Catalogue For Arqana’s October Yearling Sale Revealed

The catalogue for the five-day Arqana October Yearling Sale, featuring 781 lots, is now online. Past graduates of the sale, held from Oct. 17-21 this year, brought home a quartet of group/graded victories this last weekend, with Jadoomi (Fr) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Iresine (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}) winning at the Group 2 level in Ireland and France, respectively. Stateside, Bran (Fr) (Muhaarar {GB}) claimed the GII Turf Sprint S. and Avenue De France (Fr) (Cityscape {GB}) landed the GII John C. Mabee S. Beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17, lots 1-225 will go under the hammer, while on Tuesday, Oct. 18, Part I will conclude with lots 226-333 starting at 2 p.m. Part II of the catalogue will also begin at 2 p.m. on Oct. 19 (lots 334-498) and Oct. 20 (lots 499-628), and the fifth, and final day of the sale, Part III, will start at 11 a.m. for lots 629-781.

Some of the highlights of the catalogue include the following siblings to Group/Grade 1 winners: lot 42 is a Mehmas (Ire) half-brother to Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) from Haras d'Etreham; Taiba (Gun Runner)'s Waldgeist (GB) half-brother is lot 51 from Haras de l'Hotellerie; and Classic winner Dream And Do (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr})'s full-brother (lot 157) is part of the Haras du Logis Saint Germain draft.

All the colts and fillies presented at the October Yearling Sale will be eligible for the Arqana Series at Deauville and ParisLongchamp in 2023.

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Siyouni: From Syndication To Stardom

Just as the illustrious Pivotal (GB) was retiring from stud duties at the age of 28, Siyouni (Fr), who can certainly now be regarded as his most significant sire son, was reaching the peak of his powers with his first French championship. He finished last season by adding a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner to his burgeoning CV, and this year Siyouni is currently responsible for the joint-top-rated horse in the world in the dual French Classic and Eclipse S. winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr).

At the age of 14, Siyouni is riding the crest of a wave. For at least the last four seasons he has been the most expensive stallion in France by a wide margin, his 2021 fee rising to an all-time high of €140,000. And his popularity at the sales is undiminished–15 of his yearlings passed through the recent Arqana August Sale for an average price in excess of €300,000. Bahrain's KHK Racing bought the most expensive of these at €1.5 million and Coolmore, doubtless emboldened by their previous success with the stallion, gave €650,000 for a filly from Ecurie des Monceaux, birthplace of their young Arc-winning stallion Sottsass (Fr).

How much of a permanent mark Siyouni will make on the breed remains to be seen, but already he is the sire of not just an Arc winner but five individual Classic winners with 17 Group 1 victories to their credit, as well as the GI E P Taylor S. heroine Etoile (Fr). Things, however, could have been so different, with the horse's story reduced perhaps to a footnote in Thoroughbred history as the winner of the 2009 G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

“It's not to our credit, but Siyouni wasn't very far from getting castrated and sent to Hong Kong,” says Georges Rimaud, manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France.

“He was certainly a very good racehorse, and at two in particular, but then at three, he unfortunately did not manage to win a race. He placed in several races, and was second in the Prix Jean Prat. But we were left wondering what we were going to do with him. Was it enough to stand him? Was he the type that people be looking for?”

It turns out that Siyouni was indeed the type that breeders were happy to take a chance on, though his appeal was broadened, and the risk shared, by the Aga Khan Studs taking the decision to syndicate him–a move not made by the operation since Darshaan (GB) retired to stud in 1985. A good omen, if one were needed.

“We syndicated him to bring in a bit of money for one thing, and then also I always feel that if you get more participants around something, whether it's a horse or something else, you dilute the risk a little bit. If you are successful you are going to probably dilute the revenue as well, but I thought it was worth the shot with that horse. So we agreed–all our team and His Highness–agreed to syndicate him at a small price of €28,000, and he would stand at €7,000 for the standard syndication.”

