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    Alexanders secure Ace High colt

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    Hawera set for big day’s racing

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    Selections | Hawera

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    Cole colt to debut at new Plymouth

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    • DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – Less than a fortnight after Power Blue provided Space Blues with a breakthrough Group 1 success by producing a gritty performance from the front to land the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, the Darley stallion supplied the top lot of the Arqana August V2 Yearling Sale on Wednesday when Ghislain Bozo of Meridian International went to €110,000 to secure a colt by the first-season sire from Haras de l'Hotellerie.  Records were broken during the August Yearling Sale here in Deauville and the 86% clearance rate for the V2 session – which was the highest posted since 2014 [91%] – illustrated the hunger for horses at every level here in France.  However, while the clearance rate was up by 6% on last year, the €28,048 average was down by 16% on last year and the €3,817,500 aggregate was down by 16%. The median dropped by €2,000 to €25,000.  Bozo has been buying at every level of the market over the past few days and the Space Blues colt represented the 14th individual horse that he signed for between the two sales. He commented, “A very nice colt by Space Blues, who is a sire we like a lot. This colt has a bit of class being out of a Wootton Bassett mare. He looks precocious and he cost more than we would have expected but sometimes you have to pay more for the horses you really like. Let's hope he is good now and then we can be proved right.  “He is quite a small but correct horse and he has a bit of class and is well put together. He comes from a very good breeding operation and we bought him on behalf of a French-based owner. We haven't decided what trainer we will go to yet.” Speaking about the market in general here in Arqana over the past week or so, Bozo continued, “We bought 14 horses in total and it was a very busy week for us. The sale was very good and I think there were some very good horses here. It was very diverse at the top end with lots of different buyers. Maybe day one of the August Sale was a bit patchy but things picked up quite a bit thereafter.” Fantastic Sale For Briere's Fairway Consignment For the second year running, the Fairway Consignment enjoyed a memorable V2 Session, highlighted by the sale of a €100,000 Ten Sovereigns filly to Khaled Salami of KGS Bloodstock. That filly looked sure to provide Fairway boss Charles Briere with his second V2 sale-topper in as many years, following on from the €115,000 achieved for a Starspangledbanner colt in 2024, but he was knocked off his perch late in the day by the €110,000 Space Blues colt. But it was Briere's Fairway Consignment that ended V2 as the leading vendor with nine lots sold for a combined €412,000, vindicating the young consignor's decision to target this sale in a big way. Briere said, “A very good sale. I wasn't expecting €100,000 for the Ten Sovereigns filly at all. We bought the dam, Invaluable, for 68,000gns at Tattersalls a couple of years ago. She has a Little Big Bear foal at foot and is in foal to Vandeek. We're delighted with the Kendargent [sold for €70,000 to Oceanic Bloodstock] as well so we're delighted.” He added, “We didn't have any top horses in the August Yearling Sale but we sold a St Mark's Basilica filly for €300,000. We like to target the V2 session with horses we think can make anywhere between €50,000 and €100,000 and we've been lucky here. You need a good model and a good stallion for this sale – something with a bit of speed. If you have a mature horse, there is a bit of money around for them.” Khaled Salami of KGS Bloodstock ended the sale as leading buyer with four lots bought for a combined sum of €295,000.  Speaking after signing for the Ten Sovereigns filly, who is a sister to Listed-placed Indispensable, Salami said, “She's a nice filly. Physically, she is good and she walks very well and her sister is a black-type performer. This is why we wanted to buy her. She will join the stud and enjoy some rest before joining Hedi Ghabri's training. We hope she will be as talented as her sister.” Talking points Arqana president Olivier Delloye explained to TDN Europe on the eve of V2 how the selection team here placed precocity and speed at the top of their list when assembling the catalogue.  The idea is good in principle but was always going to be hard to execute. Michel Zerolo, director at Capucines, which ended the August Yearling Sale as the second-most successful consignment after selling more than €6 million worth of yearlings, said he believes that there is still room for improvement with the V2 format. Under his bloodstock agency banner of Oceanic Bloodstock, Zerolo purchased one of the fastest-looking horses in the sale in lot 309, a €70,000 Kendargent colt that looked as though he'd run through a brick wall. Speaking about that purchase and the overall format of this sale, he said, “The Kendargent colt is for a partnership that wanted to buy precocious, speedy two-year-old types and he will join Christopher Head. The goal of this sale was to attract sharp, early horses. Whether it has been attained or not, I am not sure. I am not sure that France breeds enough of those types of horses and the Irish are not going to bring those horses to sell here. We're sort of in between two stools. There are only so many faster types to go around but the idea is good. Just maybe we are in the wrong country.” The fast-looking horses with commercial appeal really stood out and Roger Marley had to see off a host of well-known breeze-up handlers to secure lot 417, a Starspangledbanner colt for €90,000. One of the results of the breeze-up season began at this sale when Roderic Kavanagh's recent winner Zanthos (Sioux Nation), who he purchased for €48,000 here 12 months ago, sold for €1 million to Anthony Stroud on behalf of KHK Racing at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. Marley had already left the sale on Wednesday but relied on Paul Murphy of C&C transport to get the job done. Speaking from home, Marley said, “We looked at 20 horses yesterday and then narrowed that down to four on second looks. Then we narrowed it down to two and one of those failed the vert so we were left with only him on the list. So he was a standout for us. He has French premiums – he could go to the Craven, Doncaster or even back to France. He is a very solid lump of a horse and looked like he would take a bit of graft. That's why I really liked him.” The Starspangledbanner was bred by the late Lady O'Reilly and is out of a winning Siyouni mare who is a sister to three different black-type performers, including dual Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Calvados Blues. Marley wasn't the only breeze-up handler to get on the scoresheet and, on quick glance, it appears as though at least 10 horses were bought out of the V2 session for that discipline alone with Tally-Ho Stud, Willie Browne, Ana Calder, Con Marnane and Matthew White all featuring.  