Familiar Faces On The Hunt For The Next Ruling Court At Arqana Breeze-Up Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Deauville, FRANCE-Talk about timing. The Arqana Breeze-Up Sale will get underway a week to the day after star graduate Ruling Court did his thing in the 2,000 Guineas. Take that result and couple it with the fact the sales results at the breeze-up sales in America and Europe have been off the charts this year, there is rightly optimism in the Deauville air. 

Three horses made more than a million-including Ruling Court who sold to Godolphin at €2.3 million-at the breeze-up sales last year. That figure has already been equalled between the Craven and the Doncaster breeze-up sales and it's anyone's guess as to what numbers will fly through the air when the sale gets underway here in Deauville at 11am on Saturday. 

Arqana boss Freddy Powell said, “All of the signals are showing that things could be good. We have been around the barns and vendors are happy. The breeze went very well and, while it is never good to throw flowers to yourself, everyone has been very complimentary. Plenty of people are coming to this sale and obviously the results at the breeze-up sales in America and in Europe have been good so let's hope that things can continue in the right way.”

He added, “It was a great satisfaction seeing Ruling Court win the 2,000 Guineas and we were delighted for Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed. They do a lot of work at the sales and when they get a big result like this it is great for everyone. Obviously, Norman Williamson, who travels all over the world and has brought us some very nice horses year after year, is an excellent consignor and it was brilliant for him as well.” 

No surprise then that there were a number of familiar faces busy inspecting on the ground at Arqana this week. From Charlie Appleby to MV Magnier and Kia Joorabchian, everyone who should be here is here. And there is also talk of a number of leading buyers from Australia flying in before the sale kicks off. 

Another familiar face bidding the get in on the action is legendary jockey turned burgeoning bloodstock agent Olivier Peslier. The 52-year-old called time on his glittering career last year and, since hanging up his saddle, has channeled his energy into bloodstock and has been busy inspecting stock at Arqana this week. 

Peslier said, “I have become an owner since I retired. I have one horse with clients of mine and he is in training with Antoine de Watrigant. Indian Streak is his name and he has been second and third in his two starts for us and the plan is to run him next in June where hopefully he can win. We bought him for €34,000 at the October Yearling Sale here in 2023 and I was like 'why not?' I am really enjoying being an owner and I actually ride that horse once a week so it is nice to be able to help prepare.

“I have a client that told me to come here and watch the breeze and to try to find him a horse. I arrived on Wednesday and saw every horse breeze and looked at the ones we liked with the vet. Now we wait for tomorrow. But it is very interesting. The breeze was excellent because you got to see the gallop, the stride and there were a lot of nice horses. I am very interested in bloodstock and finding new ways of finding a good horse. All my life, I could tell a horse was good by riding as a jockey, but now I have to find new ways of finding the good horses. Of course, sometimes when people are thinking about buying a horse, they will ask me to ride that horse to see what I think.”

He added, “I find bloodstock agency work very interesting and I would like to step it up. It was not an easy decision to stop riding but I knew for a while that I needed to stop. So it wasn't such a sudden decision. It wasn't as if I woke up one day and said, 'okay, I need to stop'. I had thought about it for a while. But I am very happy with my life right now. I still ride out to keep myself fit and healthy and I enjoy it. Let's see how tomorrow goes.”

There are also new faces in attendance. Noel Fehily and David Crosse, who are the driving forces behind the Noel Fehily Racing Club, one of the most successful National Hunt syndicates in the business, are starting to branch out into the Flat.

Fehily explained, “It's our first time coming to the breeze-ups. We bought three Flat yearlings last year and now we are branching out into the breeze-ups. We are looking for something that would run before the back end of the season and that can make up into a three-year-old. There are a lot of good horses here and trade will be pretty strong but we'll give it a go.”

Crosse added, “We had owners approach us about getting more involved on the Flat and our first yearlings are progressing nicely. We'll probably have our first runners within the next six weeks and it will be interesting to see how it goes. If they can go well, you'll probably see us a lot more at these breeze-up and Flat yearling sales in the future.”

It must be noted that for all that last year's sale was electric at the top, there were holes in the middle tiers. Powell revealed that Arqana have put in extensive work all year to convince buyers that this is a sale worth shopping at for every level and pointed to French 1,000 Guineas hope She's Perfect as being a prime example as what can be found.

He concluded, “It is very difficult to control the middle market because it really depends on the circumstances at that moment, the economy and a lot of other things. When you have a big sale with horses making a lot of money at the top, it can frighten some clients that would have been coming to work at the middle market. But this is something we have been working all year long on. We have been trying to show people that there is something for everyone here and there really is. Take for example She's Perfect, who runs in the French 1,000 Guineas on Sunday. She was bought for €50,000 outside the ring last year and is a good example of what you can get when you come and work the sale hard.”

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