By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin
DEAUVILLE, France–As the co-breeder of the outstanding matriarch Urban Sea, Maurice Lagasse will forever be famed in the racing world but it is another family that has put his Gestut Zur Kuste in the spotlight of late, and on Saturday night his Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to two Group 1 winners topped the August Sale at €2.4 million.
Oliver St Lawrence is no stranger to plucking expensive yearlings from Arqana's flagship sale and it was his name on the docket for lot 214 after he outbid Anthony Stroud on behalf of Bahraini interests for the sibling of last weekend's G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and his full-brother, the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Wooded (Ire). The transaction put the seal on a memorable day for Nicolas de Chambure of Haras d'Etreham, who clinched the G2 Prix du Calvados with co-owner Craig Bernick and their filly Les Pavots (Ire) before racing back to the sales grounds to oversee a momentous evening for his Etreham draft, which consigned the filly on behalf of longstanding client Lagasse.
The filly's dam Frida La Blonde (Fr) is a daughter of the late Etreham stallion Elusive City and was co-bred by Lagasse before racing in his colours.
Reflecting on the family, and the filly's second dam Firm Friend (Affirmed), Lagasse said, “I loved her immensely. She was ordinary looking, but she broke her maiden at two at Evry, and she beat a very good filly in Sky Paradise, and then she won a Listed, she beat a Breeders' Cup winner in Lit De Justice, and a multiple graded stakes winner in Borodislew.
He added of Frida La Blonde, “The dam is empty this year, but she should be going back to Wootton Bassett because Dubawi is too expensive.”
After being slapped on the back by almost everyone who passed him on his way out of the ring, a beaming de Chambure added, “There was more excitement than pressure, and I'm glad she's going to a great home. Maurice was a friend of my grandfather and has been with us for many, many years, so it was a great thrill to have this filly for him.”
Etreham was also the vendor of Bucanero Fuerte at last year's sale, for €165,000 to Robson Aguiar, as well as €90,000 October graduate Wooded.
St Lawrence, whose clients have purchased the filly as a future foundation mare, said, “She is a nice filly. She has her few little faults but so did her brother here last year. Hopefully he can go on and win a few more Group 1s; he won very easily the other day at the Curragh.”
He added, “We knew that she had to be making somewhere around two million-plus. I don't know how much more was in the tank. She's worth virtually that if she wins an ordinary race.”
The Sons Also Rise
It wasn't just the progeny of Dubawi that was in high demand as his stallion sons Night Of Thunder (Ire) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) played star roles with yearlings selling for €660,000 and €600,000 respectively.
The Night Of Thunder colt (196) was consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux on behalf of breeder Guy Heald and benefited from a major recent update when his three-parts-brother Arabian Crown (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), who made €600,000 at this sale 12 months ago, won the Stonehenge S. for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby on Wednesday.
The future looks bright for Classic candidate Arabian Crown, as indeed it does for the stallion sons of Dubawi, with Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown lauding Night Of Thunder after signing for the colt on behalf of his existing and successful client.
He said, “I thought this was an absolute smasher. Night Of Thunder, for me, is a stallion who is going to explode in the next few years. The mare has done it all–she had a very impressive two-year-old winner by Dubawi the other day.”
Blandford Bloodstock has signed for four yearlings for a total spend of €2,180,000 over the past two days and Brown added, “This colt has come from an exceptional farm. I haven't bought many horses from Henri [Bozo] over the years because I haven't been able to but the record of Monceaux speaks for itself. He's for the same existing client and he will go back to England and then we will make plans.”
It was Anthony Stroud, buying on behalf of Godolphin, who snapped up the Ghaiyyath colt from Haras des Capucines for €600,000. Out of Dubai Opera (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), an own-sister to Group 3 winner Lockwood (Ire), lot 195 was the third yearling Godolphin bought from as many offerings by the stallion on the day, having snapped up lot 176 and 160 earlier in the session. That worked out at a total spend of €1,365,000 on yearlings by Ghaiyyath by the powerful operation.
