‘He Is What It Says On The Tin’: Nashwa’s Dubawi Half-Brother Among Stellar Lots at Tattersalls

NEWMARKET, UK–Whether up top or down below, the consignors at Park Paddocks all agree that the major redevelopment work that has been carried out by Tattersalls over the last few years has been a huge boost.

The extended yards of R, S and T in the Somerville Paddock seem to have almost doubled in size during the levelling-up process, with extra rubber runways making the business of showing and viewing horses that bit easier.

Gerry Meehan, the yearling manager of Blue Diamond Stud, is delighted with the position for his quartet of yearlings, describing the renovation as a “game-changer”.

He says, “Even though the yard is only a metre wider all round, it seems massive compared to how it used to be.”

Imad Al Sagar's Blue Diamond Stud is selling four colts by big-name stallions in Dubawi (Ire), Kingman (GB), Lope De Vega (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire), and on paper, at least, it is hard to look past the Dubawi half-brother to the treble Group 1 winner Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

“He is what it says on the tin,” says Meehan of lot 35. “He's a star: he looks a star and he does everything like a star. He'a a proper horse and he shows off when he comes out here.”

He adds, “They are four very nice horses; we're very lucky.”

Down at Solario yard EE, which was revamped impressively last year, there's a strong French flavour, with La Motteraye Consignment making a rare reappearance at Tattersalls and stabled just around the corner from Michel Zerolo's European Sales Management draft.

Gwen Monneraye, who runs the Normandy-based La Motteraye operation with his partner Lucie Lamotte, is on hand with a pair of Book 1 yearlings, including a filly by Night Of Thunder (Ire) from the family of The Wow Signal (Ire) [lot 495].    The consignors have 39 yearlings being prepared for the October Yearling Sale at Arqana, which is naturally much closer to home for them, but Monneraye admits to a touch of FOMO necessitating a return to Tattersalls after a four-year absence.

“In French we have a saying 'Les absents ont toujours tort', which roughly translates to 'if you're not there you are missing out on something',” he says.

“We sell for ourselves but we also sell for lots of clients and it's nice to provide the options for them. When you want to sell in France and in England, you have to be very well organised, and we don't do anything unless we are well organised. We are building a bigger barn to make it more practical for us to come here more often, so I think in two years' time we will have a bigger draft.”

Monneraye adds, “The horses travelled over really well, so we were able to show as early as Friday afternoon, which I didn't expect, but all through the weekend we have seen a lot of people. We have another four for next week so it's going to be a full month of sales.”

Making their Book 1 debut is Natalie Folland and Matt Bowen, who consign from Fonthill Stud in Wiltshire as Folland-Bowen Bloodstock and offer a son of Showcasing (GB) as lot 63 on behalf of breeder Jane Keir. The colt, from a well-established and successful international family, enjoyed a good update since the publication of the catalogue when his half-brother Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) won the G2 Dullingham Park S. for Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics on Irish Champions weekend.

“The update came just at the right time. We're still pinching ourselves,” says Keir.

“Liam Norris found his dam Romp for me and said, 'Jane, this mare probably won't be to everyone's taste but she's worth looking at.' She was on the end of the row and she ended up costing 14,000gns.

“She's a Pivotal mare with Singspiel as her broodmare sire too, and [Breeders' Cup Turf winner] Rebel's Romance is in the family as well, so hopefully it's building.”

Romp, who wasn't covered this year, now has a Pintaubo filly foal at foot, and she resides at Lord Margadale's Fonthill Stud, which is leased by Folland and Bowen. Keir herself was the former owner of Elkington Stud, which was managed by Folland until its sale a few years ago.

Keir adds, “There was no question that the mares would go with Nat. They are treated like royalty there.”

While Keir admits that Flight Plan's sire Night Of Thunder is now at the top of her list for Romp next year, it is another Darley-based son of Dubawi, Too Darn Hot (GB), that has brought an extra large smile to the face of Watership Down Stud's Simon Marsh this season. It is with good reason, too, as not only was Too Darn Hot bred at Watership Down Stud by Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber, but they retained a significant share in him when he retired to Dalham Hall Stud. With his first crop of juvenile runners, the stallion from Watership Down's signature family of Darara (Ire) now has four group winners to his name, including the G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Fallen Angel (GB).

“He was always a horse that one would have thought that his 2-year-olds would be later types, and since August he has done exceptionally well. His pedigree is really full of later-maturing horses, like Dar Re Mi and So Mi Dar, and then Darara and Darshaan. Everything he's doing at the moment is really a bonus and we hope that next year his 3-year-olds will really develop and do even better,” Marsh says.

