Frederic Sauque

There really is no getting away from Doctor Dino (Fr) this week. Fresh from topping the store and yearling sessions of Arqana's Autumn Sale, he also featured as the covering sire as the top lot of the National Hunt Breeding Stock Sale in Deauville. The mare in question, La Boetie (Fr) (Saint Des Saints {Fr}), was a decent jumper herself, however, as the winner of the G3 Prix Sagan over hurdles for David Cottin.  Consigned by Haras de la Cote Fleurie as Lot 930, the 5-year-old mare was knocked down...

While all the clamour at last week's Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale was for the offspring of Walk In The Park (Ire) and Blue Bresil (Fr), at Arqana's Autumn Sale the dominant sire for young stores and National Hunt yearlings was Doctor Dino (Fr).  The Haras du Mesnil resident accounted for five of the nine six-figure lots, including the top lots on the last two days of the sale. Wednesday's concluding session saw Frederic Sauque bid €265,000 for Haras de l'Hotellerie's Doctor Dino yearling half-brother to Flat Listed winner...

The trade winds, in the clipper age, blew west to east. But horsepower has reversed the flow; and for many years one of the most skilled navigators, for European horses to America, has been the debonair Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock. The cargos are more contested nowadays, he says, with a lot of sharp traders driving up prices. But the fact is that Zerolo recently scaled a new pinnacle, with the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe success of a Deauville yearling bought for an American patron. Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni...