End of an era as sisters to Treve headline Haras du Quesnay dispersal at Arqana

The end of an era will play out at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, which begins in Deauville on Saturday, with the four-day auction hosting the dispersal of stock from the Head family’s famed nursery Haras du Quesnay.

The farm, which was sold in its entirety earlier this year, had belonged to the Heads since its acquisition by William, the patriarch of the renowned racing family, and his sons, Alec and Peter, in 1958.

Quesnay was home to some influential stallions over the subsequent decades, including the likes of multiple champions Lyphard, Highest Honor and Riverman, as well as other significant names like Anabaa and Bering.

The stud has also produced a lengthy roll call of Group 1 winners such as Classic scorers Astec, Riverqueen, Harbour, Ma Biche, Silvermine and Matiara, along with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victors Bon Mot and Detroit. However, arguably the stud’s most famous graduate falls into both categories.

The brilliant Treve won six Group 1s while under the care of trainer Criquette Head, including the 2013 Prix de Diane. She won the first of two Arcs later that year with a deeply impressive defeat of Orfevre before she followed up in 2014 by seeing off Flintshire by a commanding two lengths.

Toride, pictured with her Persian King colt, is a sibling to dual Arc heroine TreveCredit: Haras du Quesnay

The daughter of Motivator, who also stood at Quesnay from 2013, was beaten only two and a quarter lengths by Golden Horn in her Arc hat-trick bid.

The Quesnay dispersal draft features two siblings to Treve in the ten-year-old Toride (Lot 197), dam of the Listed-winning Lady Day and the Group 3-placed Maximus, and her Le Havre half-sister who was born in mid May earlier this year (166).

The latter is the final foal out of the Head’s homebred blue hen Trevise, who not only bred the dual Arc heroine but also the Listed-winning and Group 2-placed Trois Rois as well as the stakes-placed Trophee, whose first foal is the Australian Group 2 scorer Francesco Guardi.

“She’s very nice, I really like her,” Criquette Head said of the Le Havre filly. “She’s a May foal but she’s well made, has a very good temperament so she’s easy to handle and she has perfect conformation. It’s difficult to compare her to her sisters as they’re born in different years and are by different sires but she’s very nice. She’s been very busy, she’s been out all day. She’s the last out of Trevise, who died foaling her. She was a fantastic broodmare.”

Reflecting on the poignancy of the dispersal, Head said: “We’re selling all our stock, my brothers and sister don’t want to carry on, so everything has to go. I’ve had this problem before a long time ago when Papa’s friend Roland de Chambure died and we put everything on the market. It’s always sad, it’s sad to see things like that go. We have some nice foals and mares so we’ll see what the market is like. It was strong in England so let’s hope people have a little money to spend here!”

Last year’s sale was topped by the €3 million Rougir, who was signed for by Oceanic Bloodstock before reappearing in the colours of Michael Tabor and Peter Brant, for whom she won the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes.

The 1,036 entries feature plenty of other highlights away from the Quesnay dispersal, with one agent describing it as “the strongest catalogue I’ve ever seen at this sale.”

There are some notably high-performing fillies due to come under the hammer, plenty of whom possess racing potential as well as the credentials to succeed at stud.

Prix Vermeille heroine Sweet Lady is one of the star fillies on offer at ArqanaCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

These including Prix Vermeille heroine Sweet Lady (188 from Graffard Racing); Group 2 winner and multiple Group/Grade 1-placed Malavath (199), whose consignor Ecurie des Monceaux also offers well-bred Rockfel Stakes scorer Hello You (195); three-time Group 3 scorer Oscula (182 from Baroda Stud); two-time Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Amazing Grace (204, Ronald Rauscher, agent); and the Listed-winning and Prix de Royallieu third Ottilien (191 from David Menuisier).

“Last year we had a really strong catalogue and the challenge this year was to consolidate those good results,” said Arqana’s executive director Freddy Powell. “Well, it looks like the good results from last year didn’t go unnoticed! We’ve got lots of very good entries and there are some lovely looking horses here. We’re very lucky as well that European form and pedigrees are still very popular around the world in places like the USA, Australia and Japan.”

Trade has proved strong across the earlier breeding stock sales at Goffs and Tattersalls, particularly the latter’s December Sale, which grossed a staggering 120,587,750gns. Powell said that ensuring the more choice offerings ended up in the Arqana catalogue rather than elsewhere had taken a lot of work but noted the overall market strength as a positive for all parties.

“There’s been a bit of competition, but competition is good,” he said. “We’re not in racing not to compete. I think it’s healthy. The market is strong and we believe a lot of people couldn’t buy at those first two sales, which is going to help us.”

Selling during the first two sessions begins at 10am local time (9am GMT) and at 11am (10am) on Monday and Tuesday.

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