The Weekly Wrap

The wrap is back after a brief hiatus to make way for the major yearling sales at Goffs and Tattersalls. This week's round-up comes to you from Deauville as Arqana prepares to open its doors again for the four-day October Sale.

With the yearling season gradually drawing to a close, thoughts are already turning to next season's matings and a number of stallion announcements have been made in the last week, particularly in France. One sad farewell will be to the redoubtable Sinndar (Ire), whose retirement was made official last week by the Aga Khan Studs. Haras de Bonneval has already gained a new recruit in the form of Zarak (Fr), who, as a son of Dubawi (Ire) and the Arc heroine Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar), is worthy of a stallion position even without any form in the book. The fact that he also happens to be a Group 1 winner makes him a seriously enticing prospect indeed. Zarak is on show all this week at his new home just half an hour from the Arqana sales ground.

And while France is losing one Derby winner it has rapidly gained another with the excellent news that Wings Of Eagles (Fr) is to return to his birthplace at Haras de Montaigu.

In between showing yearlings at Arqana on Monday, Montaigu's Sybille Gibson could barely contain her delight at this imminent and poignant homecoming.

“He'll be back with us in November and he will be the third Group 1 winner to retire to our stud after Literato (Fr) and Prince Gibraltar (Fr),” she said of the son of another Epsom hero, Pour Moi (Ire). “He was always such a special horse from the day he was born and this means so much to us. We are very proud to have the confidence of Coolmore and to be able to stand an English Derby winner in France.”

Fellow Normandy stud Haras du Logis is also gaining a new stallion in Godolphin's G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Ultra (Ire), who will stand alongside his father Manduro (Ger) at Julian Ince's farm. Meanwhile Al Shaqab's Haras de Bouquetot is set to welcome the Group 1-winning milers Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and Zelzal (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

Dance moves on up
As usual, Anna Sundstrom will have one of the biggest drafts at this week's sale in Deauville, but her decision to cast the net wider and start selling outside France last year has already met with notable success.

Headlining the select Coulonces draft taken to the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale last season was Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who became the most expensive filly of the sale when sold to John Dance for £220,000. Just over a year later and she is already the winner of the G1 Fillies' Mile and G2 May Hill S. In fact, in four starts, she has been beaten just once when second to Polydream (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in the G3 Shadwell Prix du Calvados at Deauville, the same weekend that her trainer Karl Burke provided the one-two in the G1 Darley Prix Morny with Unfortunately (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}) and Havana Grey (GB) (Havana Gold {GB}).

Already the owner of Salcey Forest Stud in Northamptonshire, Dance, the investment expert behind Vertem Asset Management, is in the process of buying the Barnett family's Fair Winter Farm to add to his portfolio of equine property. In Laurens, he now has the perfect foundation mare for such an esteemed stud.

“It's absolutely crazy for people like us to be playing with the big boys,” said the 42-year-old after his filly won at the Rowley Mile on Friday.

If Dance's string of racehorses and broodmares continues to grow at the rate at which it has in recent seasons, it won't be long before he's one of the big boys himself.

Irish strikes in France
Continuing the brilliant run of British-trained horses in French Group races this season, Fighting Irish (Ire) landed the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte to become the first Group winner for Camelot (GB) and another major cross-Channel success for trainer Harry Dunlop, who won his first Group 1 race two seasons ago with Robin Of Navan (Fr) (American Post {GB}).

Meanwhile Crystal River (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) looks to have been very well bought by Blandford Bloodstock after claiming her first stakes success in the Listed Prix Casimir Delamarre to remain unbeaten for William Haggas. Let go by Godolphin in March for £28,000 after a solitary run in a maiden at two, the daughter of Inner Secret (Singspiel {Ire}), a half-sister to the Group 1 winners Dubai Destination (Kingmambo) and Librettist (Danzig), has an enticing pedigree which has now been backed up with some good black-type form.

Adding to the success of the Brits on the same day was Ed Walker's Stormy Antarctic (Stormy Atlantic). Winner of the G3 Craven S. during an electrical storm and runner-up to Zelzal in the G1 Prix Jean Prat last season, the 4-year-old has been gelded since finishing last in the G2 Lennox S. at Goodwood in August and was the comfortable winner of the Listed Ranelagh S. at Chantilly on Sunday.

Notable Double For Ballymore Celebre
The Carmel Stud foundation mare Ballymore Celebre (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) pulled off rather an extraordinary double last week. Her 8-year-old gelding No Time To Lose (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) landed the 137^th running of the Velka Pardubicka steeplechase, the Czech equivalent of the Grand National whose famous and feared Taxis fence makes Becher's Brook look small.

Five days later her juvenile daughter Awesome (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}) won at York to claim her second consecutive novice race in the colours of her breeders Peter and Michelle Morgan. The couple also bred Awesome's full-brother Anjaal GB), winner of the G2 July S. for Sheikh Hamdan who now stands at Rathasker Stud and has his first foals on the ground.

The Morgans will doubtless be paying close attention to members of Anjaal's first crop at the forthcoming sales as they have been very successful pinhookers over the years and enjoyed some good results at Tattersalls in the last fortnight. In Book 1 they sold an Acclamation (GB) colt for 500,000gns having bought the son of Missisipi Star (Ire) for 185,000gns last December.

The Carmel Stud team pulled off another coup in Book 2 with a son of Society Rock (Ire) selected at Goffs for €36,000 and sold on for 220,000gns to Alastair Donald.