figure on the European scene, Lady O'Reilly supported a wide range of trainers, including Nicolas Clement, Pascal Bary and Henri-Alex Pantall in France, and Kevin Prendergast, Dermot Weld and Eddie Lynam in Ireland, where her distinctive black-and-white hooped silks with blue cap were carried to victory by the Group 1 winners Rebelline (Ire) and Voleuse De Couers (Ire). She also enjoyed much success with the late British trainer David 'Dandy' Nicholls, who trained for her the likes of group winners Sovereign Debt (Ire), Moss Vale (Ire) and Peace Offering (Ire).

Eddie Lynam, who trained the G2 Sapphire S. winner Soffia (Ire) among other black-type winners for Lady O'Reilly, told TDN, “She was a very kind woman. I was fortunate to have trained for her for 15 years, maybe more, and she was a pleasure to train for as she was very knowledgeable. She will be sadly missed in racing throughout the world, never mind here, where we were very fond of her. She used to come and visit and she was great fun. We did everything bar win a Group 1 for her: we were second in a Group 1 and won a Group 2, Group 3, Listed and all the rest.

“She was great for racing, she was chair to the National Stud here in Ireland and she was a fabulous breeder. My family and I were all very fond of her and we will miss her. My thoughts are with Sir Anthony and the rest of her family.”

Henri Bozo of Ecurie des Monceaux shared Lynam's view. He said on Thursday, “It's a sad day. She's been amazing and she's a huge loss for many people. She was such a supportive and kind person and she made our industry nicer and more human. This is a big shock but she has enjoyed the last days of her life doing what she loved.”

He continued, “Through Patricia Boutin I got to know Chryss at the beginning of my career and she helped me like she helped so many young people. When we started Monceaux she was very happy to go into partnership. She was here all the time. She was a fantastic person when you had to give her bad news, and she was so happy when there was good news. On Saturday we won the Debutante Stakes together as breeders, and she and Patricia and I were in a box together in Deauville and she had a big smile on her face. It is my last memory of her and it is very special.”

Arqana's Eric Hoyeau and Freddy Powell paid tribute to Lady O'Reilly in a joint-statement which read, “It is with deep sadness that we have heard the news this morning. Lady O'Reilly was at the sales this week, greeting everyone entering the B yard with a smile. Many of her friends stopped by to chat with her; we believe that her last few days were happy ones, surrounded by her cherished Thoroughbreds and horse people.

“Chryss has been selling in Deauville for decades and everyone will remember her champions Highest Honor, Helissio, Lawman or Latice. Last Saturday, she was delighted when two of her graduates won Group 2s in England and Ireland, then on Tuesday, La Louviere sold the V.2 top price.

“We would like to express our deepest condolences to her family, her friends and all the people who cared for her horses on her stud farms. Deauville sales will never be the same without her.”

Such notable success on the racecourse and in the sale ring in the last few days of her life are just reward for an individual who put so much time and thought into her own operation and the sport itself. That Lady O'Reilly had raced so many of the horses whose names appear on the page of her sale-topping Kodiac yearling, including his damsire Moss Vale and second dam Rainbows For All (Ire), speaks volumes for her enduring contribution to the world of Thoroughbred breeding.

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Monday’s Observations: €460K Half to Grand Prix de Paris Hero Onesto Set for Clairefontaine Bow

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Monday's Insights features Before Night Falls, a half to G1SW Onesto.

14.23 Clairefontaine, Mdn, €30,000, unraced 2yo, f, 7fT
White Birch Farm's €460,000 Arqana August acquisition BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (Gleneagles {Ire}) is a half-sister to last term's G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and debuts for Jean-Claude Rouget in this newcomers' test. She faces a cast of 11 which features His Highness The Aga Khan's Francis-Henri Graffard trainee Vezdara (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), who is the fourth foal produced by G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches runner-up Veda (Fr) and thus a half-sister to MGSW G1 Prix Royal-Oak and G1 Prix de Royallieu placegetter Valia (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

The post Monday’s Observations: €460K Half to Grand Prix de Paris Hero Onesto Set for Clairefontaine Bow appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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