Zarak

Three stallion shares and a breeding right were offered during Arqana's Online sale on Thursday, and it was a 1/50 share in France's soon-to-be-crowned champion first-season sire Zarak (Fr) that topped the sale on a bid of €380,000 from Martin Schwartz Racing. Schwartz is based in New York but has had plenty of success racing fillies purchased in France, including the likes of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Zagora (Fr), the Classic-winning Stacelita (Fr), GI Garden City S. winner Alterite (Fr) and GI Spinster S. scorer Asi...

Purplepay (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), winner of the Haras de Bouquetot - Criterium Arqana and third in the G1 Criterium International last weekend, will be offered in an Auctav Flash Sale on Nov. 4. A €100,000 Arqana October yearling, Purplepay broke her maiden at fourth asking and in her second try over a mile four weeks before taking the Criterium Arqana by four lengths. She was a staying on third behind the colts Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Ancient Rome (War Front) in the Gran Criterium, clocking the fastest...

DEAUVILLE, France--Zarak (Fr), the Aga Khan Studs' beautifully bred son of Dubawi (Ire) and Arc heroine Zarkava (Fr), has made a promising start with his first 2-year-old runners this season and currently has 11 winners to his name from 26 runners. At the weekend he was represented by his first stakes winner when the Gestut Haus Zoppenbroich homebred Lizaid (Ger) the G3 Preis der Winterkonigin for Peter Schiergen at Baden-Baden, while another recent winner, Zagrey (Fr), gave an important update to the filly who topped trade as Part III of...

Purplepay (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), winner of the Haras de Bouquetot - Criterium Arqana on Saturday, will be offered as part of an Auctav Flash Sale on Friday, Oct. 8. Trained by Cedric Rossi for Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois, Purplepay broke her maiden at third asking on Sept. 4 at Marseille Borely before following up in the race for graduates of the Arqana October Yearling Sale. Arnaud Angeliaume, managing director of Auctav, said, "We thank Jean-Pierre Dubois for his trust. Our Auctav Flash Sale offers quality horses such as Purplepay a chance to...

A 2-year-old colt by American-based sire Creative Cause is bound for the stable of trainer Simone Brogi after Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International Agency went to €100,000 to secure the colt on behalf of Middleham Park Racing and partners during the opening session of the Arqana Summer Sale on Wednesday. Lot 8, out of the winning Proud Citizen mare Fight With Pride, represented a good pinhook for Willie Browne of Mocklershill, having cost $12,000 at Keeneland September last year. The colt was bred by Brereton Jones and his son...

Continuing our series featuring feedback on the European stallion with first runners this year, bloodstock agent Ghislain Bozo of Meridian International shares his view with a particular focus on the French scene. He said, "Generally speaking it is always tough to get a strong idea of the first-season sires at this stage but of course we are always keeping our ears open. I'm always a little but careful when the talk is too hot but this time there has been no strong word like we might have had in the...

The Route des Etalons was established in 2010 in an attempt to stimulate a flagging French stallion scene. A little over a decade on, it could be said that it's 'job done'. That doesn't mean that the annual open weekend of Normandy studs has been shelved. Its popularity has grown year on year for breeders and bloodstock pilgrims alike, and it is only a global pandemic that has stopped it run in 2021. It will, however, be staged online across this weekend, with videos of the 108 stallions involved shown...

Sea The Stars (Ire), whose 14 group race winners in 2020 included Group 1 stars Stradivarius (Ire) and Miss Yoda (Ger), heads the Aga Khan rosters in Ireland and France and will stand once again for €150,000 at Gilltown Stud in 2021. Sea The Stars, whose standouts this year also included Group 2 winners like Fanny Logan (Ire), Terebellum (Ire) and Valia (Fr), is siring 12% stakes winners to runners and 66% winners to runners. Standing alongside Sea The Stars at Gilltown is his dual Derby winning son Harzand (Ire),...