One of the nicest horses in the sale was a De Treville filly who went the way of trainer Nicolas Perret for €72,000. De Treville has not had a huge amount of runners in Britain and Ireland but he is responsible for Gregarina, who won the Group 3 Athasi Stakes for Joseph O'Brien last year and earned a career-high rating of 103. Lot 436 was consigned by Haras de Ombreville and her full-sister Sy Ly is already a winner for Jean-Claude Rouget this year. Perret simply said of his acquisition, “My wife really liked this filly and she came within budget so it was nice to get her.” De Treville moved this year to Longford House Stud, where he stands for just €2,500. We had an opportunity to catch the first glimpse of the progeny of a few young stallions this week, including Haras de Beaumont's Champion Stakes winner Sealiway. It has been a pretty respectable start from him. John Hammond bought a colt by the young stallion for €60,000 at the August Sale while 10 sold for an average of €32,100 on Wednesday with a filly by the stallion selling for €90,000. Haras de Beaumont's stud manager Mathieu Alex said, “This week has obviously been one of the first very important steps for Sealiway and we are very pleased. We have seen some very nice models by him this week and he has been popular with the French and international buyers so it's very exciting.” Coolmore's Blackbeard has made a bright start with his yearlings. A filly by the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner sold for €100,000 during the August Sale while one made €95,000 during the V2 Sale. Doubtless there will be bigger and better things to come for Blackbeard at the yearling sales in Britain and Ireland over the coming weeks.  Buy of the day  Lot 375, an Ebro River filly consigned by Antoine Bellanger's Arcadia Elevage outfit, is understood to be off to Irish-based trainer Ado McGuinness and could well be one for tracker as she looks a rocket of all rockets. Bought by BBA Ireland for €30,000, the daughter of the first-season sire Ebro River is out a Listed-placed Choisir mare. Choisir is the damsire of top-class horses like Winter, Create Force and Persuasive and this filly looks a proper bullet who will give her connections plenty of fun. Zanthos was the buy of the day at this sale last year so no pressure, Ado.  Thought for the day De Treville is surely worth a second look at a fee of just €2,500. A Group-placed son of Oasis Dream out of top-class mare Dar Re Mi, he is a half-brother to Too Darn Hot and has proved he can get high-class horses. In fact, De Treville has had four stakes performers from just 64 individual runners and two more have been fourth in Group races so he's clearly a stallion who has done well with what he has been sent and arguably could do even better with more support. If there is another takeaway from Wednesday's V2 session it is that there is still a demand for the progeny of Ten Sovereigns despite the fact he has been sold to continue his stallion career in Turkey. The post Space Blues Colt Tops V2 Sale At Arqana As Middle Market Holds Up appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Bounced around early in the La Troienne Stakes (G1), leading to the worst loss of her career, Thorpedo Anna has a chance to turn the tables Aug. 23 in the $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course against the rivals who beat her.View the full article
    • The Jonathan Sheppard Handicap (NSA-1), initially scheduled for Aug. 20, has been postponed until Aug. 27 due to weather conditions at Saratoga Race Course.View the full article
    • When Scylla enters the starting gate for the $500,000 Ballerina Stakes (G1), the 5-year-old daughter of Tapit will be looking to follow in the footsteps of her dam, Close Hatches, by becoming a grade 1 winner at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article
    • The 2025-2027 Godolphin Flying Start trainees arrived at Kildangan Stud on Monday, Aug. 18 to commence their two-year scholarship within the thoroughbred industry. The class comprises trainees from six different nationalities, including Spain, Morocco, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The week of Aug. 24, the students will commence ICT and Communications training and their Equine Anatomy and Physiology module at University College Dublin. “We welcomed our 23rd Godolphin Flying Start class to Kildangan Stud this week,” said Godolphin Flying Start Executive Director, Clodagh Kavanagh. “They will follow in the footsteps of the 248 alumni of the programme through Ireland, England, USA, Australia and Dubai experiencing the thoroughbred industry and learning as much as they can. As scholarship recipients, they are expected to be advocates for the programme and the industry, having a positive impact on those around them.” Jamie O'Connor from County Dublin and Emma Hunter from County Cork are the team leaders for the first Irish phase. “We are both grateful and delighted to be commencing Godolphin Flying Start,” O'Connor and Hunter said in a joint statement. “The opportunity it provides is truly extraordinary; the chance to learn from global industry leaders, further our academic development and our experience in the thoroughbred industry. We have really enjoyed our first few days in Kildangan and can't wait to see what's in store for us over the next two years.” The 2025 – 2027 trainees:   Luke O'Neill, Ireland Saad Saidi, Morocco Kitty Ashby, UK Tara Carroll, Ireland Adrian Redondo, Spain Jamie O'Connor, Ireland Mageswar Periasamy Vishakan, India Harry Winnard, UK Emma Dillon, Ireland Callum Jeffries, New Zealand Raphael McCall, UK Emma Hunter, Ireland The post 2025-2027 Godolphin Flying Start Roster Arrives at Kildangan Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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