DONCASTER, UK– They say good things come to those who wait and few people in the bloodstock world have had a more anxious wait for action this spring than the European breeze-up consignors, who have seen their regular sales slots pushed back by at least two months in a world sent awry by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A collectively large sigh of relief was heard on Wednesday as first Goffs UK then Arqana posted results far exceeding most expectations. The words ‘resilience’ and ‘extraordinary’ were used freely by vendors and buyers alike in assessing the buoyant level of trade through two consecutive sales held over nine hours, with both posting improved figures on those returned during the strong and undisrupted 2019 sales season.
If Goffs UK provided a strong warm-up act throughout the morning and early afternoon, the trade really heated up right from the first lot through the ring for the Arqana Breeze-up Sale. It may have been taking place in England with horses being sold in sterling but they were the only major differences for a sale which has grown in strength and reputation year on year, and the change of venue certainly did not deter buyers. Even with travel restrictions, the international participation was felt strongly in the ring.
The level to which private sales had been conducted prior to the sale was evident in the fact that of the 165 horses originally catalogued for Arqana, only 77 horses went through the ring in Doncaster, but of those, by the close of trade 64 had found homes at an improved average price of £140,698 (compared to €129,798 in France last May) and median of £76,000 (from €75,000). The turnover from 83% sold was £8,879,700. Editor’s Note: private sales continued to take place after the close of trade; up-to-date statistics can be accessed here)
War Front Filly Puts Best Foot Forward
Kerri Radcliffe doesn’t buy a large number of horses but she tends to buy well, as previous recent purchases such as Nadal (Blame) and Away Game (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) testify. The Northern Irish agent has strong American connections and she secured a first on Wednesday when buying at a European sale on behalf of U.S.-based owner Larry Best of OXO Equine.
Radcliffe’s selection, a War Front filly out of Beauty Parlor (Elusive Quality) (lot 224), had of course started life on the other side of the pond in Kentucky, where she was bred by Joseph Allen, who also bred and raced her illustrious sire. At £650,000 she led the sale and will go down as another profitable pinhook by Brendan Holland of Grove Stud, who sold last year’s Arqana sale-topper for €1.1 million. Now known as Ocean Atlantique, that son of American Pharoah will on Sunday bid to become the second graduate of Grove Stud to win the G1 Prix du Jockey Club after The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}).
“I am thrilled to say that she is for Larry Best and as far as I know this is the first horse he has bought in Europe,” Radcliffe said. “I’d say she will be going to Saratoga but I don’t know who will train her. Larry said to me ‘if ever you see something exceptional in Europe get in touch’ and she is exceptional. We bought her with one bid, I thought she would go for more.”
She added, “Well done to Goffs and Arqana for getting this sale on, and to Tattersalls last week, and to all the vendors for keeping these horses going.”
The filly, whose dam was a stakes winner in France and America and is herself out of the Group 2 winner Moon Queen (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), was one of two daughters of War Front bought at Keeneland September last year by Holland, this one from Claiborne for $185,000. He said, “We’re surprised with how well the day has started–it’s a strong sale for sure. The fact that there’s even a sale on is fantastic but this pales into insignificance when you look outside the sales ground. We are eternally optimistic but you wouldn’t want to look too far ahead in this business.”
Bastard Is Boss
There has been no shortage of Keeneland September yearlings showing up in Deauville for the Arqana Breeze-up in recent years, and it was another from the same source who became the most expensive colt of the day at £620,000.
He, too, is bound for farflung shores, and will eventually be trained in Hong Kong by John Size after Matt Coleman outbid his business partner Anthony Stroud–who had been in action earlier in the session for Godolphin–to secure the son of Street Boss (lot 354) from Malcolm Bastard’s draft.
The consignor is a relatively rare commodity in the breeze-up sector as an Englishman in a big pool of Irish vendors and he is one of the best when it comes to the art of handling nascent talent. A major part of his Wiltshire business is pre-training for some of the major owner-breeders in the sport, and the champions Golden Horn (GB) and Too Darn Hot (GB) are just two of the many good horses to have learned the ropes with Bastard in recent years.
His modesty and dislike of the limelight are two factors which lead to Bastard’s slightly dour expression on occasion but there are few more passionate horsemen out there and even he allowed himself a smile after the colt who had been picked up as a yearling by the consignor and three partners for $120,000 left the ring with a much higher 2-year-old price tag.
“He just wanted a little bit longer than some of the others but he has always been a really nice horse with plenty of pace. He stood out at home,” he said of the colt out of the Flatter mare Undo, a full-sister to GII Super Derby winner Apart. “The trade has been unbelievable today. Racing just seems so resilient.”
Coleman added, “We have known about the horse for a while and Malcolm has a huge opinion of him. He’s a beautiful horse and he breezed great.”
Johnny Be Good
Johnny Collins was the man with the Midas touch last week at Tattersalls when turning a £72,000 Night Of Thunder (Ire) colt into a Craven-topping 575,000gns breezer, and the golden boy was back with a bang during the Arqana Sale with the sale of an Exceed And Excel colt (lot 240) to Jamie McCalmont on behalf of Coolmore for £525,000.
Collins, who bought the son of the dual winner Duquesa (Ire) (Intikhab) at Fairyhouse for €43,000, said, “There has been lots of American trade at Arqana in the past and I put him in this sale as I think Exceed And Excels work best with some sun on their backs and on fast ground. I’ve been lucky to have some good horses in the past but it doesn’t happen every year, though this year I felt they were a very good bunch and they have proved that on the track. I have to admit I have had some sleepless nights though.”
Collins may sleep a little better having sold eight horses throughout the session for £1,018,500, which put his Brown Island Stables in the top three vendors for the sale.
