Arqana Breeze-up Sale

DEAUVILLE, France--With a glinting sun, seagulls on the wing, and the occasional hint of a sea breeze, it is hard to imagine on this perfect spring day that there was ever anything wrong in the world. But it was three years ago that Arqana last held its Breeze-Up Sale at its rightful home in Normandy, with a prolonged pandemic twice forcing the uprooting of one of the most popular auctions of the year to Yorkshire. "It is good to be back here," says Freddy Powell, Arqana's executive director. "But we...

Leading breeze-up consignor Johnny Hassett has labelled the collection of horses on offer at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale as the best bunch he has ever seen in one place at a given time and put forward colts by Siyouni (Fr) (lot 149) and Expert Eye (GB) (lot 43) from his eight-strong Bloodstock Connection draft as the most likely to make the biggest impression on buyers. Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), runner-up to Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor...

DONCASTER, UK--It takes more than mere pandemic-induced travel restrictions to blunt the ardour of the bloodstock industry. A new record for turnover and median set the tone for a robust day of trade in Doncaster and, just as would be expected in normal times, the buyers' list at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale represented many nations, with plenty of help from the Middle East. The familiar duo of Anthony Stroud and David Loder leaned nonchalantly on the parade ring rail to make their play for the Medaglia d'Oro colt who would...

DONCASTER, UK--On paper, there has been clear evidence over a number of years that the breeze-up sector has collectively raised its game when it comes to the quality of product on offer. Many of the 2-year-olds who will pass through the ring in Doncaster on Friday for the relocated and slightly delayed Arqana Breeze-Up Sale would not have looked out of place in an elite yearling sale. The advantage for potential buyers now is that they don't just have the chance to watch the horses walk up and down, but...

It is unlikely that Arqana will want to make South Yorkshire the permanent home for its breeze-up sale, but swapping Deauville for Doncaster worked perfectly well last year and, with ongoing tricky travel conditions, the return to the Goffs UK complex in 2021 was perhaps inevitable. Owing to the relative lateness of last year's sale--which was held several weeks  after Royal Ascot on July 1--and the change of location, only 77 juveniles stood their ground, but the returns were good for those vendors who held their nerve. Having been staged...

Buyers are required to register at Goffs Online to bid online at the 2021 Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, Arqana announced on Saturday. Registrations for bidding online are now open. Online bidding on the sale will only be available at Goffs Online, not Arqana Online, the French sales company stressed. For the second year in a row, the 2-year-old sale, which features 158 juveniles, will be held at Goffs UK's Doncaster sales complex due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The breezes, which will start at noon, will be conducted at Doncaster Racecourse on...

For a second consecutive year, Arqana will sponsor the Listed Irish EBF Marwell S. at Ireland's Naas Racecourse July 21. The inaugural Marwell S., contested in early August 2020, was won by the Ken Condon-trained Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), who won the G2 Lowther S. in her next appearance before placing in the G1 Cheveley Park Stud S. and in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf. The announcement comes ahead of next week's Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, which has been relocated from Deauville to Doncaster due to COVID-19...

Over 500 horses are eligible for the 10-race 2022 Swedish Derby & Oaks Series which closed on Mar. 22, Svensk Galopp announced on Tuesday. All the races are for 3-year-olds and run over three meetings on the Jagersro Racecourse dirt track with the exception of the Bro Park Sprint for Scandinavian-bred horses. Total prize money is almost €7.7 million and the races will be run between June and August. The Swedish Derby is worth in excess of €249,000, while the Swedish Oaks is worth almost €115,000 and the Altamira worth...

For the second straight year, the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale will be staged at Goffs UK's Doncaster sales complex in light of coronavirus-inflicted travel restrictions. The sale was originally slated for Deauville on May 13 and 14, and will now take place at Doncaster on May 28, with the breeze show on May 26. The decision to move the sale was prompted by the fact that 80% of the 2-year-olds catalogued are based in Ireland, and thus the personnel accompanying them to France would have had to undertake a strict two-week...

As Covid travel restrictions prompted delays and relocations, last season's breeze-up sales were anything but plain sailing for many consignors. Some consolation was found on Thursday at Chantilly for Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud, who celebrated two first-time-out winners with Keeneland yearling purchases. The first race of the day, the Prix du Rond du Manege, went to Bellharbour Music, a May-foaled colt from the first crop of Mshawish, bought in September 2019 from Brookdale Sales for $30,000. Now trained in Chantilly by Alessandro and Giuseppe Botti, Bellharbour Music is still...

DONCASTER, UK—There aren't many bloodstock sales companies that can boast of an Irish auctioneer who can speak French with a Yorkshire accent but if you happen to walk in to the Goffs UK sales ring at Doncaster on Wednesday while Nick Nugent is on the rostrum that is what you're likely to find. In the spirit of COVID-encouraged entente cordiale, the breeze-up sector finds itself in a situation few would have imagined at the start of this year, with British sales house Goffs UK and French-based Arqana holding their respective...

In a spirit of entente cordiale prompted by the extraordinary environment of the coronavirus pandemic, Goffs UK and Arqana have announced that they will join forces to hold their respective breeze-up sales together in Ireland on June 29 and 30. In what could be a first for European sales, the horses will gallop "potentially in a timed breeze" a few days prior to being offered for sale at the Goffs complex at Kildare Paddocks. There will also be an online bidding facility to support the live auction. A joint statement...