Big-Hitters And Prospect Of ‘New Faces’ Getting Involved At Arqana August Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – Arqana CEO Olivier Delloye says that he is quietly optimistic that the quality the sales company has assembled will result in bustling trade during the August Yearling Sale, before hinting that a number of new buyers could get in on the action over the next few days. 

The demand for bloodstock has never been as strong internationally. Records were broken in Japan and, hot on the heels from another bonanza of a sale at Saratoga in America, attention now turns to Arqana for the first European yearling sale of the year. And what a place for the occasion. 

He said, “We have had perfect conditions for viewing horses – not too hot but sunny, so we are very lucky. We had a great day yesterday [Thursday] so I think that adds to the positive atmosphere ahead of this sale.”

Delloye added, “We had good races [at Deauville], a lot of runners and people were happy to be involved in those [Series] races. There were some good winners, I think, so it is all positive and fingers crossed for tomorrow now.”

A number of British and Irish connections reaped the rewards for contesting the Series races given it was Ed Walker's Northern Champion who finished a length ahead of Brian Meehan's River Card (Ire) (Hello Youmzain) in the opening €160,000 two-year-old race over seven furlongs. 

That winner also provided a timely boost for the breeze-up fraternity given he was an €820,000 graduate at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale with Ed Sackville signing the docket on Roger Marley's Wootton Bassett colt on behalf of TBT Racing. 

More joy was to come for the breeze-up men and women when Cormac Farrell's graduate Rose Ghaiyyath (Ghaiyyath) scooped the second of the two €160,000 juvenile races when making a winning debut for red-hot trainer Richard Hughes and owner Jaber Abdullah. She had been sold at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale for €110,000 to Ted Durcan. 

Meanwhile, Alex Elliott and Valmont Racing were also in clover when the €280,000 purchase Cape Operator (Mohaather) landed the €260,000 contest for Ralph Beckett. The fourth Series race went the way of Andre Fabre courtesy of the Qatar Racing-owned Yellow Jersey (Dubawi) and the broad spectrum of winners was viewed as hugely positive with a view towards the middle market by the Arqana boss. 

He said, “I heard that [this year's bunch of horses are better than last year's] so that is obviously good news. I think it is consistent to when we went to view the horses on all of the farms during the spring. We felt that maybe they were probably a little more mature compared to the same time last year so this has been confirmed around the sales ground, which is good.”

Delloye added, “I think we are seeing a few more breeze-up buyers here compared to last year, which is positive, because I am sure there are great opportunities in this sale for breeze-up consignors. But you have to be here and look at everything and that's why it's nice to have them here.”

In terms of the top end, the big guns have turned out in their droves. John Magnier, Charlie Appleby, Kenny McPeek and a host of international buyers have made the trip. Among them is a strong travelling party from Japan, with Naohiro Goda revealing that seven or eight different trainers from that country will be making the trip to Deauville. 

Included in that number is the country's legendary trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who of course sourced Shin Emperor here, along with Mitsumasa Nakauchida and Hiroyasu Tanaka. The prospect of some new names featuring on the buyers' sheet was by no means dissuaded by Delloye, either. 

“There are a lot of new faces, definitely, and we will see what they do in terms of buying and hopefully we will see a few new names on the buyers' sheet,” he explained.

Word on the street is that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has purchased Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard but is understood not to have bought a single thoroughbred at public auction up until this point, could be about to enter the market. 

Sheikh Mansour's Wathba Stallions breeding operation is among the leaders in purebred Arabian racing with 900 horses reported to be on the books. 

Mathieu Legars, who spent six years working at Arqana before joining Sheikh Mansour's operation back in February, has already stated that the intention was for his new boss to get involved in thoroughbred racing. 

Legars has been busy inspecting the stock at Arqana this week and the potential involvement of Sheikh Mansour is sure to provide another fascinating subplot to action at Arqana from Saturday evening right through to Monday.  

Delloye concluded, “It is the first European yearling sale of the year so we will see how it goes but we are quite happy to launch a sale on Saturday evening, right after the races. In terms of atmosphere, it's probably something that suits better for the start of a sale. Here in France, sales have been very strong throughout the year. We had a very strong breeze-up sale in May and the horses-in-training sale in July was also very good. The statistics were all up at least 15 per cent on last year. We are coming into this sale with a bit of momentum.”

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