Arqana August Sale

5th-GP, $89K, MSW, 4yo/up, 7 1/2fT, 2:09pm EST Trainer Todd Pletcher offers up a pair of seven-figure sales horses making their belated debuts. Victorious Racing LLC's SWORDOFHONOR (IRE) (Siyouni {Fr}) sports some pretty flashy credentials. The €1.5 million Arqana August yearling purchase is a half-brother to the year-older Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a two-time Group 1 winner as a juvenile who subsequently won last summer's G2 Celebration Mile S. at Goodwood. Consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux and purchased by Oliver St Lawrence, the bay was the second highest-priced...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a half-sister to a seven-figure Arqana yearling. 14.23 ParisLongchamp, Mdn, €50,000, unraced 2yo, f, 8fT Pascal Bary trainee LADY INVINCIBLE (FR) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) is the second of three foals out of a half-sister to MG1SW sire Shamardal (Giant's Causeway). The May-foaled bay is a €300,000...

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry DEAUVILLE, France--It was the bloodstock sales equivalent of a mic drop: two lots, five minutes, €3 million. Boom. Coomore has long nurtured its partnerships, and with Peter Brant, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Georg von Opel's Westerberg, the Magnier-led operation has enjoyed plentiful success. Most notably this season that has come with Paddington (GB), a multiple Group 1-winning son of Siyouni (Fr) bred by Dayton Investments at Ecurie des Monceaux, and it was to that nursery that the team turned again, signing for the...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin DEAUVILLE, France--In the week that it was confirmed that Diane Wildenstein's breeding operation Dayton Investments has been sold to the Wertheimer brothers, a Dubawi (Ire) yearling from one of the most recognisable Wildenstein families became the first seven-figure yearling in Europe this season. When there are yearlings by Darley's flagship stallion on the market, it is often a safe bet that Sheikh Mohammed will be interested. With the Ruler of Dubai in attendance in Deauville, the day's top lot (21) was duly sold to...

Lot 21, a son of Dubawi (Ire) and the Invincible Spirit (Ire) mare Pretty Spirit (GB), was the first yearling to break the seven-figure mark at Deauville's Arqana August Yearling Sale when selling for €1.25 million to Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin on Friday. Consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux, the bay is out of a half-sister to three-time Group 1 winner Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), who has his first yearlings this year. This is the extended family of G1 Prix Ganay hero Planteur (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).  ...

DEAUVILLE, France--Over the next three evenings, around 280 youngsters considered to be the cream of the French yearling crop will pass through the sale ring in Deauville, where this time last year the collective bidding stopped just north of €50 million to bring record returns at Arqana. The term 'record-breaking trade' has appeared countless times in this and other publications, and frequent rejigging of sales formats allows that to be claimed perhaps more often than it genuinely should be, but the 2022 August Sale really was quite the blockbuster by...

DEAUVILLE, France--In a departure from the normal schedule, Arqana's August extravaganza kicks off a day early this year, on Friday. With a handful of shows having taken place on Tuesday, viewing began in earnest on Wednesday morning, with Joseph O'Brien first out of the blocks and on parade at the Haras des Capucines draft while most people were still having breakfast. While many of the families of the horses catalogued will be familiar to potential purchasers, each new season brings with it a wave of new stallion names to grapple...

Luxury aviation company Flexjet will continue as Arqana's official partner during the August Yearling Sale, which begins on Friday, Aug. 18. Buyers will be offered a magnum of champagne with their first purchase of €500,000 or more at the Deauville venue. The top vendor at the end of each day of the sale will also receive a magnum of champagne. The Flexjet team will be present at the 360° Bar, as well as the Cocktail Bar in Courtyard A throughout the three-day sale. "We are delighted to be involved in...

The one thing guaranteed to get you through a hard day on the sales grind is the promise of a decent meal at the end of it, and in Deauville you will not be short of options. There have been a lot of changes on the gastronomic scene of late, and if you haven't visited the seaside resort for a couple of years, you are likely to find it hard to choose from the large array of enticing new venues. The Covid pandemic may have played its part, but not...

By Emma Berry, Brian Sheerin and Sue Finley DEAUVILLE, France--Monday may have felt like Sunday in Deauville as the French observed the holy day of the Assumption of St Mary, but business continued apace at Arqana, with strength in depth to the final session hitherto unseen at the August Sale and new record figures set in all sectors. Reworked this year so that the former select evening sessions held over the weekend with a supplementary session on Monday were all rolled into an alphabetical singular sale, the new format may...

A grey filly by Siyouni (Fr) made €1.4 million from Alex Solis and Jason Litt to become the second seven-figure lot at Arqana on Sunday and third overall. Lot 216, out of the Listed Prix de Saint-Cyr heroine Aviatress (Ire) (Shamardal), was consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux. The dam is a half-sister to GIII Seaway S. heroine Marbre Rose (Ire) (Smart Strike), as well as the stakes winner and dual graded-placed Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Under the third dam are the top-level winners Zoftig (Cozzene), Zo Impressive (Hard Spun) and...

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin DEAUVILLE, France--If two of the certainties in life are death and taxes, the third, in the world of bloodstock at least, is that if a yearling out of Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) turns up at the Arqana August Sale then he or she will steal the limelight. This time it was a colt (lot 154), a full-brother to the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) no less, whose arrival in the ring...