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Classic-Placed Virginia Joy Makes €975,000 At The Arc Sale

Arqana staged its annual boutique Arc Sale of horses in training at Saint-Cloud Racecourse on Saturday evening following a day’s racing at ParisLongchamp, and it was a current star of the German turf that proved the breakout horse, with Virginia Joy (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) (lot 24) selling to Michel Zerolo’s Oceanic Bloodstock for €975,000. Having raced thus far as a homebred for Gestut Auenquelle, Virginia Joy won the July 12 G3 Mehl-Mulhens-Trophy by a head before finishing third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the G1 Preis Der Diana on Aug. 2. She was runner-up when last seen in the G2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis on Sept. 12.

Coeursamba (Fr) (The Wow Signal {Ire}) (lot 13) is declared for Sunday’s G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, and should she line up at ParisLongchamp she will be racing for new connections, having been bought by Haras du Saubous for €400,000 on Saturday evening. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, Coeursamba broke her maiden at second asking on June 30 and has since been third in the G3 Prix Six Perfections and the G3 Prix d’Aumale.

Emmanuel de Seroux of Narvick International stepped up to sign for four of the 11 lots sold on the evening, and the dearest of those was the 3-year-old colt Step By Step (Fr) (Sidestep {Aus}) (lot 25) for €320,000. Step By Step took the Listed Derby du Languedoc on June 12 before finishing second in the 3000 metre G3 Prix de Lutece on Sept. 3 for trainer Yann Barberot. Barberot was also the seller of the 3-year-old gelding Dick Whittington (Fr) (War Command) (lot 12), and that listed-placed runner was also bought by Narvick for €270,000.

Kalifornia Queen (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) (lot 11) was another black-type German filly to appear here, and she duly fetched €260,000 from Hubert Guy. Kalifornia Queen won this year’s G2 Diana Trial for trainer Henk Grewe.

Among the high-profile lots that failed to meet their reserves on Saturday were 2-year-old filly Libertine (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) (€400,000); Arc runner Chachnak (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) (€250,000); and Group 3-winning 5-year-old Pretreville (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) (€240,000). In total 19 of the 29 catalogued lots went up for sale, with 11 sold for a total of €3,050,000. The average was €277,273 and the median €260,000.

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Cadran Glory For Princess Zoe

There was heartbreak for Eddy Hardouin and unadulterated joy for Joey Sheridan at the end of a dramatic renewal of ParisLongchamp’s G1 Qatar Prix du Cadran on Saturday as Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) reeled in the trail-blazing Alkuin (Ire) (Maxios {GB}) in the dying strides. Sent off the 3-1 second favourite having made it four straight wins in Galway’s 12-furlong Listed Oyster S. on similar ground Sept. 8, the grey sat towards the rear of mid-division early as Hardouin had his rivals strung out going it alone on Alkuin. Still on his own and travelling strongly in the false straight, that rival forced the 2018 hero and 13-10 market-leader Call the Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}) into action there along with Princess Zoe who remained too far adrift for comfort. Giving her all for Sheridan once straightened for home, the German-bred and Irish-trained mare made relentless progress as the line stayed painfully out of reach for Alkuin. Stripping him of certain success close home, Princess Zoe provided trainer Tony Mullins with the ultimate thrill. “It’s an amazing story, as she was bought for very little in Germany by a friend of mine and has not stopped improving,” he said. “She has such heart and even 100 yards from the line I didn’t know if she would get there, but it’s such a relief and a feeling I’ve never experienced in my life, even though there have been great moments before. She’s just as effective over a mile and a half–she never gives up, so maybe next year she can go for the Arc.”

Just a handicapper under the care of Stefan Richter, Princess Zoe had yet to be tried beyond 11 furlongs before shipping to Ireland and showed immediate appreciation for staying trips when second on her debut for her new connections in a 13-furlong Navan handicap June 23. That turned out to be her last reversal and after two handicap wins within the space of a week at the Galway festival over 17 furlongs and a mile and a half she successfully collected her first piece of black-type in that venue’s Oyster. “I certainly didn’t think three months ago this was going to happen, but Joey Sheridan came down to work her last week and when she pulled up, I said we were going to win in France,” Mullins added.

“She just kept improving so fast, even before the listed race she won–I had been eyeing it because she was improving at such a rate I wasn’t able to keep up to her. The owner [Paddy Kehoe] and his sister [Philomena] are huge Cheltenham fans and we had her pencilled in. Then she started improving so fast I said to Paddy ‘we’ll go to France and if she wins I’ll be recommending she doesn’t go jumping’, not for the moment anyway. At Auteuil, on the other side of the Bois de Boulogne, I won the French Champion Hurdle on Dawn Run in 1984, so it’s 36 years and that was a great day too. As a jockey I used to love it–as a trainer, to win a group one is just off the scale.”

Alkuin had won his three non-black-type starts here by a cumulative margin of 21 lengths, so was not running out of turn. For his trainer Frederic Rossi, the disappointment was palpable however. “My horse ran a blinder, but I felt if he had kicked on more strongly at the top of the straight he would have won,” he commented. “It’s hard to say, but I feel he was beaten more by a turn of foot than anything else. It’s possible he could come back for the [G1 Prix] Royal-Oak if he comes out of this in good order.”

