A Deauville Draft For The Ages

DEAUVILLE, France-The European yearling sale season gets underway in Deauville, France this weekend with Arqana's flagship August Yearling Sale. Selling begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday after group-race action at Deauville Racecourse across the street. Monday's session begins at 1 p.m. and is followed on Tuesday by the separate v2 sale for yearlings handpicked for precocity.

A gloomy forecast failed to materialize during inspections on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, allowing a cosmopolitan cast of buyers to inspect their potential purchases under sunny skies, and the mood on the grounds was similarly bright.

“Inspections have been going very well,” said Arqana's Executive Director Freddy Powell. “The consignors were busier than usual for the first couple days of inspections, Wednesday and Thursday. Those looking have said they've been very happy with the selection of horses, so it couldn't be better at this point.”

As the first yearling sale of the year, the August sale will set the standard for the remainder of the season. Powell said he has a few concerns about the economy, but that ultimately the cream of the crop would rise to the top.

“There are a few factors that make us a bit nervous but we can't control them,” he said. “The economy is not as good as last year at this time and the sterling is pretty low against the Euro compared to last year, so that's all a bit of a worry. At the end of the day, though, if you have nice horses, people will buy them. We can be cautiously optimistic.”

One of the poster boys of the August sale this year has been Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), a €340,000 yearling and the winner of this year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club. Sottsass is out of the excellent young producer Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) whose first foal, Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), won her sixth Grade I just last weekend, and whose fifth foal, a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus), is catalogued as lot 21 with Ecurie des Monceaux.

“Sottsass is a very good advert for the sale,” Powell said. “He won the French Derby for Peter Brant and he's a gorgeous horse, a brother to Sistercharlie of course and we have another half-brother in this sale so it's very exciting. The mare has a Dubawi filly this year and is back in foal to Dubawi so I'd say we're going to hear about that family for a while.”

And has Powell put the pressure on Monceaux's Henri Bozo to put Starlet's Sister's Dubawi filly in next year's sale?

“He doesn't have a choice,” Powell laughed.

Monceaux will have its usual array of stars, and those are expected to include lot 16, a Kingman (GB) colt out of the stakes-placed Sotka (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), already the dam of stakes winners Fas (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and Silva (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}); lot 48, a three-quarter-sister to French champion 2-year-old National Defense (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) by first-crop sire Shalaa (Ire); lot 78, a Galileo (Ire) filly out of the stakes-placed Debutante (Fr) (Gold Away {Ire}); and lots 147 and 148, a colt and a filly, respectively, by Galileo (Ire) and Dubawi (Ire) out of the Dansili (GB) full-sisters Prudente (Ire) and Prudenzia (Ire).

The largest consignment numerically comes from Haras des Capucines, which fields 43. Potential highlights could include lot 52, a Frankel (GB) half-sister to stakes winner Nordic One (Fr) (Dubai Destination) and stakes-placed Modern Family (Fr) (Excellent Art {GB}) and any one of seven Siyounis in the draft.

“We've been very busy,” said Capucines' Eric Puerari. “On Thursday we had an average of about 50 visits per horse and a large number of people from all over the world.”

Lucie Lamotte and Gwenael Monneraye's La Motteraye Consignment sold the top lot at this sale two years ago, and Monneraye said this year's group of 25 is the best consignment they have ever brought.

“We are very lucky to have a good draft including four Kingmans, two Frankels and a Dark Angel,” he said. “We don't have a star, but we have a good bunch of horses.

“I have a feeling that this sale is becoming more and more of a stallion market; you have to have the right stallion and a good-looking yearling and pedigree is a big help also.”

Monneraye said they began showing on Wednesday, with numbers way up.

“It was really busy,” he said. “We had about 30 shows, which normally we have about four on the Wednesday. I think the right people are here and there are good vibes about the sale. Sheikh Mohammed is probably on his way, so that's a big thing. We haven't seen him here in about 15 years so that will probably help the sale.”

Of his expectations for the market, Monneraye added, “We had good indicators with the breeze ups, which went well. I'm optimistic. We had a lot of people visiting the farm during July to look at the horses, more than ever, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we have been very busy showing horses.”

Ballylinch Stud typically brings a select draft to Deauville, and this year it offers six fillies. Two of those are by its well- established G1 Prix du Jockey Club/G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Lope de Vega (Ire), while it also presents a filly from the first crop of another French Derby winner, New Bay (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who also stands at Ballylinch.

Lot 34 is a full-sister to last year's G3 Prestige S. winner Antonia de Vega (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), and it is also the family of G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner and young French sire Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and G1 Prix de Diane winner Caerlina. Lot 85 is a granddaughter of French stakes winner and multiple stakes producer Via Milano (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}), while her 2-year-old full-sister Love Vega (Ire) is a winner in France.

“The pedigrees are alive and Lope de Vega is very much on an upward curve,” said Ballylinch Manager John O'Connor. “We anticipate that's going to continue because the quality of mares he's covering now is improving all the time.”

Ballylinch's New Bay filly is a half-sister to listed winner and Group 3-placed Ship Of Dreams (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).

“New Bay is a Classic-winning son of Dubawi with a big family because he's from the immediate family of Kingman and Oasis Dream. It's definitely a sires' family and it's on fire at the moment. This filly is out of a mare by Lawman so it's very much a Ballylinch family. She's a sister to a stakes-winning filly by Lope de Vega called Ship of Dreams who did very well for Qatar Racing.”

Of the first crop of New Bays, O'Connor added, “We're delighted with them. He gets a lovely type; very nice clean limbs on them and great temperaments and good movers. He has every chance of being a very nice stallion.”

Other lots to keep an eye on this weekend include lot 15, a Kingman (GB) colt out of the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Sortilege (Ire) (Tiger Hill {Ire}) from the excellent family of Group 1 winners like Schiaparelli (Ger), Samum (Ger), Salve Regina (Ger) and Sea the Moon (Ger); lot 61, a Galileo filly from the family of Goldikova (Ire)(Anabaa) and lot 68, a Galileo colt out of dual Group 2 winner Cladocera (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}); and lot 88, a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Group 1 winner Giofra (Fr) and the full-brother to the €1.55-million sale topper here two years ago.