Day Two Talking Points
- The figures were similarly strong to those posted on Friday. Comparing Saturday's trade to the corresponding day 12 months ago, the aggregate, average, median and clearance rate all climbed. Of the 82 lots offered on Saturday, 70 were sold, resulting in an 85% clearance rate compared to 81% in 2022. The average also rose 2.6% to €239,914 and the aggregate was up 10.49% to €16,794,000.
- Al Shaqab has certainly made its presence felt over the past few days. Sheikh Joaan Al Thani has been spotted on the sales ground and he clearly means business given the operation has already added eight yearlings for a total spend of €2,885,000.
- Godolphin's support of Ghaiyyath (Ire) was noticeable with the operation signing for all three yearlings by the Darley freshman stallion for €1,365,000.
- It was perhaps unsurprising for a sale held in Blue Rose Cen's home country, but the progeny of Churchill (Ire) held up well. He's hot at the moment, which was evident in the fact that three of his yearlings sold for an average of €226,667.
- Helped by the rip-roaring €525,000 sale of the Sottsass (Fr) colt by Coulonces to Mitsu Nakauchida, the progeny of the Arc winner continued to make a big impression among buyers. He's had eight yearlings sell for an average of €227,125, which sees him performing favourably against a lot of proven sires.
- It shouldn't go unnoticed the excellent start that Pinatubo (Ire) has made, either. He's holding up at a rock-solid €207,857 for seven yearlings sold over the past two days.
- Romanised had just one horse in the sale but it was a notable one with a filly by the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Jacques le Marois winner, who stands at Haras de Bouquetot for €7,000, making €170,000 to Haras de Meautry. In an era where high-class sprinters are rushed off to stud much quicker than even classy milers like Romanised, it would be nice to see the former Ken Condon-trained star do well at stud.
Family Ties Run Deep for Coulonces and Sottsass
As the last yearlings by the late Le Havre (Ire) go through the ring in Arqana, there was a special moment for his breeders the Sundstrom family, who, in partnership with long-term friend Charlotte Hutchinson, bred the most expensive member of the first crop of Sottsass (Fr). The colt (lot 183) out of Dalakania (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) will race in Japan after being bought by trainer Mitsu Nakauchida for €525,000.
Like Le Havre, Sottsass won the Prix du Jockey Club, and he also has close ties to Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces operation, in which she is assisted by her daughters Moa and Lillie.
“I thought Sottsass was one of the most tremendous racehorses, but also, when Moa was little, the first mare that she presented [at the sales] was Premiere Creation, who is the dam of the dam of Sottsass. So the dam of Sottsass was born at our place,” said Sundstrom.
“It's been an amazing family and when we do our matings with Charlotte we take into account a lot of things that we think will be good for us. It's not always about the market, and this was very close to the heart.”
She continued, “Sottsass is a beautiful horse and we really wanted to use him. When [this colt] was born we then decided that we had to cover another mare with him and we have a stunning foal out of a Wildenstein mare that will come here next year, and we have mares in foal to Sottsass. There's a lot of emotion behind these coverings, there's always a story behind it.”
Wiping away tears, she added, “It's life-changing. [This colt is] so much like Le Havre. He has the same intelligence. I can't wait to see him run.”
Charlotte Hutchinson was for a long time a familiar face on the French scene and an integral part of Coulonces Sales. In recent years she has returned home to England but still keeps six mares in partnership with Sundstrom, including Dalakania, whom they bought from the Wertheimer family in 2014 for €16,000.
“We have a long history and the whole team at Coulonces has done a great job prepping him. They are excellent at what they do,” Hutchinson said after making a star guest appearance on the shank to take the Sottsass colt through the ring, her smile growing wider as he neared his final sale price.
“Anna has made it possible for all of us. I'm working back at home with my family on the farm but it's nice to come back and be part of the team again.”
