By Emma Berry
DEAUVILLE, France—After torrential rain on Thursday evening, by Friday morning the sky had cleared to ensure that the international supporting cast which has descended on Deauville could complete final yearling inspections bathed in sunshine.
The European yearling season is ushered in with Arqana'a August Sale, which starts its three-day run this evening with two select post-racing sessions through the weekend. In the last four years the sale has cleared close to, or in one case just above, €40 million in turnover for the cream of the French yearling crop plus some select international visitors.
The D yard at the sales complex has been extended this year with a new row of boxes containing the 22-strong consignment of La Motteraye, a draft which has grown progressively in both both quantity and quality in recent years. The young duo behind the consignment, Lucie Lamotte and Gwen Monneraye, could hardly have been given a bigger vote of confidence this year than to have been asked to consign the first foal of G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas and GI EP Taylor S. heroine Just The Judge (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}). Her statuesque Dubawi colt will sell on Sunday evening as lot 137.
“It's a great honour to have been asked to sell the colt by David Redvers,” said Monneraye. “Each year we have been trying to improve but this is a major step forward for us.”
Just The Judge was herself a €50,000 Goffs Orby yearling but by the time she returned to Tattersalls in December of 2014 with two top-level wins to her credit she commanded a 4.5 million-guinea price tag with her existing owner Qatar Racing forming a new partnership with China Horse Club. The mare foaled a filly by Dubawi on Valentine's Day this year.
“We brought him here as we thought we could be one of 20 in Newmarket whereas here he's the only Dubawi colt in the sale,” said David Redvers. “He is here to be sold for the partnership of Qatar Bloodstock and China Horse Club and he will have a very sensible reserve.”
He added, “We've sold horses through La Motteraye ever since they started and they bring such enthusiasm to the game. They always do a wonderful job and we're very happy to support them.”
The Dubawi colt will be in the ring only two lots after 135, another colt from the La Motteraye draft who will demand interest as he is a Dark Angel (Ire) half-brother to the Group 1 winner and promising young stallion Havana Gold (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). The son of the dual Group 3 winner Jessica's Dream (Ire) (Desert Style {Ire}) is being sold on behalf of Charlie Parker's Crimbourne Bloodstock.
A new name on the list of August consignors this year but one which is very familiar in Britain is Whatton Manor Stud, which offers one yearling (lot 131), a colt by Oasis Dream (GB) out of the GI Beverly D S. winner I'm A Dreamer (Ire) (Noverre). The Nottinghamshire-based operation has been enjoying a terrific run on the track this season, most notably through the exploits of the G3 Prix Minerve winner Worth Waiting (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who could head next to the G1 Prix Vermeille.
“We've sold here in the past through other people but we felt that the August Sale would suit this colt so we thought it was worth trying something different,” said Ed Player of Whatton Manor Stud. “His full-brother is in training with Clive Cox and is set to run at the end of the month and Oasis Dream is having a good year, particularly in France with Polydream (Fr), so we are hopeful of a good sale. It's so important these days to split your draft and think very carefully about where to sell each horse.”
The colt, bred by St Albans Bloodstock and a half-brother to juvenile winner Dream Warrior (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), is the last offspring of I'm A Dreamer, who also won the G3 Dahlia S. and was runner-up in the GI EP Taylor S. but was sadly lost to laminitis after he was foaled.
Player is relishing the prospect of a turn to France later in the year for a trip to the races instead of the sales to watch Whatton Manor graduate Worth Waiting in action at ParisLongchamp.
He said, “David Langian has done a wonderful job with her and I'm delighted for her owner Saif Ali. She certainly deserves to be given a chance in Group 1 company and I hope to be there to see it. Her dam Salutare (Ire) has no yearling this year but her half-sister Montare (Ire) is the dam of Journey (GB), who is by Dubawi, so we sent Salutare to Al Kazeem (GB) and we have a nice filly foal that we plan to keep, and she is now in foal to Time Test (GB).”
The sale gives many European buyers a first glimpse of yearlings by American Pharoah, who has one filly selling on each of the first two evenings (lots 34 and 158). Among the other American-based stallions to be represented is Spendthrift Farm's Temple City, whose one yearling in the catalogue, selling through Haras d'Etreham, is lot 97, a half-sister to the G3 Prix de Psyche winner Homerique (Exchange Rate).
The first session of the August Sale begins at 5.30pm local time with the first lot into the ring being one of six yearlings in the sale by the champion sire Galileo (Ire). Lot 1 is out of the multiple Grade 2 winner Naissance Royal (Ire) (Giant's Causeway) and is a sister to the Group 3-placed dual winner Jadhaba.
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