More O’Brien Signings
Joseph O’Brien was one of the few Irish trainers at the sale in person and he will have at least two of the higher-priced lots of the day to train. These include lot 225, a colt from Willie Browne’s Mocklershill by first-season sire Shalaa (Ire), who was knocked down at £460,000 to Bill Dwan on behalf of Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez.
Browne had bought the colt out of the listed winner Besotted (Ire) (Dutch Art {GB}) for 150,000gns from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale.
O’Brien will also take charge of lot 333, the Gleneagles (Ire) half-brother to G1 Phoenix S.-placed Lottie Dod (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who was sold by Johnny Hassett of The Bloodstock Connection for £240,000.
“I’m delighted he’s going to Joseph O’Brien; he breezed really well and if he’s as good as we think he is we’ll be hearing about him again. He’s come from a very good breeder in James Duffy,” said Hassett, who bought the colt for 42,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale.
He added, “I felt like both sales were going to be strong. Although there wasn’t the footfall you would usually expect, there were plenty of vettings and that’s always a good sign. This initiative by Goffs and Arqana has clearly been very successful. We’re really at their mercy. We brought the horses and they have got the buyers here.”
Amo Racing Restocks
Alex Elliott bought the G3 Albany S. runner-up Setarhe (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) for Kiavash Joorabchian’s Amo Racing as a yearling and the owner invested further in the bloodstock market on Wednesday with two expensive breezers.
Lot 234, the Shamardal half-brother to the Group 3-placed Ejtyah (GB) (Frankel {GB}), will join Setarhe at Roger Varian’s stable after Elliott went to £460,000 for the colt from the Aga Khan family of Hong Kong Vase winner Daryakana (Ire) (Selkirk).
“He’s one of the best horses I’ve ever seen in a breeze-up,” said Elliott. “He’s by Shamardal and you almost can’t buy those. The mare’s first foal is stakes-placed. He’s a May foal and he did a great breeze. I just haven’t seen that many with such a good profile.”
Vendor Mick Murphy of Longways Stables added, “The delay to the sales has been to his advantage. He came to us in December and has just kept improving. He’ll be a back-end 2-year-old. We are having a good day.”
Elliott later struck again for Amo Racing, going to £300,000 for Gaybrook Lodge Stud’s Siyouni (Fr) filly (lot 245) out of Enraptured (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}). She will be trained by Ralph Beckett.
The agent said, “If she gets a bit of black type we’ll be in business, and on her breeze and her physical she is certainly entitled to be decent. She is ready to go and we won’t be waiting around.”
 A Kingman For Godolphin
Through agent Anthony Stroud, Sheikh Mohammed signed up one new juvenile from the Arqana Sale for his Godolphin string in lot 228, the Kingman (GB) filly already named Chloe (Ger) and out of the German Group 3 winner Calyxa GB) (Pivotal {GB}).
The May-born filly, bred by Gestut Haus Itlingen, was secured with a bid of £380,000 from the draft of Yeomanstown Stud, who bought her at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale for 125,000gns.
Bell Chimes In Early
There was a fast start to the sale, thanks to the fastest breezer in the catalogue (lot 203), a colt by More Than Ready bought last year at Keeneland by Longways Stables for $130,000 and resold for £265,000.
Nick Bell, son of trainer Michael Bell, has already been involved in a decent 2-year-old this year when The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) won in his colours first-time-out at Yarmouth before being sold on to Qatar Racing and winning the G2 Norfolk S. Bell senior and junior will be hoping for a similar level of success from the half-brother to GIII winner Lord Simba (Discreet Cat), having bought him on behalf of owner Kulbir Sohe.
“His gallop was the fastest in the sale which is obviously very important, and he’s from a very good farm,” said Nick Bell. “We came here to buy one really nice horse. It’s exciting to have such a nice colt coming to the yard; he’s a horse for next year as well and hopefully he will take us to plenty of good Saturday meetings.”
Patience Pays Off For Kavanagh
A sole juvenile by first-season sire The Gurkha (Ire) (lot 276) was catalogued for the sale but he produced a decent result for Roderick Kavanagh’s one-horse Glending Stables draft when selling for £260,000 to agent Stephen Hillen.
The son of the stakes-placed Long Face (Whywhywhy) was bought from breeder Newsells Park Stud for 47,000gns as a foal then bought back for 72,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 2 when offered by the Kavanagh family’s Kildaragh Stud.
“Dad and Michael Downey bought him as a foal and it was all down to Mr Downey, who picked him out, and he’s over the moon,” said Kavanagh. “It’s been a long road with him but we loved him and he’s the best one I’ve had to do this job.”
Relief and Delight For Arqana
As the day drew to a close, Goffs auctioneer Nick Nugent likened the events that led to significant relocation and restructuring of two sales to a long and difficult foaling which eventually produced a really good foal. Few could argue with that analogy, especially not the team from Arqana, despite them having had to move from their traditional seaside home of Deauville.
“The two companies and also the vendors working together to get all the teams involved has been really good, and the vendors in particular have adapted well to a situation in which they have had to have the horses for a lot longer than usual,” said Arqana’s director of marketing Alix Choppin. “They have faced uncertainty in not knowing where and when the sales would take place but it just shows how adaptive and resilient this industry is. I think there was a light of hope after the breeze on Sunday because the breeze went really well and there were some really nice horses and everybody just suddenly felt that these were horses that people would want to buy. Everyone started to feel a little more upbeat after the breeze and the sale has just confirmed that well-produced horses consistently whet the appetite of buyers, even buyers in absentia, such as John Size, Christophe Clement and Larry Best. Certainly the confidence they have in the vendors has played a huge part.”
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