It's Show Time In Deauville

Michel Zerolo and Jean-Claude Rouget at Arqana | Emma Berry

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It's that time of year again. The Normandy seaside town of Deauville is packed with holiday makers and adding a little hustle to the bustle is the sales crowd, drawn from across both hemispheres to ensure that the European yearling sales season starts in the most stylish manner.

In the last five years, Galileo (Ire) and his arch rival Dubawi (Ire) have pretty much had the run of things at Arqana in August, with back up from a strong supporting cast which includes Frankel (GB), Invincible Spirit (Ire), Redoute's Choice (Aus), Monsun (Ger)–who topped the 2014 sale with a member of his final crop–and Dansili (GB). It seems unlikely to change this year.

An elite sale naturally lures the most enticing pedigrees. While there are 30 Dubawi yearlings set to advance on Newmarket for Book 1 of Tattersalls' October Sale, four will set the ball rolling for their sire this weekend, including lot 108, the daughter of G1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Alpine Rose (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}), whose three yearlings to have featured at this sale to date have fetched €1.2-million, €1-million and €550,000, respectively.

The Ecurie des Monceaux-bred filly faces competition from her own draft-mate, a filly from GI Beverly D S. winner Royal Highness and thus a half-sister to dual Group 2 winner Free Port Lux (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 55). Haras de la Perelle also offers a Dubawi colt out of yet another Group 1 winner, Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 160). Completing the Dubawi quartet is the first foal of the consistent Daksha (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}), whose four wins were headed by her success in the G3 Prix Allez France and whose colt (lot 136) is a highlight of the eight-strong Newsells Park Stud draft.

On the Galileo front, Monceaux again features prominently as the breeder of the half-sister to G1 Irish Oaks winner Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) (lot 51), while a Galileo colt out of multiple Group 3 winner Bewitched (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 120) can be found within a typically strong consignment from Haras des Capucines.

On the eve of the most important sale of the year in France, Capucines frontman Eric Puerari was in a relatively laidback mode as kept a watchful eye on his yearlings being shown to a range of potential buyers. He said, “We've been very busy from dawn to dusk since we arrived. There's an interesting crowd here–lots of Japanese clients and some Chinese buyers. As always, it is very diverse, and there's a very agreeable group of buyers who take their time. At the moment we're very happy. Arqana must be congratulated for doing a great job to attract people from all over the world, but the breeders are doing a good job too because we have international pedigrees in Deauville and the results are there.”

“For us personally, the farm recently had the pleasure of selling the first three finishers in a hot maiden–the Prix de Crevecoeur, which is always a very strong maiden in Deauville–so we are very happy with that,” Puerari added.

Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) may have made a below-par comeback in the G3 Prix Gontaut-Biron earlier this week, but there's no forgetting the force he was last season when winning five consecutive group races including three at the highest level. Such a record will guarantee much interest in his full-brother, the jewel of the Haras d'Etreham draft, and offered as lot 143 on Sunday evening. The colt's 3-year-old sister Troarn (Fr) is also now a winner and listed-placed this season.

As Joseph Burke outlines in greater detail in our accompanying feature on the Camas Park & Glenvale Studs draft, there is a tinge of sadness attached to the sale of lot 85 on Saturday. The New Approach (Ire) colt is a half-brother to Permian (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who lost his life on Saturday after fracturing a leg on pulling up in the GI Secretariat S. The hardy colt won many fans this year for his consistency, not least when winning the G2 Dante S. at York and the G2 King Edward VII S. at Royal Ascot a month later.

Among a sizeable offering from one of France's most popular stallions, Le Havre (Ire), the star of the newly renamed Haras de Montfort & Preaux roster, comes lot 318, Haras de Grandcamp's filly out of Exit The Straight (Ire) (Exit To Nowhere {Ire}), who has enjoyed a timely update thanks to the G3 Prix de Psyche victory of Vue Fantastique (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), and that could be enhanced further still when the Fabrice Chappet-trained filly lines up for today's G2 Shadwell Prix de la Nonette just over the road. The filly is a great grand-daughter of Straight Lass (Ire) (Machiavellian), whose current yearling filly by Invincible Spirit (Ire) features as lot 80 in the draft from Haras du Mezeray, where her Group 1-winning half-brother Naaqoos (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) started his stallion career.

Tipped to lead the way among the young stallions with first yearlings on offer this year is Juddmonte's Kingman (GB), whose only defeat in an eight-race career came when being narrowly beaten for second in the G1 2000 Guineas. The jungle drums have been beating loudly about his first crop for some time now, and that elite bunch includes Haras de Montaigu's half-sister to Derby winner Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) (lot 101), as well as the second lot into the ring today, Ballylinch's colt out of Janicellaine (Ire), a Beat Hollow (GB) half-sister to the highly talented but ill-fated Chriselliam (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}).

Few stallions go to stud with more illustrious credentials than Australia (GB), the Derby winner by a Derby winner out of an Oaks winner. Ten of his first yearlings go under the hammer this weekend, starting with lot 15, the filly out of G2 Rockfel S. winner Kitty Matcham, herself a daughter of the Oaks and Guineas winner Imagine (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), while under her third dam appears Derby winner Generous (Ire) (Caerleon). That's almost an embarrassment of Classic riches for just one page.

It's worth noting that the sale on Saturday and Sunday has been put back by half an hour to 5:30 p.m. owing to a change in the racing schedule at Deauville. You'll want to take your seats in good time, whether you're here in Deauville or following the auction online, as the action is likely to be frantic right from the moment lot 1–a colt by Frankel–enters the ring.

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