‘Horses for Everyone’ as Auctav Gears Up for Unique Dubois Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

The sales scene in mid-August may usually be focussed on Arqana but just prior to France's premier yearling sale getting underway in Deauville in a week's time, there will be a unique opportunity for breeders and owners of both Flat and National Hunt persuasion to buy into some of the best families of Jean-Pierre Dubois.

The sales house Auctav, now in its fourth year, holds its most prestigious sale to date on Wednesday, 13 August when it will offer 108 horses of all ages from yearlings up, to be sold from the successful owner-breeder's Haras de la Beauvoisiniere. An independent company, Auctav is itself situated on land at the nearby Haras de Bois Roussel, which is also owned by the 85-year-old Dubois and is some 90 minutes south of Deauville by road.

A Group/Grade 1-winning breeder under both codes and the owner of a significant number of Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and stud land across France, Dubois cut his teeth in the trotting sphere, in which he is still involved in France and America. In the Thoroughbred world, he has most recently been represented at the highest level on the track by last year's G1 Prix de Diane winner Sparkling Plenty, a daughter of Kingman, a stallion with whom Dubois has enjoyed notable success. But it is Sparkling Plenty's female family with which he has really become synonymous. With its origins in Germany, the family has also been associated with the formerly powerful Wildenstein breeding operation as well as Baron Georg von Ullmann of Gestut Schlenderhan, who bred Sparkling Plenty's granddam Soignee (Dashing Blade). 

From Soignee, Dubois bred the high-class Stacelita (Monsun), also a winner of the Prix de Diane as well as the Prix Saint-Alary, Vermeille and Jean Romanet before heading to the States to claim the Beverley D and the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes. She has been no less of a success at stud since being purchased by Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm. Notably, Stacelita produced the first ever Grade 1 winner by Frankel, her daughter Soul Stirring, and she is also the dam of Grade 3 winner Schon Glanz and Listed winner Sentimental Mambo, both by Deep Impact. 

Dubois retained Stacelita's unraced half-sister Speralita (Frankel), now famous as the dam of Sparkling Plenty and her full-brother, the G3 Jersey Stakes winner Noble Truth, and though neither Speralita nor her yearling filly by Kingman feature in the sale, there are plenty of members of that family to pique the interest of international breeders. Indeed, nine of the 51 broodmares on offer are from this immediate family, including Sparkling Plenty's seven year-old full-sister Sofia (lot 41). She has already produced a winner to Galiway, the three-year-old Soliway, who is also in the sale (lot 82) along with her two-year-old half-brother Severac (Zarak).

No fewer than 12 of the mares on offer are in foal to Dubois's own homebred stallion Chachnak, a son of Kingman, who, though not covering large books in the four years he has stood at Haras de la Gastine, has an admirable strike-rate of 15 winners from just 29 runners to date. Unusually, the dual Group 3 winner started covering mares while he was still in training, and his eldest runners, a crop of 34 foals, are now three-year-olds.

Also among the covering sires of the mares included in this partial dispersal sale are Auguste Rodin, Ace Impact, Chaldean, Oasis Dream, Muhaarar, Metropolitan, and St Mark's Basilica.

 

Soliway wins in the Dubois colours at Longchamp in July

 

It was a deliberate decision to hold this sale before Arqana's August extravaganza kicks off a busy yearling sale season in Europe, according to Arnaud Angeliaume, Auctav's director general.

“The window is very small. Monsieur Dubois sells yearlings every year in France but this year he has decided to reduce his numbers and that is why he wanted to set up this sale,” he says. “We are not in competition with Arqana but Monsieur Dubois owns the land here so it is easier for him to hold it here.”

Angeliaume added, “He is keeping around 10 mares, like Speralita, and her Kingman yearling. Every year he seems to have a very good horse by Kingman.”

Beyond the family of Soignee, other broodmares of note in the sale include Golden Glitter (lot 44), a daughter of Dubawi and the dual Group 1 winner Golden Lilac (Galileo), who is in foal to Earthlight, while five-year-old Isadora (Showcasing) is out of a Dansili half-sister to New Bay and is offered as lot 45.

Kingman features again as the covering sire of lot 50, a Frankel half-sister to one of the stallion's earliest good runners, the Coventry Stakes winner and sire Calyx, who died earlier this year. The six-year-old mare named Helenium didn't make the track herself but on the ground already she has a yearling filly and filly foal also by Kingman.

For the jumps brigade, there are the likes of Kerida, a dual-winning daughter of Martaline in foal to young stallion Jigme (lot 48), and Philadelphie, a three-year-old store filly by Kapgarde out of the Listed steeplechase winner Plaisir d'Amour (lot 73).

“We have horses for everyone basically,” says Angeliaume. “Every kind of horse for every kind of person at every kind of price.”

Auctav, whose name is a shortened hybrid of 'Auction Avantage', launched in 2021 on the back of the Covid-wrought disruption to the bloodstock world and initially had solely an online presence. It held its first 'live' sale in October 2023 at Haras de Bois Roussel, which has formerly been owned by Leon Volterra and the Wildenstein family and is based in Bursard in the Alencon region. Having started out selling trotters and National Hunt horses, Auctav has gradually ventured into the Flat market and will stage its first  Flat-only yearling sale on September 13. The forthcoming exclusive sale for Jean-Pierre Dubois is, however, the most important marker in the evolution of the sales company.

“Obviously, this is an absolute pleasure for us to hold a sale like this but it perhaps won't really sink in until everyone is here. When we can see all the people coming in, we will realise the star power of the sale,” Angeliaume says. 

“We are expecting a lot of visitors, especially from America and also from Japan as well. It could be the opportunity of a lifetime to get into some of these pedigrees.”

He also notes, “We had a chat with Monsieur Dubois about including photos and videos of the horses but he said that he would rather see the people here, so we are not putting anything online as we'd prefer the people to come out and look at the stock.

“He wants to see all of his friends and contacts, and the guys that he has worked with for a long time. We can't wait.”

Inspections begin at Haras de Bois Roussel from 8am local time on Monday, and Wednesday's sale, which also has an online bidding facility, will commence at 12.30pm after a buffet reception.

 

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