Arqana Breeze-up Sale

It was another memorable year on the breeze-up circuit for Willie Browne and 79-year-old joined this month's TDN Conversations podcast with Brian Sheerin to discuss his latest success and his storied background in the business.

Mocklershill maestro Willie Browne was responsible for the fourth seven-figure lot of the sale at Arqana on Saturday as his colt by Siyouni went the way of MV Magnier for €1 million. Lot 164, from the family of the G1 Sussex Stakes winner and sire Mohaather, was previously a €290,000 purchase at the Arqana October Yearling Sale. It was yet another lucrative result this year for Browne, who also sold a son of Acclamation for 1.4 million gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale, having sourced said colt for just...

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry Cormac Farrell was left flabbergasted after bringing the Arqana Breeze-up Sale-topping figure of €1.9 million for a Night Of Thunder colt who went the way of Godolphin and summed up the outstanding piece of business as "the stuff of dreams". Out of Date With Destiny, the only foal that the chronically subfertile George Washington sired, the Night Of Thunder colt was picked up by Farrell for 90,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.  Speaking of the monumental profit, he said, "It's...

Deauville, FRANCE-Talk about timing. The Arqana Breeze-Up Sale will get underway a week to the day after star graduate Ruling Court did his thing in the 2,000 Guineas. Take that result and couple it with the fact the sales results at the breeze-up sales in America and Europe have been off the charts this year, there is rightly optimism in the Deauville air.  Three horses made more than a million-including Ruling Court who sold to Godolphin at €2.3 million-at the breeze-up sales last year. That figure has already been equalled...

DEAUVILLE, France -- Plenty of people will be cheering on the two runners of Charlie Fellowes in the French Classics on Sunday, not least because the trainer has booked Kieran Shoemark for both horses after a tumultuous week for the jockey. But there will be one person hoping perhaps harder than any for dream results for Luther in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Shes Perfect in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and that's Will Douglass, the agent responsible for matching each horse to their respective owners. Douglass is a...

Deauville, FRANCE-The breeze-up circus rolls onto Arqana this week and, following the breeze on Thursday, where 162 of some of the best-bred horses in Europe were put through their paces, a number of key industry stakeholders weighed in on what might come to fruition this week.  From market predictions, to revealing their highs and lows of the breeze-up season thus far, heavyweights Roger O'Callaghan, Roderic Kavanagh, Tessa Greatrex, Valfredo Valiani and Matt Coleman have answered some of the key questions ahead of what promises to be another blockbuster sale on...

Three wildcards have been released for next week's Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, which takes place between May 8 and 10 in Deauville.  Among the three two-year-olds that have been added to the sale is the Oak Tree Farm-consigned Wootton Bassett colt [lot 194] out of the Listed-placed Materialistic.  A grandson of Group winner and Group 1-placed Pongee, the colt hails from the family of Pacifique, Prudenzia, Paix, Magic Wand, Chicquita and Philomene.   In addition, a daughter of Lucky Vega (lot 195) will be offered from Bansha House Stables. The well-bred filly...

DUBAI, UAE--Owners Jim and Claire Bryce have admitted to feeling "like kids in a sweet shop" ahead of Saturday's UAE Derby where their own Heart Of Honor (GB) (Honor A. P.) could help jockey Saffie Osborne create history by becoming the first female jockey to win a race on Dubai World Cup night. Trained by Jamie Osborne, who won the same race 11 years ago with Toast Of New York (Thewayyouare), Heart Of Honor is the most high-profile Flat performer for the husband-and-wife owners who admitted to having mixed emotions...

The catalogue for the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, which takes place between 8 and 10 May, has been released and features the progeny of world-class stallions Justify, Wootton Bassett (GB), Lope De Vega (Ire), Sea The Stars (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and more. A total of 192 two-year-olds feature in the sale that was headed last year by recent UAE 2,000 Guineas hero Ruling Court (Justify), who was sold by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm to Godolphin for €2.3 million. There are seven horses by Justify in this year's sale that features...

It is the typically interesting opinion of John Sikura that "a stallion's genetic switch is either on or off." The quality and quantity of his books may affect his profile, but his potency (or otherwise) will be operative the day he covers his first mare. Sure enough, six Grade I winners to date for Not This Time all belong to his first two books, conceived at just $15,000. Whatever he might yet achieve with his upgraded mares, paying $135,000 last year and now $150,000, he did not need their help...

Norman Williamson set a new record for the highest-priced horse sold at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale when his Justify colt was knocked down to Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin for €2.3 million on what was a banner day for the stallion.  The result came less than an hour after Eddie O'Leary broke his own personal record for the highest priced achieved at a breeze-up sale when his Lynn Lodge Stud-consigned Justify colt went the way of Alex Elliott on behalf of Amo Racing for €1 million before the same...

DEAUVILLE, France--The temperature is rising at Arqana and so, too, are the stakes. Breeze-up consignors young and old have made no secret about the fact that trade this year has been tricky, particularly at the middle to lower tiers.  All duck or no dinner, feast or famine--whatever way you want to describe it, vendors have had to negotiate some choppy waters, meaning a lot is still on the line at Arqana when the sale gets underway at 11am on Saturday. But, weirdly, the optimism is palpable. Maybe it's the baking...