Maranoa Charlie Flying Flag as Arqana Series Enters Third Year

[Wandering Eyes]

The Arqana Series returns for its third year in 2025, with €1.2 million in prize-money and bonuses up for grabs across five races, including the Arqana Series des Poulains – won last year by leading Classic contender Maranoa Charlie (Fr).Bred by Haras d'Etreham, Maranoa Charlie was eligible for the Arqana Series after he went under the hammer at the August Yearling Sale.

The five races are open to graduates of the four yearling sales held annually at Arqana – August, v.2, October and November – in addition to foals sold at December's Vente d'Elevage and two-year-olds from the breeze-up sale in May.Nominations for the latest installment of the Arqana Series are now open until Monday, June 2, at a cost of €1,000 for two-year-olds and €500 for three-year-olds.

When Maranoa Charlie was offered on the sales grounds at Arqana, Laurent Benoit's Broadhurst Agency struck the winning bid at €220,000, on behalf of his Australian owners – Peter Maher, Carl Fitzgerald and John Baxter. Maher would later recount the tale of how the group came by the exciting colt, in conversation with the TDN's sister publication, The Thoroughbred Report.

“We've been buying in France pretty regularly for probably the last 20 or so years,” said Maher, speaking a few days after the success of Maranoa Charlie in the Arqana Series des Poulains.”Laurent Benoit, who's a highly regarded French bloodstock agent, looks after our interests in France. We went to the sales last year and decided he [Maranoa Charlie] was the one we wanted.

“Quite frankly, we didn't think we'd be able to afford him. So, we literally just walked around to watch him sell and see what he would go for. We were surprised to end up owning him.”

Now, having been beaten just once in five career starts, Maranoa Charlie is fast becoming the sort of poster boy that every initiative needs in its formative years, having gone from strength to strength since his striking debut success in the Arqana Series des Poulains, by three and a half lengths. Last seen winning April's G3 Prix Djebel, the son of Wootton Bassett (GB) could make his next appearance in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.Beyond that, only time will tell what the future holds for Maranoa Charlie, with European racing having proved such a fruitful breeding ground for top-level performers in Australia, but Maher is clearly in thrall to what France has to offer.

He added, “The facilities at Chantilly are extraordinary. I don't know how many times I've been there, but every time I return, I'm still blown away by the quality of the place – it's just staggering.

“That's one of the major attractions. Secondly, it's racing we understand as Australians because they mainly race on flat courses, which is what we're familiar with. Another big factor is the prize-money – it's much better than in the UK and Ireland.”

That love for French racing will be music to the ears of the team at Arqana, who introduced the series with the aim of supporting the country's breeding industry, by encouraging buyers to invest in horses born and bred in France, at all levels of the market.Certainly, it's never been more important to incentivise buyers operating at the middle to lower end, many of whom will have taken encouragement from some of the results thrown up by the 2024 edition of the Arqana Series.Take Mojave River (Fr) (Mohaather {GB}), for example, who won the Arqana Series des Pouliches, the fillies' equivalent of the race won by Maranoa Charlie for colts and geldings. Trained by Joseph O'Brien, Mojave River first sold as a foal for just €17,000 at the Vente d'Elevage, before being bought by MC Thoroughbred and Ardglas Stables for €27,000 at the October Yearling Sale.Another €27,000 purchase at the October Yearling Sale was Heybetli (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), the winner of the Arqana Series – Criterium d'Ete on the same card. Heybetli recently finished fourth in the G3 Prix de Fontainebleau and holds Classic entries in both the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club.In 2024, Deauville also played host to the inaugural renewal of the Arqana Series des 3 Ans. It was won by Trafalgar Square (Fr), who later sold for €1,150,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale, just a few hours after he'd filled the runner-up spot in the G2 Prix Chaudenay at ParisLongchamp. That was a significant upturn on the €80,000 it had cost to acquire the son of Kendargent (Fr) at the 2022 August Sale.Less than three hours after Trafalgar Square took to the track in the Prix Chaudenay, the final race of last year's Arqana Series was run at ParisLongchamp, the Arqana Series Haras de Bouquetot Criterium d'Automne. Unlike the previous four races, this contest has been staged under multiple guises since its inception in 2017 – when only horses bought at the October Yearling Sale were eligible – with the subsequent Group winners Jadoomi (Fr) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Purplepay (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) featuring on the roll of honour in that time.Last year it was Coolmore's Mount Kilimanjaro (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) who came out on top as he shed his maiden tag in style, before going on to finish second in the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. A €420,000 purchase at the October Yearling Sale, he holds entries in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club, as well as the Derby and Irish Derby.In total, the five Arqana Series races are worth €1.1 million in prize-money, while each contest will also offer vendor bonuses, totalled at 10 per cent of the race's prize fund.The finale at Longchamp, for example, is worth €130,000 to the successful connections, with the vendor of the winner also receiving €13,000. The runner-up earns €49,400, plus a vendor bonus of €4,940, and so on. The three conditions races will each pay down to seventh place, with the two remaining races at Deauville paying down to fifth.See below for the full Arqana Series programme in 2025.

• €160,000 Arqana Series des Poulains (unraced colts and geldings), 2yo, 7f, Deauville
• €160,000 Arqana Series des Pouliches (unraced fillies), 2yo, 7f, Deauville
• €260,000 Arqana Series – Criterium d'Ete (conditions race), 2yo, 6.5f, Deauville
• €260,000 Arqana Series des 3 ans (conditions race), 3yo, 10f, Deauville
• €260,000 Arqana Series Haras de Bouquetot Criterium d'Automne (conditions race), 2yo, 8f, Longchamp

 

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