The gamble worked, at least in the initial sense of encouraging breeders to use the stallion. “He very quickly covered 150 mares or more,” Rimaud recalls. “He was always quite busy. We ended up with quite a few foals that looked very nice. And you know when you have good foals out there because people come back. We had the same demand the following year, and the following year.”

After that, it was up to Siyouni himself, or indeed his runners. With 14 first-crop winners in 2014, he was France's leading first-season sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds. That group included the G3 Prix de Cabourg winner Ervedya (Fr), who would reward the Aga Khan and Siyouni's former trainer Alain de Royer Dupre by becoming her sire's first Classic winner in the following year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches before travelling to Ascot to win the G1 Coronation S.

“Every beginner was winning,” says Rimaud. “So we felt pretty good about it. And then we produced our first Group 1 winner by him, and then you don't have anything else to do. I mean, it all happens. The rest is, as some people say, it's history. But I am not sure the history is finished: it's ongoing. He has produced probably around 150 foals every year.”

There is no hiding the pleasure that Siyouni's success has brought the operation as Rimaud recounts his career to date. It is of course not the first time the Aga Khan Studs has retired a homebred to stand at one of its farms–far from it–but perhaps the somewhat unexpected nature of the steep upward rise, from a relatively lowly stud fee, echoing that of his own celebrated sire in England, makes it all the more satisfying.

“We're thrilled with it,” he says. “This is the horse who was born and raised on our farm. We bred the mare. Everything was homemade. He was born at Saint-Crespin and he was broken in at our breaking farm. From there, he was sent to Alain de Royer Dupre, who found him quite precocious. You know, this is not a trademark for us, to have precocious horses.”

Rimaud continues, “You don't expect to go from sort of low grade to elite. That was the way it went, starting at €7,000. I don't want to insult anyone who used him in the early years, but at €7,000, he improved the quality of the foals of those mares considerably. As we say in French, he's an améliorateur [enhancer], and he really does that.”

The motto of the Aga Khan Studs has long been 'success breeds success' and in this instance it has been doubly true for the breeders who not only sent their mares but also took a share in the young stallion at the outset. Rimaud is quick to acknowledge those who have helped to establish Siyouni at Haras de Bonneval.

He says, “The thing was that the Aga Khan Studs had not syndicated horses for a long time, so this was almost a new thing. People adhered to that syndication, and were very pleased to come in and do something with us.

“They've invested, they believed in the horse, they put their mares in. And some of them had to leave because of the pressure of selling their shares at higher prices and then not necessarily being able to go back to the horse, which is also a frustrating situation where you have people that have helped Siyouni make it with lower stud fees.”

In May it was announced that Siyouni, who is out of the Danehill mare Sichilla (Ire), whose offspring also include Group/Grade 1 winner Siyouma (Ire) (Medicean {GB}), would be available to cover to Southern Hemisphere time at a fee of €100,000. He has had scant representation in Australia thus far, but among his six runners there are four black-type performers, including the listed-winning juvenile See You In Spring (Aus). Her Darley-bred dam Spring Colours (GB) (Shamardal), who is out of a half-sister to the champion miler Goldikova (Ire), was exported to Australia in 2017.

“We were tempted to shuttle him several times,” Rimaud says. “When he was just about to make it and we felt that maybe it was the time to take that opportunity, we had some offers in Western Australia and different places, from Anthony Mithen. When we did the deal with the horse originally it wasn't even considered, but then we had real interest when he started to do well.”

Ultimately it was decided not to take the risk, and Siyouni has hardly been short of suitors in France in the intervening years. Indeed, he can be credited with playing a key role in the resurgence of the French bloodstock scene over the last decade, along with his fellow Normandy-based sires Le Havre (Ire) and Kendargent (Fr), who retired to stud the year before him and are both now recognised as internationally important stallions. At the time of Siyouni's retirement, the most expensive stallion in the country was Elusive City at €15,000.