Princess Zoe, who becomes the first group 1 winner on the flat for Jukebox Jury, is out of Palace Princess (Ger) (Tiger Hill {Ire}) whose prior best is the four-times group scorer and G1 Deutsches Derby runner-up Palace Prince (Ger) (Areion {Ger}). Palace Princess is kin to the G2 Oettingen-Rennen wininer Pepperstorm (Ger) (Big Shuffle), his G2 Grosse Europa-Meile-winning full-brother Peppercorn (Ger) and G3 Preis des Winterfavoriten-winning full-sister Peppershot (Ger). Their dam Pasca (Ger) (Lagunas {GB}) is a three-parts-sister to the G2 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) heroine Padang (Ger) (Ile de Bourbon).

Saturday, ParisLongchamp, France
QATAR PRIX DU CADRAN-G1, €180,000, ParisLongchamp, 10-3, 4yo/up, 20fT, 4:38.88, hy.
1–PRINCESS ZOE (GER), 125, m, 5, by Jukebox Jury (Ire)
1st Dam: Palace Princess (Ger), by Tiger Hill (Ire)
2nd Dam: Pasca (Ger), by Lagunas (GB)
3rd Dam: Palmas (Ger), by Neckar (Ger)
1ST GROUP WIN; 1ST GROUP 1 WIN. O-Patrick F Kehoe & Mrs Philomena Crampton; B-Gestut Hony-Hof (GER); T-Tony Mullins; J-Joey Sheridan. €102,852. Lifetime Record: SW-Ire, 21-7-6-3, €252,502. *1/2 to Palace Prince (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), Hwt. Older Horse-Ger at 7-9.5f, MGSW & G1SP-Ger, SW-Fr, $462,429. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Alkuin (Ire), 128, g, 5, Maxios (GB)–Almerita (Ger), by Medicean (GB). O-Guido Werner Hermann Schmitt; B-Dr Christopher Berglar (IRE); T-Waldemar Hickst. €41,148.
3–Call The Wind (GB), 128, g, 6, Frankel (GB)–In Clover (GB), by Inchinor (GB). O/B-George Strawbridge (GB); T-Freddy Head. €20,574.
Margins: HF, 15, 9. Odds: 3.10, 15.00, 1.30.
Also Ran: Windstoss (Ger), Cacophonous (GB), Barbados (Ire), Apadanah (Ger), Sublimis (Ire), Think of Me (Ger). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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O’Brien Arc Runners Tested After Possible Feed Contamination

A handful of positive tests for the prohibited substance Zilpaterol in France has led to an investigation of the products of equine nutrition company GAIN after it was found that all five affected horses had been fed the company’s products. Testing of GAIN products subsequently returned positive results for Zilpaterol. Zilpaterol is a synthetic substance used to promote weight gain in cattle.

The products in question as stated by France Galop are racehorse cubes, racehorse mix and opti-care balancer. GAIN has advised customers to cease feeding its products while an investigation is undertaken.

A statement from GAIN said that Zilpaterol “has never formed part of any formulation in any of our animal nutrition ranges.” Martin Ryan, Head of GAIN Equine, said, “We apologise sincerely to our valued customers for the inconvenience caused by this incident and we are committed to promptly keeping you fully informed. A thorough investigation and trace back of all feed ingredient sources is underway as a matter of urgency to determine how this external contaminant could have found its way into some batches of our equine product.”

Trainer Aidan O’Brien told Racing Post on Friday evening that he feeds GAIN, but that all of his horses had been switched to a different brand of feed on Thursday evening immediately after he had received the news. O’Brien has sent blood and urine samples from all his runners in France this weekend to be analysed and is hoping to receive results by Saturday evening.

“They say after a day and a half or two days, the substance should be gone out of the horse’s system,” O’Brien told Racing Post. “So, if, when we get the results, there is a trace of the substance in it, we’ll have to see how much is there and then make a decision, after changing the feed for two days, whether we should run on Sunday or not. The experts are telling us that it should be clear by then, so we’ll just have to see.”

O’Brien said he plans to go ahead with his two runners at ParisLongchamp on Saturday, Mythical (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) and Passion (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

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Brother To Southern France Debuts At Newmarket

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. Today’s Insights features a full-brother to Classic-placed runner.

1.05 Newmarket, Mdn, £8,000, 2yo, 8fT
BOLSHOI BALLET (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) debuts for Ballydoyle and is a full-brother to the G1 St Leger third Southern France (Ire). The April-foaled bay meets Godolphin’s €500,000 Goffs Orby purchase Mystical Dawn (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), a Charlie Appleby-trained colt whose dam is a half to the high-class Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}).

3.55 Newmarket, Mdn, £6,900, 2yo, 7fT
FABRIZIO (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was a 300,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase by Godolphin and debuts for Charlie Appleby on a card which may provide Classic pointers. Out of a half to the Italian luminaries Jakkalberry (Ire) (Storming Home {GB}), Crackerjack King (Ire) (Shamardal) and Awelmarduk (Ire) (Almutawakel {GB}), he has a fair form standard to aim at with Anthony Rogers’s Wise Judgement (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), a Mark Johnston-trained son of the G3 Park Hill S. winner Discreet Brief (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}).

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