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Stores Take The Stage At Arqana

Two-year-old stores were in the spotlight during Tuesday’s session of the Arqana Autumn Sale in Deauville, where 91 horses (62.8%) changed hands for a total of €2,345,500 as of the close of the session. The average was €25,775, and the median €16,000. Tuesday’s session this year included stores that would have typically been sold at Arqana’s Summer Sale.

Vincent Le Roy went to the day’s highest price of €175,000 for Authoside (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) (lot 589), a colt offered by Haras des Pierres Follets on behalf of Guy Vimont. He is a half-brother to Grade 1-winning chaser Sceau Royal (Fr) (Doctor Dino).

Colts by Martaline (Fr) fetched the second and third highest prices of the day: Icare d’Estruval (Fr) (lot 562), a half-brother to two stakes winners, was hammered down to Sarl Guillaume Macaire for €160,000, while Andy and Gemma Brown picked up an unnamed colt from Haras du Ma (lot 551) for €140,000. The latter is a half-brother to the multiple Grade 2 winner Irish Saint (Fr) (Saint des Saints {Fr}).

A trio of six-figure buybacks meant that there was just one other that made €100,000. That was the AQPS Isaac des Obeaux (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) (lot 616) who was bought by Highflyer Bloodstock. His dam is a half-sister to the G1 King George VI Chase winner Clan Des Obeaux (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}).

Arqana President Eric Hoyeau said at the close of trade on Tuesday, “The market was very difficult today, as we can see from the results. They have without doubt been impacted by the absence of several important buyers. Nevertheless, we will have to wait for the National Hunt yearlings to go through the ring to make a complete assessment of the market for young jumpers.”

The stores section of the catalogue continues on Wednesday, in addition to National Hunt yearlings.

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Disruption To Horse Movement From Brexit Deadline

Ahead of the start of the 2021 breeding season, owners and breeders have been warned to avoid to avoid transporting horses between the UK and the EU in the first few weeks of January immediately following the expiry of the Brexit transition period.

A statement issued on Tuesday by the Thoroughbred Industries Brexit Steering Group, which is made up of representatives of the British Horseracing Authority, Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and Weatherbys, advised against horse movement in the early part of the new year “unless absolutely necessary”.

It continued, “With less than seven weeks to go before the transition period expires, there will be significant changes to how horses move between the UK and the EU from 1 January, irrespective of whether a Free Trade Agreement is signed.”

At present, clarification is still being sought by the group on Britain being granted third country status for animal health purposes, as well as authorisation for British horse transporters to operate in the EU and vice versa, and, crucially, recognition of the General Stud Book, which identifies Thoroughbreds and permits their movements.

The statement read, “Even in the event of agreements on these key areas for British racing being confirmed in the coming weeks, the Thoroughbred Industries Brexit Steering Group is of the view that there will be additional friction in moving thoroughbreds through key ports from 1 January, with the potential for initial disruption.”

Following confirmation of a Free Trade Agreement between the UK and the EU, further clarification will be required in regard to a potential replacement of the current Tripartite Agreement which governs movements of Thoroughbreds between Britain, Ireland and France.

Julian Richmond-Watson, chair of the Thoroughbred Industries Steering Group, said, “We know that some people want to make plans for the New Year, but the picture will remain unclear until we know the terms of any new agreements between Britain and the EU.

“Even if there is an overarching trade deal, we will still need specific arrangements to be agreed covering the movement of thoroughbred horses.

“If industry members want to avoid the risk of delays or disruption, we advise them not to schedule movements in the first two weeks of 2021.

“Our message right now is ‘Stand By, Change is Coming’. We would ask participants to keep up to date with the latest information regularly via the Brexit page on britishhorseracing.com and await direct communication from their membership body once we know the details.

“We continue to work closely with Defra and all other relevant UK government departments, who are well-informed about the needs of the racing and breeding industries. We are also in regular contact with our counterparts in Ireland and France and other EU jurisdictions.”

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Romanised Camp Still Considering Hong Kong

G1 Irish 2000 Guineas hero Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) is still a potential candidate for the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile at the Longines Hong Kong International Races in mid-December at Sha Tin. Although third when favoured after a slow beginning at Dundalk on Monday, the 5-year-old won the G2 Minstrel S. earlier this year and was sixth in the G1 Prix du Moulin in September. Also a winner of the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, the Ken Condon trainee’s performance has not discouraged his connections.

“I think it served its purpose–it was a prep run and he blew the start,” said Condon of the Robert Ng colourbearer. “Billy [Lee, jockey] had to get him into the race, then he was in his hands a bit. He travelled really well through the race, like we know he can, and went to win his race and just took a blow and got a bit tired. If you take him in isolation, it was an interesting exercise as he’s run his race faster than anything else, if that makes sense.

“If he’d jumped away with them, it would have been a different story. Billy was particularly happy and he’s the one that is the most relevant in this jigsaw.”

He added, “We’ll see how he is in the next week–we don’t have to commit to Hong Kong immediately. But I still think we’re on course and he’ll get something from the race [at Dundalk], as he’d been off the track a while.

“All things considered, it was a solid run. It’s important now to see how he trains in the next week as it’s a long way to go and we want to be going there with a horse in top condition. I was initially disappointed that he got beaten, but after I analysed it closely and watched the race several times and listened to everybody, I think he’s run well.”

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Van Beethoven To Stand In France

G2 Railway S. winner Van Beethoven (Scat Daddy-My Sister Sandy, by Montbrook) has been retired from racing and will stand at Haras de Grandcamp in 2021.

Van Beethoven ran eight times at two for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Michael Tabor silks, winning twice including the Railway. He was second, beaten a length, in the GI Secretariat S. at Arlington Park the following summer and hasn’t run since the 2019 GI Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.

Van Beethoven is out of a full-sister to the dam of triple Grade I-winning mare Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat).

Samuel Blanchard of Winning Bloodstock told Jour de Galop, “He comes from a classic American line and won the Railway S. at The Curragh in June of his 2-year-old career, running no less than eight times between April and September. This is a real guarantee of precocity, at a time when France Galop is upgrading the juvenile category. At three, he finished second in the Secretariat S. over a mile at Arlington Park. He is a horse that travelled a lot, having raced in Ireland, but also in England, France, Dubai and the United States.”

“Van Beethoven didn’t win a Group 1, but was a top 2-year-old,” Blanchard added. “Among the five best sires of juveniles in France this year, four had not won a Group 1. This is also the case with Mehmas, the leading first-season sire in Europe. Coolmore has [retained] a significant interest in him, while 15 shares will be on the market. Van Beethoven is an exceptional model: a good size but not too big. Like his father, we can expect him to bring precocity and quality.”

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