“His success has undoubtedly helped us and it has helped the stallion stations around France,” says Rimaud. “It gave them confidence that it was possible to have a stallion of that calibre and sell the nominations and make it work. They have done a good job with Le Havre as well, and the stallion operations in France have all benefited from this. I don't think it's solely due to Siyouni, but it certainly reinforced the view that it is possible. France has actually become a sort of a platform where international investors can come in easily.”

The generally accepted rule is that only one in ten stallions retiring to stud really makes it. A grand racing career and the bluest of bloodlines offer no guaranteed path to success. Siyouni of course did not emanate from humble origins, but equally he was not initially afforded the calibre of mares of some of the other stallions he now tussles with in the tables.

Rimaud himself gives a nod to the hand fate plays in such developments. He says, “It's incredible really, that's exactly what it is. And you can't predict these things. It just happens.”

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Rossi Aims To Seal Best Season With BC Win

For several centuries, Chantilly has been considered the heartland of the French racing industry and the hub for the country’s major trainers. But in recent years, a number of names have proved that it is possible to dine at racing’s top table while maintaining the bulk of your stable away from the Paris region.

Currently leading the trainers’ list and set to be crowned champion for the third time is Jean-Claude Rouget, whose main stable is in Pau but who also has a fairly major satellite operation farther north in Deauville. He leads the Chantilly duo of Andre Fabre and Francis Graffard, and in fourth, after a breakthrough season, is Marseille-based Frederic Rossi.

Rossi is a familiar name in the French provinces, where the trainer’s father Henri carved a hugely successful niche in the saddle, mopping up the major provincial races in which the Parisian jockeys would rarely be sighted. Henri turned his hand to training and was followed in this profession by Frederic and his brother Jacques, who now no longer trains but has in turn been followed by his two sons Charley and Cedric.

For Frederic, this strange year following racing’s spring shutdown could hardly have started in better fashion when Dream And Do (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) became her trainer’s first Group 1 and Classic winner in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. The season has ended pretty well, too, with juvenile Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) posting one of the most impressive performances of the Arc meeting in winning the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere by eight lengths. In a year of firsts, Rossi will next week make his Breeders’ Cup debut as Sealiway attempts to round off his year in style in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

He says, “Sealiway left France on 30 October and it’s very exciting for us to have our first runner in America at the Breeders’ Cup. It could be the perfect end to what has so far been a very good year.”

That very good year could have been an extraordinary one had Alkuin (Ire) (Maxios {GB}) not been run down close home by Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) in the G1 Prix du Cadran 24 hours before Sealiway’s memorable triumph. As it was, the meeting will long be remembered by the extended Rossi family as Frederic’s nephews Charley and Cedric saddled the winner and the third in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) and Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}). The latter followed up that performance with victory in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs at Deauville on Oct. 20.

“It has been a bit of a strange year because it was the year of Covid, so for most people it has been a bad year but for me it has actually been very good,” says Rossi, who, like his nephews is based at Calas training centre near Marseille in the south of France. “I knew I had a good 2-year-old last year when Dream And Do won the Prix Miesque, and she went through the winter perfectly and managed to confirm how good she was in the Guineas.”

Only Rouget has trained more winners this year than Rossi, whose tally at the time of writing was 95. It is a figure all the more remarkable given that the 52-year-old has had something of a stop-start career since he took out his training licence in 1992. For ten years he was employed as a private trainer for one of France’s leading owner-breeders, Jean-Claude Seroul, and, though that arrangement ceased in 2017, Rossi currently trains three horses for Seroul.

“I started again four years ago with four horses and I now also have a team of about 25 at a satellite stable in Chantilly,” says Rossi, who has raced 144 different horses this season. “I received a few new horses, like Alkuin, and the 2-year-olds came in and they were a good bunch.”

He continues, “When you start working as a trainer you dream of having runners at the Arc meeting. It was an unbelievable day. To have Charley winning with Tiger Tanaka and Cedric being third, as well as Alkuin being second in the Cadran. It was just amazing.”

