Acclamation Filly Tops Final August Session

By Emma Berry and Chris McGrath

The sireline may have changed but the name of Ecurie des Monceaux remained at the head of proceedings on the final day of the August Sale as a well-related filly by Acclamation (GB) (lot 336) who traces back to Miesque (Nureyev) gained top honours when sold for €320,000.

Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International, acting on behalf of an undisclosed Chinese client of Jean-Claude Rouget, signed the ticket for the bay filly who is the first foal of the unraced Wadjet (Ire) (Shamardal), a half-sister to Listed winner Wild Wind (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) whose ancestors include a plethora of high-level winners, not least Kingmambo, Karakontie, Rumplestiltskin (Ire) and Tapestry (Ire).

“She's a beautiful filly from the superb family of Miesque and she looks like a racehorse,” offered the agent, who a little earlier had given €140,000 for a daughter of Motivator (GB) on behalf of the same owner. Lot 315 is out of an Anabaa half-sister to the dual Group 2 winner Silver Pond (Fr) (Act One {GB}) and was bred by Haras du Quesnay.

As the sun set on another successful August Sale held during a roasting few days in Deauville, Arqana President Eric Hoyeau reflected on the consolidation of last year's stellar returns which were always going to be hard to match – especially given the 2015 top price of €2.6 million compared to €1.4 million for Monday night's Galileo (Ire) filly. Turnover for the sale as a whole fell only a little short, at €40,148,000, a reduction of just 6%.

He said, “Since the sale returned to its three-day format, this is the second-best aggregate, and the two indicators of the sale's progress are the good clearance rate and the median of €110,000, which is the first time it has been a six-figure sum.”

Hoyeau continued, “Most importantly, the three days displayed great depth to the market. Eleven different buyers spent more than €1 million, and from a French perspective there were plenty of French buyers in this bracket. There were also some new buyers, from Japan, America, Qatar and Australia, so there are plenty of reasons to be pleased despite slight declines. The figures show that last year was not a one-off and that French production is definitely on the way up.”

The average shrank by 7.5% to €150,879 but, following a steady flow of six-figure transactions throughout the final day, the median rose to €110,000 from €95,000. These figures were achieved through the sale of 265 horses from the 338 offered – a clearance rate of 78% for the three sessions, a figure that was fractionally up from last year.

The third session – or Part 2 of the August Sale as it is known – added €10,122,000 to the aggregate, down 4% from 2015, while the average was marginally up at €80,976. The last-day median dropped to €60,000 from €70,000 and the clearance rate, from 125 of the 166 yearlings sold, was 75%.

More Delight For Cadran

A banner year for Pierre Talvard of Haras du Cadran was further enhanced on Tuesday by the sale of a first-crop daughter of Intello (Ger) for €300,000. Lot 255, out of the French Listed winner Mary's Precedent (Fr) (Storming Home {GB}), became the second yearling at the sale to be bought by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, who bred and raced the G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Intello.

“She is a very good-looking filly who we liked a lot. She was one of our two favourite Intellos,” enthused the Wertheimers' racing manager Pierre-Yves Bureau. “She is out of a young mare and from a breeder who you could say is in form. We are very happy to buy her and of course it is very good news that Intello has had such good results.”

This season Talvard has had the pleasure of watching Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), whom he bred at his Normandy farm, stride to victory for Al Shaqab Racing in the G1 Coronation S. followed by the G1 Prix Rothschild, and hopes will be high that another Cadran graduate, The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), can return to winning form in today's G1 Juddmonte International.

Another Son Rises

Following his sire Galileo (Ire) and paternal half-brother Frankel (GB) in playing a major part in the August Sale, Intello appears to have been given the thumbs-up by buyers and he was also responsible for the second-top price of the day when lot 293 brought the hammer down at €215,000.

Sold on behalf of Haras de Saint-Laurent by Haras de Mezeray, the February-born colt is the second foal of multiple Listed winner Rock My Soul (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) and hails from a strong German family which includes the Group 1 winners Turfkonig (Ger) and Turfdonna (Ger).

