Vadeni success spurs Coulonces' Churchill filly to Arqana top spot

Coulonces Sales' Anna Sundstrom is a regular source of exciting talent and her Churchill filly (lot 516) made the running on day four of Arqana's October Yearling Sale, with Antonin Pelsy winning out at €90,000.

She is the first product of the winning Data Link mare Alkawthar, whose More Than Ready half brother, Maybe So, was a Listed winner at two in the United States.

Jockey Club hero and recent Arc runner-up Vadeni has done a lot to boost Churchill’s profile and neither Pelsy - who is well known as a Darley representative in France and has launched his own bloodstock business under the Spincourt banner - nor trainer David Menuisier appeared ready to give up without a fight.

Pelsy's bid of €82,000 threatened to be decisive before Menuisier - standing deep in the passage to the left of the rostrum - went in once more and momentarily looked to have seen his rivals off.

But after consulting with his clients, Pelsy's €90,000 call ended the contest.

The filly will be trained by Edouard Monfort for Robert Albigot, who began his ownership journey almost a decade ago when joining a couple of the Arqana Racing Club syndicates.

"Churchill is a very promising stallion and there's also the fact that as a mare she will have residual value," said Albigot. "The dam was good and this filly made a fine impression on all of us from the start."

Pelsy added: "The trainer was in agreement and his opinion was the determining factor. We've been beaten several times this week and the underbidder is a good judge."

Menuisier hunting early results from Little Big Bear family

Menuisier has enjoyed great success with stock sourced by Sundstrom - most notably thanks to Wonderful Tonight - and he didn't leave the session empty-handed, striking at €52,000 for a Coulonces-consigned son of Sioux Nation out of the Elusive Quality mare Araca (lot 527).

In Scat Daddy, the colt shares his paternal grandsire with Europe’s champion juvenile-elect, Little Big Bear, and his maternal granddam is that Group 1 winner's dam.

Coulonces Sales' son of Sioux Nation will be trained by David MenuisierCredit: Arqana / Megane Martins

"I launched a new syndicate over 12 months and normally I would select a horse that could do a mile, a mile two; running three or four times at two and five or six times at three," said Menuisier.

"I didn't have any preconceived ideas but when I saw this horse a few days ago I thought 'that's the one I need for the syndicate.' If you don't go for this kind of horse I think you're in the wrong game."

Reflecting on the deep Wildenstein roots to the family - Arc heroine All Along is the colt's fourth dam - Menuisier added: "He's from the family of Little Big Bear but that's not to say he won't stay. I think it's a fantastic pedigree and the horse as an individual is lovely too."

The first incarnation of Menuisier's All For One syndicate was spearheaded by another purchase from Sundstrom, Into Faith, who won the valuable Arqana Criterium race at Longchamp.

Liberty Racing hoping for more Sea The Moon magic

Less than a fortnight after Fantastic Moon marked himself out as a serious 2023 Deutches Derby candidate in the Preis der Winterfavoriten, owners Liberty Racing reinvested in another son of Lanwades Stud's stallion Sea The Moon.

Haras du Buff's son of Sea The Moon will head to Germany after Liberty Racing signed at €60,000Credit: Arqana / Megane Martins

Bred by Rashit Shaykhutdinov and presented at the sale by Haras de Buff, the colt (lot 521) is out of the Kendargent mare Alsusha and is from the immediate family of American graded stakes performers Herboriste and Fast And Furious.

Liberty principal Lars Baumgarten said of the €60,000 purchase: "We've bought five yearlings for the syndicate this year and this is a very nice Sea The Moon who carries the stamp of his sire.

"We've already had three black type horses by Sea The Moon. This colt has a great walk and we like the sire and the pedigree."

Baumgarten missed out on Wednesday's top lot by Adlerflug but made no mistake on Thursday, and confirmed the colt would be trained by Andreas Suborics.

Goken colt a hit for Colleville

Jeremy Parra struck late in the session at €85,000 for a homebred son of Haras de Colleville's stallion Goken, who will be trained by his business partner Fabrice Vermeulen.

Out of the Hurricane Run mare Hurricane Day, the colt - already named Sevenday [lot 619] - is from the last Goken crop conceived at a bargain fee of €3,000 before the exploits of Go Athletico and Livachope earned him a five-fold increase.

Sevenday, a son of Goken bred by Haras de Colleville, was knocked down for €85,000 at Arqana on ThursdayCredit: Arqana / Megane Martins

After 16 seasons in the covering shed there is no sign that demand for Darley veteran Iffraaj is waning and at €71,000, Paul Nataf secured a colt presented by Haras de la Louviere out of a Galileo daughter of Grosser Preis von Bayern winner Temida.

The colt (lot 583) will carry the colours of Madame Cygler - those originally associated with Classic-placed Sistercharlie and The Summit - and will be trained by Alex Pantall.

And another late highlight came courtesy of a daughter of Sea The Stars (lot 623), out of an unraced Gold Away sister to Danedream and Venice Beach.

Brought to market by Haras de l'Hotellerie, the filly was picked up by Haras des Capucines supremo Eric Puerari and will be raced by a partnership ahead of her career as a broodmare.

Demand remains high though indicators slightly down

The concluding day of Part Two of the sale lacked the six figure lots of its predecessor but the trade was consistent across both sessions, with 100 of the 120 lots presented finding a new home at a clip of 83 per cent.

With part one of this sale expanding to two days direct comparisons with previous years are all but impossible. Part two has dipped compared to 2021, with an average price of €25,722 across the two sessions a sharp decline on the €34,710 and the €41,652 of the last pre-Covid October Sale in 2019.

The decision to have two days of premium offerings instead of one -in the hope that more major buyers would be active across a greater selection of lots, looks like paying off with just Friday's part three to come.

The rolling average for parts one and two is €52,090, with the median €34,000; in 2019 those figures after the first two sections of the catalogue were €46,637 and €30,000 respectively.

Part three of the catalogue concludes the sale on Friday, with selling getting underway at 11am local time.

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