From Arqana August to Australia
Recent history tells us that the action at this week’s yearling sales in France are likely to have a bearing on Australia’s best races in the coming years.
They have been selling yearlings at Deauville in August since 1887. But in that long history no sale has reached the heights of the 2023 Arqana August Yearling Sale, which saw a record €56.8 million (approx. AU$97 million) traded, a significant positive early sign of a bumper northern hemisphere sales season.
In an ever-shrinking bloodstock world, there are usually fewer than six degrees of separation between what is happening at a sales ring in the north-west of France and in the breeding barns and racecourses of Australia.
The top lot, sold for €2.4 million (approx. AU$4.1 million), was a Dubawi half-sister to Swettenham Stud’s Wooded (Wootton Bassett), whose first Southern Hemisphere foals have been making an impression this spring.
The top colt, purchased for €2.2 million (approx. AU$3.7 million), is by Siyouni out of a half-sister to one-time Darley Australia resident Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway), from the family of champion Australian stallion Street Cry (Machiavellian) and current Darley shuttler Victor Ludorum (Shamardal).
Of the top 20 lots at Arqana, 15 were by sires which either have stood or are standing in Australia.
Arqana August Yearling Sale since 2017
| Year | Offered | Sold | Average | Median | Aggregate | Clearance |
| 2023 | 283 | 243 | € 233,617 | € 170,000 | € 56,769,000 | 85.9% |
| 2022 | 285 | 235 | € 209,972 | € 140,000 | € 49,343,500 | 82.5% |
| 2021 | 325 | 244 | € 163,574 | € 100,000 | € 39,912,000 | 75.1% |
| 2019 | 304 | 228 | € 187,671 | € 125,000 | € 42,789,000 | 75.0% |
| 2018 | 316 | 230 | € 159,939 | € 107,500 | € 36,786,000 | 72.8% |
| 2017 | 305 | 231 | € 166,058 | € 110,000 | € 38,359,500 | 75.7% |
In this global era, such connections are, to borrow a French phrase, de rigueur. Pedigrees that get the blood pumping on the buying bench in France, invariably do the same in Australia.
The August sale in Deauville may be one of the earlier sales of the European season, but given it has produced 16 Group 1 winners from its past five editions, it is not surprising that buyers were so eager to get involved, pushing the sale average to a record of €233,617 (approx. AU$395,000), 10 per cent higher than last year’s record mark.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m)–winner Sottsass (Siyouni), whose first crop of yearlings went through the Arqana ring over the weekend, is a graduate, as is Havana Grey (Havana Gold), whose star colt Vandeek gave him a first Group 1 winner in the Prix Morny (Gr 1, 1200m) at nearby Deauville racecourse on Sunday.
Magic Wand (Galileo), the Coolmore-owned mare who won a Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), topped the 2016 Arqana August Sale, while in 2018, a colt by Outstrip (Exceed And Excel) to be named Gold Trip was purchased for €60,000.
He would, of course, create history in 2022 as just the second French-bred horse to win the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), having been subsequently purchased by Australian Bloodstock and brought to Australia.
Other notable graduates of the August sale from an Australasian breeding perspective have been Swettenham Stud’s Group 1 producer Toronado (High Chaparral), Cambridge Stud resident and Group 1 producing sire Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), former Haunui Farm shuttler Belardo (Lope De Vega), and Maybe (Galileo), the dam of Coolmore’s Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact).
From a racing perspective, Gold Trip is the obvious standout, but there are a surprising number of graduates from the August sale who have found their way, through one method or another, to Australia.
At Randwick alone on Saturday there were three Arqana August graduates in action, including Premier’s Cup (Gr 3, 2000m) winner Hosier (Camelot). Hosier is an excellent example of the multi–phase careers racehorses can enjoy in the current era.
Joseph O’Brien paid €110,000 for the Camelot colt at the 2018 Arqana August Sale from the La Motteraye Consignment. He had two starts in Ireland with O’Brien for owner Lloyd Williams before being transferred to Australia to join Williams‘ local trainer, Robert Hickmott.