“He's been bought for a client of Anthony [Stroud] and will almost certainly be trained in England,” explained agent Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock.

“We thought he was the best horse here today and the best of the Intellos. He had a great physique with real substance. He's out of a good racemare and it's that good Galileo-Danehill cross. Hopefully he'll make up into a nice middle-distance Classic horse in time.”

The Mezeray draft was to the fore earlier in the day when Michel Zerolo went to €160,000 to secure lot 247, a filly by Lawman (Fr), for €160,000 on behalf of an unnamed client.

There's nothing like a timely update before a major sale and the repercussions of the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest victory on Aug. 7 for Signs Of Blessing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) continue to be appreciated by Haras de Mezeray, which offered this filly out of the top sprinter's treble-winning half-sister Lucrece (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), as well as receiving €300,000 on Monday for Signs Of Blessing's full-sister, who was bought by Prince Faisal.

Another Top Pinhook For Camas Park And Glenvale

Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) is not the only young stallion at Banstead Manor to be making a positive impression with his first runners and Bated Breath (GB) (Dansili {GB}) received a vivid endorsement when Mark Richards had to go to €260,000 to buy lot 358 on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The colt's grandam is a half-sister to Korveya (Riverman), blue hen mother of Classic winners Hector Protector (Woodman), Bosra Sham (Woodman) and Shanghai (Procida), and represented another knock-out pin-hook for the same team that had the previous evening turned round a Siyouni filly, picked up here for €60,000 last December, for €380,000. It was Mags O'Toole who likewise signed for this colt at the same sale, for €45,000; and it was again Camas Park and Glenvale Studs that consigned the colt in partnership.

“This colt seems to have the most wonderful temperament, I never saw him put a foot out of place, and I love the way he's put together,” Richards said. “I'd see him as an ideal type for Hong Kong, and I hope this is the first of many we pick up by Bated Breath: I think Dansili is a great sire of sires already.”

Bated Breath's first crop is headed by Al Johrah (GB), winner of her first two starts before chasing home the freakish Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) at Royal Ascot and again runner-up in the G2 Prix Robert Papin.

The Dream Begins For Lerners

The father-and-son training team of Carlos and Yann Lerner secured a pair of well-related fillies for €180,000 each when buying lot 218 from Haras des Capucines and HSV Agency and lot 271 from the Haras de Grandcamp draft.

The former, a daughter of Siyouni (Fr) out of a sister to the G3 Prix Daphnis winner Bernebeau (Fr) (Green Tune), was bought in the same ring for €75,000 by HSV Agency last December.

“I loved her when I saw her at Capucines and she's done well since then,” said Yann Lerner. “She's the kind of filly who gives you the right to dream.”

He was equally effusive in his praise of the Le Havre filly Pleyben Joa (Fr) bought later in the session on behalf of Martine Stadelmann and Lucien Urano.

“She's outstanding physically and I sincerely felt she was the best filly on the day. She walks really well and of course she has a lovely pedigree,” he commented.

The filly is the first foal of Pariolina (Fr) (Muhtathir {Fr}), a half-sister to recent GII Wise Dan S. winner Pleuven (Fr) (Turtle Bowl {Ire}).

Carlos Lerner was back in action later on as part of a new partnership with Gerard Augustin-Normand. Bidding through Sylvain Vidal, the pair gave €200,000 for Haras de la Louviere's son of Teofilo (Ire) out of Vauville (Ire), an Invincible Spirit half-sister to the G1 Irish St Leger winner Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire), who is also by Teofilo.

“This is a new association,” said Vidal of the new owners of lot 332. “A client of Carlos Lerner's will own 50% of this colt. He's a really good-looking horse with such a lovely pedigree.”

Stall Salzburg Strikes Through Hofer

A colt from a family stamped through with bold black type and by one of France's best stallions was enough to convince German trainer Manfred Hofer to push on to €175,000 for lot 290, bought on behalf of Stall Salzburg.

