As was the case during the opening session of the Arqana October Yearling Sale on Tuesday, a daughter of leading French-based first-season sire Dabirsim topped trade during the sale's third session on Thursday. The price of €105,000 paid by Willie Browne on behalf of George Mullins for Haras des Granges's lot 512 was well off Tuesday's top price of €500,000 while the sale winds down, but statistics remain on par with last year. A total of 151 yearlings changed hands on Thursday for €3,958,500 at a clearance rate of 81.2%. The day's average of €26,215 was down 2.7% from last year's corresponding session, while the median climbed 10% to €22,000. Cumulatively, 408 lots have been sold this week for €19,474,500. The average is up 3% to €47,732, and the median is down slightly (3%) to €32,000.
Thursday's session-topping filly was bred by Mathieu Daguzan-Garros of Granges in partnership with Frederic Bragato, and Browne said after signing the ticket, “I am keen on the sire but above all, the filly appealed to me. She is a very correct individual with a lovely walk and a nice head.”
Agent Federico Barberini paid €95,000, the day's second-highest price, for a colt by another popular French sire, Kendargent (lot 542). The Haras d'Ommeel offering is out of the American stakes-placed Hunter Forward (Aus) (Galileo {Ire}).
Pedro The Great is another French-based first-season sire who is catching the eye, and Jean-Claude Rouget, who handles his stakes-winning daughter Feralia (Fr), will also train lot 499 after securing him for €90,000. The sale was a memorable moment for breeder Alain Clavier, who had bred the colt's dam, Double Mix (Fr), as a result of a free nomination to Sagamix (Fr) won at a breeders' benefit. Double Mix was later sold on, but Clavier and his neighbour Roger-Yves Simon of Haras du Saz were able to get her back for €7,000 at the 2014 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale. This colt was the result of another free nomination secured at the same breeders' benefit.
“Again we won a nomination at the ASSELCO raffle, to Pedro The Great who is a sire we wouldn't necessarily have used,” said Clavier. “This colt has always been so straightforward and as we have only a couple of yearlings every year, he was the apple of our eyes since the beginning. It is a great achievement for small breeders like us to sell a yearling at that price and to go to such a successful stable.”
Other highlights of the day included an Iffraaj (GB) colt bought by Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables for €82,000 (lot 466). A pair of colts by exciting young sires each fetched €80,000: lot 431, a Camelot (GB) colt who is a half-brother to three stakes horses, and lot 517, a son of leading second-crop sire Nathaniel (Ire) out of a half-sister to Lope de Vega (Ire).
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