Lily's Candle lights up Deauville in latest chapter of rags to riches tale

Major players from the global breeding industry descended on Deauville as the French seaside town boasted a distinctly festive feel for day one of Arqana Breeding Stock Sale on Saturday.

And it was not just the Christmas decorations adorning the picturesque town centre that illuminated Deauville, as Prix Marcel Boussac winner Lily's Candle returned to the Arqana ring to fetch a winning bid of €1.1 million from Narvick International's Emmanuel de Seroux.

It was only a little over a year ago that Lily's Candle first appeared at auction, when she was bought by Bertrand Bourez for €15,000 at the Arqana October Yearling Sale. She went into training with Fabrice Vermeulen, for whom she duly won two of her first four starts.

View full Arqana Breeding Stock Sale results

Having won a Vichy Listed race, she was then re-offered at the Arc Sale, where she was sold on to owner Martin Schwartz through Oceanic Bloodstock for €390,000. That considerable investment took less than 24 hours to yield a major return though, as Lily's Candle overcame trouble in running to land the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp.

On Saturday her transformation from bargain buy yearling to seven-figure racing and breeding prospect was completed when she was knocked down to De Seroux, bidding on behalf of Northern Farm's Katsumi Yoshida from a packed restaurant behind the rostrum.

Emmanuel de Seroux: 'She won the Marcel Boussac, which is the best two-year-old race in France'Credit: Zuzanna Lupa

"There are no plans for the short term, we'll wait and see what Katsumi Yoshida wants to do with her," said De Seroux. "It's likely she will race on next year but we will have to discuss that later on. She won the Marcel Boussac, which is the best two-year-old race in France, and she's the champion juvenile here."

Yoshida is well acquainted with the family, having acquired Liliside, a half-sister to Lily's Candle's dam, as a breeding prospect.

"She's from a family that has been very successful for Katsumi," noted De Seroux. "Lys Gracieux, who is running in the Hong Kong Vase tomorrow, is from the same family. Katsumi bought her dam - Liliside - in France, so it's a family that he knows well and is very attracted to. She'll be a perfect outcross option for breeding in Japan later on."

Lily's Candle, a daughter of Style Vendome, is a fine advert for the skill of her breeders, the Lepeudry family of Elevage de Tourgeville, as they have cultivated a page rich in black-type performers from stallions who command relatively lowly fees.

Her American Post yearling half-sister topped the Thursday session of the Arqana October Yearling Sale when bought by international footballer Antoine Griezmann for €230,000.

"We're very happy she's been bought by such good owners," said Vermeulen's partner Jeremy Para. "She's helped give us the best year since we set up training. We hope the filly will stay with us next year but we're waiting to hear what happens with her next."

Godolphin land Judge foal

Two other lots also fetched a seven-figure sum during a strong opening session, including the Dubawi filly foal out of Just The Judge, who went the way of Anthony Stroud, bidding from down the corridor to the left of the rostrum, for €1m.

The youngster, bred in partnership by Qatar Bloodstock and the China Horse Club and sold through La Motteraye Consignment, was sourced on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation.

"She's by such a wonderful stallion in Dubawi and out of Just The Judge, who was an amazing mare," said Stroud, who was accompanied by champion trainer John Gosden. "She'll go back to Ireland and eventually be trained by a Godolphin trainer."

The filly, the second foal out of the two-time top-level winner, is the year-younger sister to the Dubawi colt who topped Arqana's flagship August Yearling Sale when bought by Ballylinch Stud for €1.4m.

"If you gave me the choice, I'd pick the filly," said Stroud. "But a very good judge in John O'Connor [Ballylinch Stud managing director] bought the colt and I wish him the very best because him doing well will eventually help us."

Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Just The Judge, who was signed for by Qatar Racing and the China Horse Club at 4,500,000gns at the Tattersalls Mares Sale in 2014, was bred to Galileo in 2018.

Solage returns

Another filly who fetched a seven-figure sum on her return to the Arqana ring was the once-raced Solage, who was knocked down to Ghislain Bozo of Meridian International for €1m. The filly will now race on at three for a partnership that includes Ballylinch Stud.

The two-year-old daughter of Galileo had been trained by Nicolas Clement for troubled South African business magnate Markus Jooste, having been picked up for €700,000 at the 2017 August Yearling Sale. She finished a promising second over 1m1f at Longchamp on debut in October.