Superpowers Do Battle for Bourgeauville's Colt
Juddmonte and Godolphin locked horns for a colt by Camelot (GB) from the select draft of his breeder Haras de Bourgeauville, with Juddmonte's Simon Mockridge having the final say at €520,000 for lot 154.
The colt is the second foal of the treble winner Bella Bollide (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), herself a half-sister to Es Que (GB) (Inchinor {GB}), the dam of three group winners. The third dam Bellarida (Fr) (Bellypha {GB}) has also produced the Group 3 winner In Clover (GB) (Inchinor {GB}), who in turn is the dam of three Group 1 winners for George Strawbridge, including We Are (Ire) (Dansili {GB}).
“He's been very popular the whole five days he's been here,” said Philip Lybeck, who runs Haras de Bourgeauville with his parents Amelie and Robert Ehrnrooth. The family moved to France from their native Finland, and the farm close to Deauville has been in their ownership from 1992.
Lybeck continued, “He's a homebred and his dam is a homebred, so it's now the second generation. We've had a lot of the family and we still have. It was two superpowers involved in the bidding and we are delighted that we could breed a horse good enough to attract them.”
He added, “We're the only Finnish Thoroughbred breeders in the world as far as we know.”
The Next Blue Rose Cen?
Superstar French filly Blue Rose Cen (Ire) has done her bit to raise the profile of Churchill (Ire) by storming to three Group 1 successes and American bloodstock agent Ben Gowans is hoping that he found the latest top-class filly by the sire on Saturday.
Gowans went to €340,000 to secure Camas Park Stud's Churchill filly [lot 151], who is a half-sister to six individual winners, including the Grade I winner Bayrir (Fr) (Medicean {GB}).
Gowans purchased the Churchill filly on behalf of Mark Grier, who was a late non-runner on the trip to Deauvlle for the sale due to illness, but the owner won't have to wait long to see his latest acquisition given she will race in America.
Gowans said, “I work for Gainesway and they are very nice to allow me to do some business on the side. We are here for the first time on behalf of Mark Grier, who lives in New Jersey in the United States, and they have long been planning on coming over here to experience the sale. Unfortunately, Mark was diagnosed with Lyme Disease a few weeks ago so he couldn't make the sale, but his wife Jackie and son Jack are here and are having a great time. We're pretty happy with the filly we have bought them.”
He added, “Obviously Blue Rose Cen is a very good filly and Churchill seems to do well with fillies in particular. His stock is rising at the moment. This is a strong and athletic filly. She is well built and moves well. She's got the pedigree and she's got the looks. She will go back to America and she'll go to Arnaud Delacour in Fair Hill.”
Buy of the Day
By Brian Sheerin
Lot 168, B, C, Persian King (Ire)-Cap Verite (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire})
Vendor: La Motteraye Consignment
Buyer: Joseph O'Brien
Price: €70,000
Joseph O'Brien may have got himself a bit of value in lot 168, a nice colt by Persian King (Ire), who fetched €70,000.
There is a lot to like about this colt on pedigree and looks. Offered by the La Motteraye Consignment, he is out of the listed winner Cap Verite (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and hails from a deep black-type family that includes the brilliant Tally-Ho Stud-based sire Mehmas (Ire).
A big-walking son of the French 2,000 Guineas winner, lot 168 boasts a big hip, plenty of power, and looks sure to run at two, but is likely to progress beyond his juvenile season.
He has gone to one of the best hotels there is and is probably one to make a note of with regards to an Irish maiden this time next year or even beforehand.
Of the nine Persian Kings to sell here at Arqana over the past two days, they have averaged €74,556, with Freddy Head going to €160,000 for a filly by him and Peter and Ross Doyle paying €135,000 for a colt by the freshman sire.
Time might prove that the €70,000 outlay of O'Brien, operating at such a competitive sale, as being a decent bit of business for the horses purchased under the €100,000 bracket this week.
Of those that made a lot more, the Sottsass (Fr) colt sold by Coulonces to Mitsu Nakauchida for €525,000 really was a belter. It will be fascinating to follow his career in Japan and he could be a high-class colt.
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