From Top Nosh to Top-Notch Yearlings: It Must Be Arqana’s August Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Circle the wagons and sally forth as one, for Deauville is in view, which means only one thing: it'll soon be Christmas.

There is, however, a circuitous route to be navigated before we reconvene under the Normandy lights in December. And right now, surely even the older members of the travelling show can lift an enthusiastic heart, along with the odd glass or two, as the summer holidays merge happily with the beginning of the European yearling sales at Arqana and some damn good sport across the road at the Hippodrome Deauville-La Touques.

We upset Angus Gold a few weeks ago in these pages for daring to suggest that he, along with Hubie de Burgh and Con Marnane, would make an excellent trio of backing vocalists to Henri Bozo's lead singer. Nobody puts Angus in the corner…except at Arqana in August, where Bozo really has been centre stage for almost too many years to count at the head of the Ecurie des Monceaux draft. 

Actually, as we are counting, Monceaux has been the leading consignor for 13 consecutive August Sales. It would be folly to bet against that tally rising yet again this year. 

Thirty-eight yearlings form the 2025 draft, and they include a Night Of Thunder daughter of Prudenzia, a half-sister to last year's €1.7m sale-topper Diamond Necklace (St Mark's Basilica), who handily broke her maiden on Saturday at the Curragh for Aidan O'Brien, earning a TDN Rising Star in the process. There is also the first foal of Classic heroine Mangoustine (Dark Angel), whose colt by Frankel is catalogued on Sunday evening, while the strapping chestnut son of Siyouni and Roheryn (Galileo), a half-brother to G1 Underwood Stakes winner Buckaroo (Fastnet Rock), may well add to what is likely to be a lively concluding session on Monday.

 

 

Bozo says of Diamond Necklace's timely win, “[That] was a great result for us because that's really our family that we developed with Lady O'Reilly, and Coolmore have been great supporters. I had heard great things of the filly, so it was nice to see it happening and her showing ability.

“She's a half-sister to the yearling we're selling on Monday, who herself is by Night Of Thunder, and she's also closely related to two nice fillies we're selling, one being the Dubawi filly out of Paix, and the other is the Zarak filly of Prudente. The whole family we have been developing in the last 15 years.”

Over that time, 17 Group 1 winners have been raised on the paddocks at Monceaux, including Prudenzia's early flagship daughter Chicquita and her younger half-sister Magic Wand. In the sale-ring, the Dansili mare's offspring have raised almost €12m.

Bozo adds, “From this Prudenzia family you're expecting a certain type of filly, which is a classy filly, not precocious but classy, with a good step, and I think that's what our Night Of Thunder filly is also.”

Mangoustine was offered at the Arqana Select Sale of 2020, rechristened that year after Covid forced a delay from August to September. Bred by Monceaux, Qatar Bloodstock and Lordship Stud, she was signed for at €46,000 by David Redvers, buying out Lordship Stud, and she has repaid his faith well in subsequent years by winning the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and G3 Prix Miesque.

“We chose Frankel for Mangoustine because obviously she was a special filly and, like many other people, I think Frankel goes very well with those fillies who have shown speed,” Bozo says. “We wanted to give her every chance to become a good producer and we are very happy with the results. She's got a lovely Siyouni filly at foot, and she went back to Frankel.”

Globally, the yearling sales season has begun in rude health – in the elite tier at least – with record-breaking trade at the JRHA Select Sale in Japan and the Saratoga Sale in America. The eyes of the bloodstock world will now be firmly fixed on France.

“It's always a positive sign and gives a good bit of confidence to everyone and this is really important for the breeders to be in a good state of mind,” says Bozo of recent events at Saratoga. “America is different from France or from Europe, but it's just a good, positive sign and, not only the American sales, but the general atmosphere of the last year is that there is a real demand for good horses from more and more people all over the world, and we should be reasonably confident, I think.”

Deauville First for Tweenhills

The Arqana August Sale always has an international vibe to it, and that appears to be even more pronounced on the list of consignors involved this year. Outside the French regulars, Barton Stud, Hazelwood Bloodstock and Tweenhills are among the English farms with first drafts in Deauville this summer, while the seven Irish consignors include Ballylinch, Baroda, Camas Park, Glidawn, Kildaragh, Moanmore and Yeomanstown studs. In total, 48 of the 308 yearlings (15.5%) are consigned by British or Irish operations. 

David Redvers says that Tweenhills will be represented across the European sales this year, with Sheikh Fahad Al Thani having opted to sell all of his European-based yearlings. 

“We have obviously sold lots of horses in Deauville in the past with Monceaux, but never under our own name,” he says. 

