Michel Zerolo

DEAUVILLE, France — Everything changes; everything stays the same. Here's Eric Puerari, rounding off another sales season, his Haras des Capucines consignment an unmissable fixture right next to the parade ring at Arqana. Yet once again, on the eve of the auction, Puerari will on Friday have noticed new faces, making their serious, frowning notes as his mares are led up and down. Will these last any longer than some who surfaced in the previous cycle? Who can say? Plenty of them, Puerari acknowledges, have an authentically competent, dynamic air....

In the summer of 2017, Peter Brant was just at the beginning of his remarkable run with Sistercharlie (Ire) (My Boy Charlie {Ire}), who would go on to win seven Group 1 races for him, but he already knew how special she was. "We were campaigning Sistercharlie at the time, and we knew how good she was because she had run second in the Prix Diane after getting into a lot of trouble. She almost got knocked down, and then looked like she would be absolutely nowhere. And then she...

It has become a familiar occasion to open the Arqana August catalogue and find an offering from the remarkably consistent broodmare Starlet's Sister (Ire), whose progeny have shone for years here for the perennial leading consignor, Ecurie des Monceaux. Most recently, the Dubawi (Ire) filly Pure Dignity (GB) brought €2,500,000 from Oliver St. Lawrence in 2020, and Parliament (GB), a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus), sold for €700,000 in 2019. Pure Dignity just won her first start for Roger Varian. But the 2022 offering might be the most exciting yet:...

Lot 1765, the 5-year-old Shades of Blue (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) became the new Tattersalls December topper when hammering for 850,000gns to Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock on behalf of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm. Part of The Castlebridge Consignment, the French listed winner, who placed twice at group level, is carrying to Frankel (GB) and will visit Brant's Arc hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). Under the second dam is dual Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed stallion Gutaifan (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Shades of Blue's most recent prior sale was...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-MTH, $55K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1mT, post time: 1:40 p.m. ET    CUSTOMER LIST (FR) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), purchased by Michel Zerolo's Oceanic Bloodstock for €250,000 at last year's Arqana August Sale (walking video) on behalf of Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stable, is out of a winning daughter of MGSW & GISP Innuendo (Ire) (Caerleon), the dam of MGSW & GISP Criticism (GB) (Machiavellian) and granddam of SW & GSP Magical Touch (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Also responsible for SW Peacoat (GB) (Doyen {Ire}), Innuendo is out...

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...

Arqana staged its annual boutique Arc Sale of horses in training at Saint-Cloud Racecourse on Saturday evening following a day's racing at ParisLongchamp, and it was a current star of the German turf that proved the breakout horse, with Virginia Joy (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) (lot 24) selling to Michel Zerolo's Oceanic Bloodstock for €975,000. Having raced thus far as a homebred for Gestut Auenquelle, Virginia Joy won the July 12 G3 Mehl-Mulhens-Trophy by a head before finishing third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the G1 Preis Der Diana...