Major gains continue at Arqana October Yearlings
The vagaries of alphabetical order resulted in the slight dip observed on Tuesday, the first of three sessions in Part II of the October Yearling Sale, being followed by solid increases the next day. Turnover for the 140 yearlings sold made a 31.5% leap to reach €3,775,000, while the clearance rate and average price both progressed simultaneously. The average price of €26,929 shows a 11.5% advance while the 79% clearance is 3 points higher than in 2015.
Over the first three days of selling with one session remaining, the cumulated aggregate is 28% clear of its 2015 counterpart, with the average price progressing by 14% and the clearance rate also showing marked improvement to exceed 80%.
Poule d'Essai des Poulains victor Style Vendome has his first yearlings at the sales this year and a stocky colt from the draft of La Motteraye Consignment (lot 440) fetched the second-highest price so far when selling to Ghislain Bozo of Meridian International for €135,000. The bay is out of a half-sister to the Gr.3 Sommerville S. scorer Ashram and is set to remain in France as Bozo explained. “He is a handsome colt with good bone, who looks precocious despite his May birthday. I have bought him on behalf of a French client and he will go to Nicolas Clément.” The Chantilly-based conditioner also trained Style Vendome, now a resident of Al Shaqab’s Haras de Bouquetôt.
Next in the ring, a colt by the same sire as European champion Almanzor (lot 441) and half-brother to a Listed winner this season set a new milestone for the fledgling Elevage d'Auge when being knocked down for €120,000 to David Redvers, who was bidding over the phone to Freddy Powell. He hails from one of the best families in the stud book with a full sister to Spinning World as his second dam.
Elevage d'Auge is run by Benoît Duboc who commented:
“This is my first year consigning thoroughbred yearlings and we already had a good sale in August with a six-figure colt so we are very pleased with how things are starting off. I started in showjumping, prepping horses for some leading riders, an activity which shares the same objective as yearling prep: it's all about bringing a horse to his optimum condition. I would even say that I find it easier with thoroughbreds as we are trying to make the most of their natural physical capacities rather than teach them something they wouldn't do naturally such as jumping fences.
I used to be based on Mr. Jeanneret's farm, who also owns thoroughbreds and offered me to take care of some of his yearlings. This colt belongs to another friend, Mr. Dufit, who brought him to us as a weanling with the instruction to take our time. He has matured very nicely and when we arrived at the sales yesterday, we quickly found out that we weren't the only ones thinking he was a really nice horse. He did more than 100 shows and spent more times showing that in his stall.”
A racy colt by Holy Roman Emperor (lot 457) from the draft of Coulonces Consignment will potentially make a return trip to the Deauville sales ring in six month-time after selling for €115,000 to Powerstown Stud, with Marco Bozzi doing the bidding on behalf of Thomas Whitehead.
“He will be prepared for the breeze ups in Ireland and we hope he can come back here in May,” said Bozzi. “He is a beautiful horse with good conformation and a very nice mover, everything you look for in a breeze up horse.”
The sale continues tomorrow with the final session starting at 11:00am
Full results on www.arqana.com