Sitting with his brother and fellow trainer Mario, Hofer said of the son of Kendargent from Haras d'Etreham, “He looks like he'll be a 2-year-old. We have a fantastic Kendargent who is one of our best 2-year-olds. Kendargent is a great sire and this is a top pedigree.”

It's hard to argue with that assessment. The half-brother to the G2 Badener Meile winner Royal Solitaire (Ire) (Shamardal) has stakes winners as his first three dams, his great grandam being the Sweet Solera S. winner Lucayan Princess (GB) (High Line {GB}), later the dam of Group 1 winners Luso (GB) (Salse) and Warrsan (Ire) (Caerleon), as well as G1 Prix Vermeille runner-up Cloud Castle (GB) (In The Wings {Ire}).

Intello's good start at the sales was only the icing on the cake for Hofer, who also bid €130,000 for another yearling for Stall Salzburg in lot 269, the first foal of an unraced half-sister to G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Paita (Intikhab) from Ecurie des Monceaux.

“I bought Paita at the breeze-up sales in Newmarket and I adore the family,” he explained. “I also bought Potemkin (Ger) (New Approach {Ire}) [out of another half-sister] and the other day he was third in a Group 1 in Munich. I thought this filly quite fine, and very good in her head and ears.”

His new acquisition had been preceded into the ring by another from the Monceaux consignment, lot 268, a Kendargent (Fr) filly purchased for €120,000 by Ghislain Bozo's Meridian International on behalf of a new client. Scheduled to stay in France, she might have been a still hotter property if only her unraced dam's half-brother Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), the top juvenile in Britain last year, had not suffered a pelvic fracture in the spring.

Angelic Addition For Dasmal And Devin

Khalifa Dasmal, whose silks were made famous by Shaamit (Ire) (Mtoto GB}) and Dream Ahead (Diktat {GB}), heads up the Dubai partnership that paid €145,000 for lot 261, a Dark Angel (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) filly out of a half-sister to four black-type winners. Dasmal is an old family friend of Mansoor Abulhoul, who signed for the Haras de la Louviere graduate.

“She's very tidy-looking, short-coupled filly by a very popular sire,” Abulhoul said. “She does have a good pedigree but primarily we were looking for a racehorse. We bought a filly here last year and, though she hasn't run yet, she is very promising and this one will also go to Henri-Francois Devin.”

The filly was the third Dark Angel yearling to sell well for Lady O'Reilly's Haras de la Louviere this week, following the €600,000 given for lot 49, the filly out of a half-sister to Lawman (Fr), while lot 120, a colt out of Group 3 winner Sorciere (Ire) (Orpen), fetched €150,000.

Le Havre Colts For Both Sides Of Channel

A second success from two starts at Newbury last Saturday for Escobar (Ire) (Famous Name {GB}) plainly did no harm to Hugo Palmer's eligibility to train lot 202, a colt by Le Havre (Ire) (Noverre) and now in the same ownership as Escobar after being knocked down for €140,000 to Westward Bloodstock Ltd. Deauville regular Fiona Carmichael hopes that the first foal of Eleona (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) can follow in the hoofprints of Toronado (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), purchased in the same ring five years ago for just €55,000.

“I just thought this horse such a lovely mover, and his temperament seemed nice as well,” Carmichael said. “We hope he'll go to Malcolm Bastard now before joining Hugo. The colt we bought here on Sunday [lot 84, by Intello (Ger) (Galileo {Ire})] will be trained by Nicolas Clement.”

Another son of Le Havre to be heading across the Channel is lot 232, bought for €110,000 on behalf of Middleham Park Racing by Peter Doyle. As he signed the docket, the agent was drawing comparisons between his past successes and this colt with syndicate manager Tim Palin.

“The one he reminds me of is Toormore (Ire) (Arakan),” said Palin. “A lovely big horse who'll make a 3-year-old.”

“To me, he's more like The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}),” Doyle said. “Anyway he's a gorgeous horse, the image of his father, and he'll be going to Richard Hannon.”

Doyle also showed strong interest in another son of the Haras de la Cauviniere stallion – lot 236, likewise consigned by La Motteraye – but a €120,000 docket was ultimately signed by the stud's owner Sylvain Vidal. But while this colt was an in-house production, Vidal was acting on behalf of patrons of Jean-Claude Rouget.