Dream And Do was sold privately to Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm not long after her Classic success and is no longer with Rossi. Sealiway has swiftly taken her place as stable star and races for a partnership of two of Rossi’s major patrons, the colt’s breeder Guy Pariente, who also stands Sealiway’s sire Galiway at his Haras de Colleville, and the Chehboub family’s Haras de la Gousserie, which has 13 horses in training with Rossi.

The trainer says, “When I worked for Jean-Claude Seroul I had very good horses in training and that gave me great experience in learning how to travel horses. Then when I got new owners and the Calas training centre was improved it was a huge help. We used to have 30 yearlings in training every year and now we have 50 and the quality has also gone up. Haras de la Gousserie have started to invest and sent me better horses and the timing was perfect.”

Rossi continues, “But all of us [who train in the south] have to thank Jean-Claude Rouget for showing us what was possible. He made us think bigger. In the old days when you were in Marseille or the west you didn’t move from there unless you had a really good horse, and then it was likely that the horse would be sold. Now it doesn’t matter where you are based. You can train in Calas or in Chantilly and go to places like Royal Ascot.”

The trainer now pays a weekly visit to his smaller team in Chantilly, where he once served as assistant trainer to John Hammond.

“This is the second year I have had horses there and I go up on Wednesday evening and then watch them at exercise on Thursday morning,” he explains. “I send up the horses who I feel are better suited to the Parisian programme and the only way that works is to have someone you really trust. Juando Chavarrias runs the yard there and he works so well with me.”

In Sealiway, Rossi is of course entitled to dream of further Classic success in 2021, but first there is one final important engagement this year in Kentucky.

He says of his first Breeders’ Cup challenger, “To begin with Sealiway was regarded as a fast horse, a six-furlong horse, but then I realised that was maybe not the case, so we went to the Prix Roland Chambure and he got a bit lost over seven. Though he’s fast he needs some time to find his momentum. As he has matured he has got better with his early speed but he still needs time to work his way into a race.”

Sealiway, who won one of the first 2-year-old races of the season in France when racing resumed on May 12, has now triumphed in four of his six starts, with all his wins coming on ground ranging between good to soft and heavy, as it was at ParisLongchamp for Arc weekend.

Rossi continues, “It looks like the ground at Keeneland could be softer than usual. The soft ground at Longchamp may have helped him a bit but perhaps not as much as one might think. He has been maturing all season and he peaked at that time.”

The trainer is also unconcerned about Sealiway stepping up to a mile for the first time at the Breeders’ Cup.

“Next year we will probably start him in the Prix de Fontainebleau before the Guineas, but I think he will stay farther so I wouldn’t rule out the [Prix du] Jockey Club,” he says. “But first we will see what happens at the Breeders’ Cup. This is a great way to end this year we are very excited about going to America.”

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Yoshida Purchases Pouliches Winner

Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm has purchased last month’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Dream And Do (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) privately, Jour de Galop reports.

The deal was brokered by Emmanuel de Seroux of Narvick International, who said, “Dream And Do is a very pretty filly who is precocious with abundant class and speed, and she comes from an excellent maternal line. She will continue her career with [trainer] Frederic Rossi before retiring to Northern Farm in Japan. She matches perfectly the type of mare that Katsumi likes to have.”

Indeed, Yoshida enjoyed a purple patch over the winter with mares sourced from Japan; he purchased the dams of G1 Tenno Sho winner Fierement (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and triple Group 1 winner Admire Mars (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) at Arqana’s December Breeding Stock Sale, and the dam of last year’s Japanese Horse of the Year Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) was a private transaction. Yoshida has continued to be active at the top of the market at that sale, and his brother Teruya has also made a big splash for French-bred mares, his collection including Classic winners Avenir Certain (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), La Cressonniere (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) and Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}), who has already producing Japanese champion and Classic winner Soul Stirring (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}).

Dream And Do had been previously campaigned as a homebred by Haras Du Logis Saint Germain, having been led out unsold at €80,000 from Arqana’s August yearling sale. Out of the placed Librettist mare Venetias Dream (Ire), Dream And Do is from the family of Group 1-winning miler Charm Spirit (Ire) and influential broodmare Fanfreluche.

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