Tattersalls October’s French Connection

[Wandering Eyes]

The Tattersalls October Yearling Sale is routinely supported by an international cast of buyers, but this year’s catalogue contains an increase in the number of international consignors, notably from France.

Haras de Montaigu, breeders of last year’s Derby winner Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}), is not a debutant at Park Paddocks but is returning for the first time in 14 years with a brace of yearlings by Sea The Stars (Ire).

“We are selling both horses for our client, Viktor Timoshenko, who thought that there would be a better market for Sea The Stars yearlings in Newmarket,” says Montaigu’s Sybille Gibson.

She adds, “There’s no question that the extra time they have had through us being able to sell them in October rather than August has been an advantage. We’ve seen huge improvement in them both through the summer.”

The Sea The Stars filly (lot 437) is a half-sister to the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon winner Sacred Life (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who was also recently runner-up to Ghaiyyath (GB) in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange for Deauville trainer Stephane Wattel, while the colt (lot 424) is a brother to treble Group 3 winner Chemical Charge (Ire), who is now racing in Hong Kong.

Fellow Normandy-based stud Haras du Mézeray brings four yearlings to Book 1 and three to Book 2, and the draft also includes a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt (lot 350) who is a grandson to the German champion racemare and broodmare Elle Danzig (Ger) (Roi Danzig). A colt from the same family and also by Sea The Stars sold for 1 million gns to Phoenix Thoroughbreds during Book 1 last year.

Another three internationally popular sires complete Mézeray’s Book 1 draft, including a Frankel (GB) filly also with German connections (lot 391) from the family of Classic winners Fame And Glory (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Gwenael Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte of La Motteraye Consignment topped this year’s Arqana August Sale for the first time when selling a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Just The Judge (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) on behalf of Qatar Bloodstock and China Horse Club for €1.4 million. The duo has teamed up with fellow Frenchman Hubert Honoré of Haras d’Omméel to consign two horses to the October Sale for the first time.

“We sold a foal at Tattersalls last year but this is our first time selling yearlings here,” said Monneraye on arrival in Newmarket with his horses on Thursday.

“The fillies both travelled well and we’re looking forward to the next challenge. This has been the best year for us so far and we’re still over the moon from Arqana.”

The boutique draft from La Motteraye Consignment & Omméel features lot 47, a filly by Invincible Spirit (Ire) out of the unraced Rainbow Quest mare Pretty Face (GB), who has already produced three winners and is herself a daughter of the revered Juddmonte matriarch Modena (Roberto), the dam of Group 1 winners Elmaamul (Diesis) and Reams Of Verse (Nureyev) as well as Midsummer (GB) (Kingmambo), the dam of Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

The partnership will also offer lot 402, a first-crop daughter of Golden Horn (GB) described by Monneraye as “one of the best walkers I’ve ever seen”.

He adds, “Tattersalls were very keen to have both fillies. They were bought as foals for a big syndicate so we all discussed it and decided that it would be a good idea to give Newmarket a try. They fillies were both born in April and have improved with the extra time.”

The European Sales Management trio of Michel Zerolo, Eric Puerari and Marc de Chambure is certainly not a new name on the Tattersalls list of consignors. Its two Book 1 offerings last year sold for 725,000gns and 475,000gns respectively and the team returns this year with four yearlings, two by the sought-after Siyouni (Fr) and the other two by young stallions Showcasing (GB) and Charm Spirit (Ire).

The Charm Spirit filly (lot 85), out of a half-sister to the Group 1 winner and producer Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}), has received a recent update with the victory on debut of her 2-year-old brother Santi Del Mare (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). Four lots later (89) a Siyouni filly out of another of half-sister of Stacelita will also represent the draft.

Anna Sundstrom of Colonces Sales has more reasons than most to love Siyouni having consigned his treble Group 1-winning daughter Laurens (Fr) on her first foray outstide the French sales when consigning at Goffs UK two years ago. Her Coulonces draft for Tattersalls also contains two well-bred Siyouni fillies. One, lot 369, is being sold for fellow Swedish owner-breeders Sven and Karina Hanson and is out of a winning full-sister to their champion racemare Pride (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), while the other, lot 211, is the family of Le Havre (Ire), who was bred by Sundstrom’s parents, Jan and Maya.

“They’re very different fillies from one another, I don’t think one will take away from the other, and on the back of Laurens we couldn’t be prouder to have Siyouni fillies,” says Sundstrom. “They suit the Book 1 sale, that’s where they belong and that’s the thing with the yearlings, you have to try to fit them in where they should belong and what buyers are there for them.”

Another new name on the consignors’ list at Tattersalls is Andreas Putsch’s Haras de Saint Pair, which usually doesn’t sell at Arqana’s August Sale either, Putsch preferring instead to give his yearlings a little extra time to develop and opting for the October Sale in France.

Two of his colts will this year be sold during Book 2 in Newmarket rather than Deauville and they are lot 823, a Lope De Vega (Ire) half-brother to the Group 3 winners Via Medici (Ire) (Medicean {GB}) and Via Ravenna (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) whose dam Via Milano (Fr) (Singspiel {Ire}) also won at Group 3 level.

Like Lope De Vega, freshman sire Kingman (GB) has also been enjoying a decent run of winners of late and he is responsible for Saint Pair’s other colt, the son of the G3 Premio Dormello winner Bugie d’Amore (GB) (Rail Link {GB}).

Eric L’hermite’s Haras de Grandcamp also makes its first foray outside continental Europe by bringing to Newmarket two colts by its resident stallion Dabirsim (Fr).

The Book 2 duo consists of lot 811, a colt who could be in for a major update if his full-sister Coeur de Beaute (Fr) wins Sunday’s G1 Qatar Prix de la Foret, while lot 1123 is a half-brother to two black-type performers and hails from the further family of Japanese champion sire Deep Impact (JPN), by Dabirism’s grandsire Sunday Silence.

 

View the full article