"She'll race on, but no decision has been made as to where she'll be trained yet," said Bozo. "She was a €700,000 yearling and we think she can improve - we think she has at least Listed level ability, so there's the residual value of her pedigree with the upside of her racing career. It's tough to get into Galileo mares."

Solage is out of Secrete, a Cape Cross half-sister to Group 1 scorer Plumania, while Prix Vermeille heroine Left Hand also appears beneath the second dam.

Meridian International also signed the €510,000 docket for Fangs, a three-year-old Kitten's Joy sister to Grade 1 winner Kitten's Dumplings offered in foal to Kodiac, earlier in the session.

Le Metayer In Motion

Fresh from securing a session-topping daughter of Frankel for 550,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale earlier in the week, Bertrand Le Metayer was back in action on Saturday and went to €860,000 for Peace In Motion.

"She's that type of old-fashioned mare, light but with loads of quality," Le Metayer said of the Group 3-winning daughter of Hat Trick. "She's for a partnership of some French investors who also bought at Tattersalls - she's a professional project.

"She's got solid form and she's easy to mate, we're working out a mating for her at the moment."

The Ronald Rauscher-consigned four-year-old was bred and raced by Dr Christoph Berglar, and is out of the Group 3-winning Sholokhov mare Peace Royale.

Fares' fair

Lebanese owner-breeder Issam Fares is dispersing all of his racing and breeding stock across Arqana's Breeding Stock and February Mixed sales, and he secured an eye-catching result on Saturday when Zghorta Dance was bought by Al Shaqab Racing for €550,000.

The Group 3-winning daughter of Le Havre was offered by Fares' Haras de Manneville in foal to champion sprinter Muhaarar, and is now set to visit one of France's most exciting young sires.

"I loved her physically and she's by a champion sire in France," said Haras de Bouquetot manager Benoit Jeffroy. "She's been bought to go to Shalaa next year as we're looking to buy some nice mares to support him with."

Brown goes back to Aga Khan draft

The Aga Khan Studs draft is always a popular feature of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, and this year's offering was topped by Shomaria who was signed for by Blandford Bloodstock after Richard Brown outlasted Henri Bozo and John Hammond with a bid of €330,000.

The placed daughter of Exceed And Excel shares her page with Shakeel, winner of last year's Grand Prix de Paris, and Brown highlighted the potential for further updates as a major appeal.

"I bought the first foal out the mare - Shemya - here four years ago so I know the family well," he said. "Shemya's putting very good stock down - her Kingman colt made 1,050,000gns at Tattersalls and is at Ballydoyle now.

"Shomaria's brother [Shendam] won very well on debut and looks like a potentially smart colt, so there's the potential for quite a lot to happen in the family. She's been bought for a new partnership of two existing clients.

"I think this mare will suit Siyouni perfectly so I better go and have a chat with [Haras de Bonneval manager] Georges Rimaud!" he added. "She's very well-bred and Exceed And Excel is doing well as a broodmare sire too."

Exceed And Excel is looking like an increasingly influential broodmare sire, having been represented by the likes of Ten Sovereigns and Anthony Van Dyck during the 2018 Turf season.

Figures

Strong trade on Saturday produced a healthy set of figures. The aggregate was up by five per cent to €22,743,000, while the average rose by 22 per cent to €150,615.

The median dropped slightly to €70,000, having been €75,000 12 months ago.

The clearance rate was also down slightly, with 151 of 194 offered lots changing hands at a clip of 78 per cent - down from 81 per cent.

At the close of trade, Arqana ceo Eric Hoyeau issued a positive end-of-sale statement, saying: "Coming into the sale, we felt confident that we were offering a quality array of fillies, broodmares and foals, and for them to have met the market's requirements is a source of immense satisfaction.

"Trade was very strong from beginning to end courtesy of a diversity of purchasers from Japan, America, Australia, the whole of Europe as well as France. This is a great message of optimism for everyone in the industry and we wish all buyers the very best of success on the track and in the sales ring.

As ever we are grateful to the vendors, who placed their faith in our capacity to sell their best stock and brought some stunning individuals to the ring. The results are above all a credit to them, as well as to the hard work put in by the entire team at Arqana."

The Arqana Breeding Stock Sale continues on Sunday at 10am local time.