Hosier won his first four starts for Hickmott, spent some time with Kris Lees, with whom he won the Coffs Harbour Cup (Listed, 1600m) and then wound up in the Inglis Digital Sale in May this year, selling to Mark Minervini for $100,000. On Saturday, he paid that and some more back to Minervini – his fourth trainer – with his first Group win at start 17.
The other two Arqana August graduates in action at Randwick were the Annabel Neasham-trained Intuitu (Almanzor) and Kim Waugh’s Kingsheir (Kingman), another horse whose career was given a second lease on life through Inglis Digital.
Last Thursday, Protagonist (Wootton Bassett), who was initially sold through the 2018 sale, resumed in the Australian Bloodstock colours for Kris Lees, with an excellent second in the Rowley Mile (Listed, 1600m) at Hawkesbury. He won the Sky High Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) for William Haggas in the autumn and looks destined for bigger goals this spring.
Another Arqana August-sold Group 3 winner in the Sydney autumn was the Chris Waller-trained New Mandate (New Bay), who won the Hawkesbury Cup (Gr 3, 1600m) and got home nicely in a trial at Rosehill on Tuesday as he nears his return.
July saw Waller’s mare Mascaret (Dubawi), a 2020 Arqana August graduate, break through for her first Australian win and she is entered for Saturday’s Rosehill meeting, while fellow graduate Chevalier Du Fau (Le Havre) was a July winner at Moe for Patrick Payne.
Other recent Australian stakes winners since 2000 sold through Arqana August as yearlings include San Huberto (Speightstown), Visinari (Dark Angel), Olmedo (Declaration Of War), Young Rascal (Intello) and King Of Leogrance (Camelot).
Selected Australian stakes-winning Arqana August graduates since 2020
| Horse | Yearling Price | Year | Buyer | Australian level |
| Gold Trip | € 60,000 | 2018 | Gerard Larrieu | G1 |
| King Of Leogrance | € 200,000 | 2016 | Charles Gordon-Watson | G2 |
| Hosier | € 110,000 | 2018 | Joseph O’Brien | G3 |
| Protagonist | € 125,000 | 2018 | Avenue Bloodstock | G3 |
| New Mandate | € 35,000 | 2019 | Elliott Bloodstock | G3 |
| Young Rascal | € 215,000 | 2016 | Stroud Coleman | G3 |
| San Huberto | € 70,000 | 2017 | Hubert Guy | Listed |
| Visinari | € 55,000 | 2018 | Mark Johnston | Listed |
| Olmedo | € 100,000 | 2016 | Jean Claude Rouget | Listed |
Given that run of success, it may have been surprising that there was just one active Australian buyer in the premier book of the sale over the past few days (the Book 2 sale began yesterday).
Belmont Bloodstock’s Damon Gabbedy – who also doubles up as Arqana’s Australasian representative – purchased a Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars) filly for €120,000 (approx. AU$203,000) in partnership with McEvoy-Mitchell Racing.
However, a look through the list of successful graduates above tells us that the buyers of them as yearlings have not been the people they ended up representing later in their career.
Gold Trip was purchased by Gerard Larrieu for his original owner Jean-Louis Bouchard, before Australian Bloodstock bought him as a four-year-old. Protagonist went through three trainers before coming to Lees, with Australian Bloodstock having bought into him as a five-year-old.
New Mandate, meanwhile, was purchased privately by Hong Kong-based owner Marc Chan as a two-year-old, but didn’t come to Australia until the end of his four-year-old season, where he joined Waller.
Olmedo’s path is even more circuitous. Group 1 placed at two, he won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (Gr 1, 1600m) in 2018 and was bought by Aquis in 2020. He had one run for Kacy Fogden and then headed to stud. However, it was decided to put him back into work later that year and he had two starts for Waller before heading to Neasham, with whom he won a Tails Stakes (Listed, 1630m) and was also stakes placed.
What those stories tell us is that when it comes to many of these French-offered horses, there has been a tendency among Australian buyers to wait until they are proven before buying them, either privately or through tried horse sales.
So, while the results of this year’s Arqana August Yearling Sale may not indicate a flood of horses headed to Australia, it will be interesting to see how that evolves over the coming years.