The Tweenhills draft of three kicks off with a filly by this year's leading first-season sire, Starman (lot 76), a half-sister to the Listed Hever Sprint Stakes winner Kimngrace (Profitable).

“Starman has made a terrific start, especially with his fillies, and this is a filly that was pinhooked by Sebastian Thompson, who came to us at age 16 and has just finished a two-year apprenticeship with us. He and Hannah [Wall]'s pinhooking syndicate own her and I must say that she is one of those gorgeous fillies that not only is the stallion helping her but she is helping herself, as she has just got better and better. Young Sebastian is there helping with the draft and I imagine he will be on tenterhooks.”

Two of Sheikh Fahad's homebreds complete the consignment: a New Bay filly out of the G3 Derrinstown Stud Fillies Stakes winner Know It All (Lord Kanaloa) and a Siyouni colt out of one of the sheikh's earliest Group 1 winners, the Cheveley Park Stakes victrix Lightening Pearl (Marju), who already has the Group 3 winner Lightening Quick (Frankel) on her production record. 

“Sheikh Fahad has all his European yearlings going to market this year and these are two of the best ones,” says Redvers. “Freddy Powell came round and looked at all of our yearlings and they were the two he particularly wanted, that he thought would work well in France. He made an impassioned plea to Sheikh Fahad, and Sheikh Fahad agreed to give it a try. I would be very optimistic about both of them; they are both horses that in another year we would probably have put into training.”

With turnover just north of €50m for the 226 Arqana August yearlings sold last year, this fell a little short of the record figures for the previous year, but was still on par with what had also been record trade for 2022, which posted a median of €140,000 and an average of more than €200,000. 

Redvers shares Bozo's optimism of a strong start to trade in Europe. He says, “If the sales continue à la Saratoga then we are going to be in for a very interesting time at the top end of the market.”

First taste of the freshman sires

Eight stallions with first yearlings for sale this year will be represented in Deauville in the coming week. Shadwell's Baaeed leads the field with nine in the sale, including Haras de Colleville's filly out of former top sprinter Restiadargent (Kendargent), who is already the dam of two black-type winners. 

The first of the Baaeed yearlings to grace the ring, however, will be a colt out of the dual Group 3 winner Anna Nerium from a family cultivated by Bob and Jeanette McCreery tracing back to Anna Paola. The mare's third foal, he is with La Motteraye Consignment. 

Of the French-based sires, the G1 Champion Stakes winner Sealiway, now at Haras de Beaumont, has three catalogued, while Gestut Auenquelle's Arc winner Torquator Tasso has two, including Applewood Stud's half-sister to the Group 3-placed Serienadler (Gleneagles) from the family of Japanese sire and Grade 1 winner Schnell Meister.

Bayside Boy, Blackbeard, Naval Crown, State Of Rest and Thunder Moon also have their first yearlings for sale in France. 

Grub's up

All that remains is a matter of almost equal importance to judging yearlings, and that's the settlement of the long-running argument as to which is the best restaurant in the vicinity of Deauville-Trouville. The traditionalists say Le Drakkar, even through the diehards can no longer prop up the bar until daylight threatens. These days, the nearby L'Institution, featuring some familiar faces from the old Drakkar, is giving it a run for its money.

The market area hasn't been the same since Chez Hervé was shuttered, though Olivier Bertran de Balanda's Fanfaron was an excellent replacement for a while, though that, too, is sadly no more, in Deauville at least. You can however find the same owner's La Cantine des Fanfarons in the village of Manneville la Pipard just south of Pont l'Eveque, while in place of the original in Deauville is the newly opened Napoletano, a rival for the popular pizza place Santa Lucia, which is now under new management and has had a bit of a facelift. 

Those who enjoy a stroll over the bridge may spot head Trouvilliste Jocelyn Targett, who will swear that that Le Central is best, while Alan Cooper may insist upon Le Pavillon Augustine. We happen to like Les 4 Chats, as long as William Huntingdon is not à table moaning about the legroom and dim lighting (a head torch does come in handy, however).

Just so he doesn't get cross with us again, we will let Angus Gold have the last word on matters culinary in delightful Deauville. 

“Well, I would have said Fanfaron was my favourite, but that has now sadly been sold, and Santa Lucia has also changed hands,” Gold says. “I was never really a Drakkar man, that was always a bit grown up for me, though they have done a very good job with the renovation, but I will opt for Les Planches, near the Normandy. I prefer the quieter places these days.”

If you believe that, you will believe anything. And with a plane-load of Americans arriving direct from Saratoga on Wednesday morning, plus plenty more of the bloodstock crowd jetting or motoring in from elsewhere, Deauville will be anything but quiet in the countdown to the start of yearling season at 5.30pm this Saturday.

 

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