'Most breeders improve with time - it’s a job you get better at with experience'

With only a matter of days to go before the Arqana August Sale begins in Deauville, Henri Bozo is in a relaxed mood. While the responsibility of offering a draft of yearlings that cost several million euros to produce may sound daunting to some, it clearly sits easily with the director of France’s pre-eminent commercial breeding operation, Ecurie des Monceaux.

But then Bozo has been here numerous times before, and the result has nearly always been the same. In 2021 the Normandy nursery topped the Arqana consignors’ table for the tenth consecutive year, with 33 homebred yearlings selling for a combined €9,062,000.

“Of course I feel the pressure and the last few days before shipping is always a bit stressful,” Bozo says in dulcet French tones. “The August Sale is a big part of our economic strategy so it’s definitely a big deal. But it’s the same every year, so we’re confident that it should be a good sale and we’re excited to see what people think of our work.”