€1.2 million Arqana Breeze-Up sale-topper set to debut for Varian yard at Newcastle

No Retreat

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What’s the interest?

The three-year-old colt trained by Roger Varian who makes his debut at Newcastle on Tuesday evening just happens to have topped the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale last year.

No Retreat was making his second appearance in a sales ring on that occasion, having cost €200,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale the previous year. It took Oliver St Lawrence another million euros to acquire him in Deauville last spring, when consigned by Grove Stud, and he makes his first start for Victorious Racing.

What’s the breeding?

No Retreat is by the Aga Khans Studs' star sire Siyouni and bred by Merriebelle out of Lope De Vega’s daughter Isabel De Urbina, a dual Listed winner on the track. 

No Retreat’s full-sister, Esquiline, was a maiden winner at Bellewstown last summer for the Johnny Murtagh yard, as a three-year-old, while his half-sister by Night Of Thunder, another offered by Grove Stud, fetched 100,000gns at the 2023 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Anything said at Arqana?

Oh yes. Our Sales Correspondent James Thomas was there and after the bidding duel was won, St Lawrence explained: “He’s a lovely colt and was our pick of the sale. He breezed very nicely, on our clock he was the 38th fastest and did it in a lovely style. He’s by a proper stallion in Siyouni and he’s got a lovely, deep pedigree. He vetted cleanly. There just wasn’t anything to dislike about him. He’s a lovely horse.

“To me he looks like a two-year-old who could debut in August or September and hopefully he can run in a proper race at the end of the year.

“He’s definitely as nice a horse as we’ve seen all season, in my opinion. It’s a very strong market. We always knew we’d have to pay seven figures for him, we probably hoped we had to pay only seven figures, rather than a little bit more.” 

Grove Stud’s Brendan Holland was there as well and said: “I knew I had a special horse. It’s extremely hard to buy into a family like that. That’s one of the most well-known families that’s been developed for years by Monsieur [Jean-Pierre] Binet of Kilfrush Stud. So to get a horse of that quality, by that sire and from that family, it’s a difficult thing to do.

Brendan Holland: 'The feeling we had at home was that he was equal to any good horse we’ve had before'Credit: Laura Green

“From day one he was number one. He’s just so classy. You never dream about what they could make but I knew he’d do something good because he was the clear number one all year.”

He added: "It’s a great feeling when you’re on a home run and you’re watching it unfold after all that’s gone into it. It’s a great feeling for all the team involved because everyone is invested, so it’s a big buzz for everyone. It’s amazing really. 

“All the lads have been with me for a long time so they’ve ridden all the good horses that we’ve sold before. They’re adamant that he’s equal to those. Now he has to go and prove that on the track, but the feeling we had at home was that he was equal to any good horse we’ve had before.”

What’s the opposition?

Before we come on to that, it’s worth noting this debut is coming some time after the references to August or September from St Lawrence, which is something to bear in mind when thinking whether to go all-in on No Retreat first time up.

As for the colt’s rivals, the five who have run have not set the world alight and it could be that fellow Newmarket-trained newcomer Superfluidity, already gelded, could prove a danger. He is by US supersire Quality Road out of a Grade 3-winning daughter of Galileo, with the Niarchos family homebred in training with George Boughey.

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