“It's fantastic to have bred a horse who could become a significant influence, and for us to have ended up owning half of him is extraordinary. We have a couple by him to sell this week, including a filly who is interestingly inbred 3×3 to Darara [lot 259].”

With Too Darn Hot's sire Dubawi, the reigning champion, still in full flow and responsible for 19 of the yearlings in Book 1, it is fair to expect to see him feature prominently on the leaderboard at Tattersalls this week, especially with Sheikh Mohammed in attendance. On Monday afternoon, the ruler of Dubai was patrolling the sales grounds, inspecting yearlings with his principal trainer Charlie Appleby, and the Godolphin buying team of Anthony Stroud and David Loder.

The sheikh is far from the only major player in town, however. His niece Sheikha Hissa was also spotted alongside Shadwell's Racing Manager Angus Gold, while owners and breeders from as far afield as Australia, America and Japan have also made the bloodstock pilgrimage to Newmarket. There seems little doubt that the next three days will bring with them yet more staggering trade for a very special bunch of yearlings.

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Additional Wildcard Entries for Arqana Vente d’Elevage

Officials at Arqana have announced the addition of two wild-card entries to the first part of the auction house's Vente d'Elevage Saturday, Dec. 3.

The two-year-old filly Next Episode (GB) (Kingman {GB}) will be offered by Ecurie des Monceaux as lot 200. Trained by Christophe Ferland, the bay filly was a debut winner in a six-furlong test on turf at Marseille-Borely Oct. 9 and followed up with a conditions score over the Deauville all-weather track Nov. 6. A daughter of the stakes-placed Nyarhini (GB) (Fantastic Light), Next Episode is a half-sister to listed winner Token of Love (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}), herself the dam of Listed Sir Henry Cecil S. winner Mighty Ulysses (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}). Nyarhini is a half-sister to G1 Coronation S. heroine Rebecca Sharp (GB) (Machiavellian), while the deeper female family includes Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}).

The listed-winning and Group 3-placed Mighty Blue (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) will go through the ring as lot 150 from La Motteraye Consignment. The six-year-old, a half-sister to the stakes-winning Modern Eagle (Ger) (Montjeu {Ire}), is currently rated on 98. She counts G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine and Group 1 producer Moonlight Dance (Alydar) as her second dam.

Click here for the entire Arqana Vente d'Elevage catalogue.

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Channel’s Filly The Star Act in Classy La Motteraye Draft

Gwen Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte, collectively known as La Motteraye Consignment, have come a long way since setting up their business in December 2009 with €92 in their pocket.

Less than a decade later they topped France's premier yearling sale in 2018 when selling a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Just The Judge (Ire) for €1.4 million, and at this year's Arqana August Sale their draft is headed by another yearling with two Classic-winning parents. The Sea The Stars (Ire) filly, who will have the lot number 234 attached to her rump as she circles the ring in Deauville, is the first foal of the G1 Prix de Diane winner Channel (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}).

“She's very exciting, and it's exciting that people trust us for this kind of thing. She wasn't raised at our farm, she came to us for the prep, so we put her in cotton wool and she's been really well,” says Monneraye from the couple's farm in the idyllic Normandy hamlet of Les Autels-Saint-Bazile. If you love French cheese as much as you love fledgling racehorses, then this is the farm for you, located between Camembert and Livarot.

The filly was bred at Haras des Authieux by Samuel de Barros, and she represents something of a dream start for the Parisian lawyer and his wife Elodie, for whom Channel was a first foray into owning a racehorse. Channel's racing career is lovingly chronicled on the website for their stud, a breeding operation just five years in the making and currently home to six broodmares. While her story is something of a fairytale, similar can be said for the rise of La Motteraye, though it is one which has involved an enormous amount of work by two people who had travelled the world gaining experience in the bloodstock business prior to returning to their native France. 

“It was a dream,” says Monneraye as he reflects on the last 13 years, during which time their operation has expanded to incorporate three farms which are now home to around 50 broodmares. 

“We just wanted this and we worked very hard to get it. The only thing we couldn't know beforehand is whether people would trust us to work with them. We need people to trust us and to put their horses with us. 

“When we first started, the first five first years, I'm a very hard worker, but thinking back I don't think now if I could do it again. It was madness. We had zero money.

We couldn't just buy 50 broodmares and start a farm, so we needed to earn the trust of people, and it worked. So now we are very happy and we still want to develop the farm. We have had a goal since we started and it's still in working progress.”

As well as results in the sales ring, the farm has also been represented by decent performers on the track, most recently the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer (Fr) (Adlerflug {Ire}), bred by Michael Andre, who also acts as Coolmore's representative in Germany. 