“He's very like his father, a very good walker with lovely balance,” Vidal said. “And the dam's filly by Dream Ahead has been second in a Listed race since the catalogue came out.”

Collet And Casse In The Fray

Robert Collet, whose judgement can be as candid as it is seasoned, had an apt riposte when asked if he had a client in mind for lot 201, a colt by Kendargent (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}). “No!” he said, in mock surprise. “I only tend to sell horses in the evening.” Not that too much recourse to the wine list should be necessary to make €140,000 for a colt from the of Johannesburg, Minardi and Tale Of The Cat look fair value.

The same sum was paid by Justin Casse for lot 221, a colt by Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) consigned by Coulonces. Having struck for a son of Frankel in each of the first two sessions, here he went for a son of the only horse to get within a length of the unbeaten champion after his debut.

Casse was bidding adjacent to Paul Shanahan of Coolmore, which allowed due inferences to be drawn when he said: “He was bought for a partnership that was kind of put together at the last minute, including some existing clients, but I can say he'll be staying in Europe. I thought him one of the nicest colts in the sale, and obviously the sire's body of work so far is tremendous.”

A Dabirsim To Breeze

A rookie stallion to receive a striking vote of confidence was Dabirsim (Fr) (Hat Trick {JPN}), the dual Group 1-winning juvenile whose commercial appeal was vividly measured by the readiness of Roger Marley to sign a €125,000 docket for lot 273 in a pin-hooking venture.

The breeze-up consignor clearly has the highest expectations of the colt, first foal of a daughter of Group 1 winner Nadia (GB) (Nashwan), consigned by Haras de Grandcamp.

“It's a little bit more than we hoped to pay but he's a lovely individual,” he said. “Of course none of us can know about the sire yet but he was a very good 2-year-old and a gorgeous horse, so let's hope he might put that bit of speed into his offspring.”

Consistent interest over the course of the sale in another freshman Camelot (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was sustained by the dominant trainer of the French summer when Jean-Claude Rouget signed for lot 289, a filly from the family of Rail Link (GB) (Dansili {GB}) consigned by Antoine Lepeudry's Elevage de Tourgeville, at €160,000.

It may well prove significant that he was in the company of various members of the Coolmore team at the time, but their presumed interest in this colt was not the only spur for Rouget. “I've bought six or seven of them over the past couple of days,” he said, gesturing at a list of lots – dominated by Camelot – in the back of his catalogue.

“I do like the horse, and the idea is to make him a top stallion. But of course it is the same for him as for any new sire: it's like cards, there's always a risk, and you don't know what kind of hand you have until you play them.”

Rouget's parade of Camelots was extended by lot 348, a colt consigned by Haras des Capucines secured for €200,000 by Charlie Gordon-Watson on behalf of new clients for the trainer.

“We do like Camelot and this is a real quality horse with a nice look of Montjeu to him,” the agent said. “He's a great mover and is going to improve physically, as well.”

Value Sires Land Blows

Arakan has punched well above a €3,500 fee, notably with Group 1 winners Toormore (Ire) and Dick Turpin (Ire), and the Ballyhane stallion showed that he can also land a commercial blow when Nicolas Clement gave €150,000 for lot 330, his son out of a half-sister to Bachelor Duke (Miswaki), consigned by Haras de Saint Isidro.

“He's a lovely horse from a very good farm,” Clement said. “And I trained his half-brother Talco (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) who we sold for a good price to America, where he did very well. This colt will run for the same owners.”

Similar comments apply to Norton Grove Stud's Monsieur Bond (Ire), whose £4,000 fee looks terrific value when set against the €145,000 paid by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for his daughter (lot 196) from Hubert Honoré's Haras d'Omméel draft.

The filly is a half-sister to G3 Prix Eclipse winner Souvenir Delondres (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and to five-time winner and Listed-placed I'm So Glad (GB) (Clodovil {Ire}), bred by Chris Wright's Stratford Place Stud.