Monneraye notes, “Alenquer was from the first full crop that was bred on the new farm. Before, when the farm was small and we couldn't really breed horses, we just mainly did pinhooking and consigning. And since we bought the other farm, we had the first crop which wasn't fully bred over there, but that included [Group 3 winner] Pao Alto (Fr). And then the next crop was Alenquer, so it gave us belief in what we do and in the quality of the land over there. And we were absolutely thrilled with Alenquer, and especially for his breeder, Michael Andre, who is also a friend.”

La Motteraye's clients also include some English and Irish breeders but it is predominantly backed by those in France, which is enjoying a rejuvenation of the breeding ranks with a notable range of younger participants.

Of the team at Haras des Authieux, Monneraye says, “It's great for France to have these kind of people, and they love the racing. And it is the same with Haras du Thenney and David Salabi. He's very keen in the horses, he's young, he's enthusiastic, and we also sell his yearlings. It's really a pleasure to work with these kind of people because they're nice people, they love what they do, they trust us. And so it makes our job easy.”

Monneraye and Lamotte were themselves at the forefront of a new wave of major consignors in France, their fluency in English making them popular with an increasing number of breeders from across the Channel wishing to take advantage of the lucrative French premium scheme.

“I think the first was maybe Haras de Grandcamp and then Anna [Sundstrom of Coulonces Sales] and then us, and of course we have Monceaux, that was the beginning,” Monneraye says.

“And since then, there have been a lot of young people and they work really hard to set up their consignments. And now we have also a lot of people that are setting up farms, breeding operations, and I think when I look to Europe, there are more young French breeders than probably in the rest of Europe.”

He adds, “I think one of the key factors is that land is more affordable here than in England. It's so expensive there that people maybe have to be a farm manager or they have to find another way of doing it. So that's the luck we have.”

Monneraye and Lamotte keep nine of their own mares on the farm and are keen to develop their families in the long term.

“When I go to England to Tattersalls I say to my English friends 'I want to buy a foundation mare' and they all laugh at me,” says Monneraye. “They say 'do you believe in Santa Claus?' But that's why I came into this business. I didn't come into the business just to trade. I came to one day have an amazing broodmare.”

He continues, “That's the real goal of the whole shebang, rather than to trade. My father is a farmer and I think maybe that's why I see it this way. It's the agricultural part of it, and the breeding. You need to focus on the long term. And of course you need a bit of cash and to be able to sell well at the sales, but you have to think of both ways because otherwise I don't really see the point. I don't see the passion. I think it's a very French thing; the passion is so important in France.”

Away from the farm for the next week, and in Deauville with their four-month-old daughter Olivia and some babysitting parents, Monneraye and Lamotte will be putting all their passion into selling yearlings for their clients.

A recent update has been provided for lot 143, a colt by Wootton Bassett out of Soniechka (GB) (Notnowcato {GB}), who is the dam of recent Glorious Goodwood-winning 2-year-old Sparkling Beauty (Fr), trained by Richard Hughes. He is being sold on behalf of English-based breeders Tim and Gill Bostwick of Biddestone Stud.

Another Wootton Bassett in the draft, lot 68, a filly out of Nouvelle Vague (Ire) (Henrythenavigator), also benefited from a recent update when her 2-year-old half-sister Arinniti (Fr), also bred at La Motteraye, was second first time out at Naas. She has now been sold to Team Valor and will be trained by Paddy Twomey, who has given her an entry for the G2 Debutante S. later this month. 

On behalf of breeder Al Shahania Stud, La Motteraye will also consign a filly by American Triple Crown winner Justify, who has made a promising start with his first runners this season. Lot 167 also has a strong Juddmonte family behind her as she is a daughter of Time Being (GB) (Zamindar), a full-sister to Group 1 winner Timepiece (GB) and half to her fellow top-level scorer Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), who has also found fame as the dam of Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).

“Sometimes you think to yourself 'I don't know if this horse can really make it to this sale',” Monneraye explains as he expresses his satisfaction with the team of 20 yearlings which has just arrived in Deauville. “But this year, we haven't had this. We really like them all and I think overall it's a very strong draft. In France it's very popular for people to come and see them on the farm, so pretty much every second day we had people visiting. They have had a lot of practice and now we just have to make sure everything goes smoothly at the sale.”

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Horses Added To Arqana February

One wildcard and 27 supplementary entries have been added to Arqana's February Mixed Sale on Feb. 15 and 16.

La Motteraye Consignment will offer a broodmare dispersal from Haras d'Auquainville that will include Alexandrina (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) (lot 446), the dam of the G2 Prix de Pomone and G3 Prix Cleopatre second Mango Tango (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in foal to Siyouni's Classic and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe-winning son Sottsass (Fr). Also among the draft is Alexandrina's 7-year-old winning daughter Fierte d'Amour (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) (lot 448) in foal to Almanzor (Fr).

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