'She has everything to make a good two-year-old' - €74,000 Goken filly tops sale

A daughter of Goken topped the second and final day of Arqana’s September Yearling Sale on Friday, making €74,000 when sold to Jeremy Para.

Goken stands alongside his own sire Kendargent at Haras de Colleville and it was Guy Pariente’s stud that bred the already-named Cuncerta.

The January born filly is out of the young Poet’s Voice mare Fa Ul Cuncert, and her Kendargent brother Cuncerto has a win and two places from four starts for trainer Philippe Sogorb in the colours of his owner-breeder.

The wider family features a pair of champion two-year-olds in Intense Focus and Skitter Skatter, so Para and his business partner Fabrice Vermeulen will hope for good things early in Cuncerta’s career for one of their main backers, Bernard Giraudon.

"She looks very racy and precocious and Monsieur and Madame Giraudon adore black horses,” said Para. "She’s a nice filly who we’ll be looking to run quite early and she’ll go into training with Fabrice.

"She was a little bit more than we had imagined, I thought we might get her for €60-65,000, but she has everything to make a good two-year-old."

Good state of the Nation

No Nay Never has made plenty of headlines with his two-year-olds recently and it was his Coolmore studmate and another son of Scat Daddy who led the way for much of the day.

Sioux Nation has made a promising start with his first crop, with Mathilda Picotte and Lakota Sioux both stakes-placed.

His daughter out of Ali Alexandra - a five-time winning daughter of Areion and a half-sister to Florida Oaks winner Outburst - was brought to market by Haras de l’Hotellerie.

After a protracted battle with an unseen adversary, Nicolas de Watrigant made a couple of decisive raises to win out at €65,000.

A yearling is inspected on the Arqana sales groundCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Standing next to De Watrigant was Deauville-based Anastasia Wattel, who will train the filly.

"She looks precocious and I’m hoping she’ll be a two-year-old we can get on with and run in the first part of the year," said Wattel.

"She’s been bought for Olivier Carre, whose horses run under the Ecurie Treize Heureux banner. He owns Masterboy, who won him a first Quinte handicap at Cagnes-sur-Mer in January."

De Watrigant also struck with consecutive lots late in the day, giving €44,000 for a daughter of Profitable born and raised at Haras de Beauvoir.

Already named Golden Mountain, she is out of an unraced half sister to Shadwell’s Vintage Stakes and Strensall Stakes winner Naheef, while Irish Oaks heroine Lailani and Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Faithful Son are both found under her third dam Carduel.

"She was the nicest filly I saw today and I’m naturally happy to get her,” said Watrigant. "She's for a Spanish client who has horses both at home and in France and I’m not sure where she'll end up yet."

The very next yearling into the ring also went to the man from Mandore Agency, who gave €55,000 for Haras des Capucines’ daughter of Phoenix Of Spain out of the Canford Cliffs mare Goodthingstaketime, who was Group-placed in both Ireland and the US.

"I bought her for a new client and she's more of a long term prospect because she's a filly with a wonderful temperament, a lot of strength and who moves well but is sure to need some time," said Watrigant.

Bassett boy takes Lerner eyes

This autumn’s yearling sales also feature the last of the French-conceived crops of Wootton Bassett and his former home of Haras d’Etreham enjoyed one of the better results of the day when getting €50,000 for a colt out of the Mutakddim mare Breath Of Love.

The dam has proved an extremely reliable producer, with eight of her ten runners finding the winner’s enclosure, with both Bocaiuva and Beauty Of Love striking at Listed level.

The second day of Arqana's September Yearling Sale had a solid feel to itCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

The father and son training partnership of Carlos and Yann Lerner raised the winning bid and will be taking the colt back to their base at Maisons-Laffitte.

"We bought him because we have his brother by Intello, Breath Of Fire, who has brought us a lot of pleasure," said Carlos Lerner.

"He looks precocious and healthy and is by a very good sire in Wootton Bassett."

Stats and statement

There was no six-figure lot on Friday, but trade had a solid feel to it with a better clearance rate than on Thursday, though the median and average prices both slipped back slightly.

Across the two days, 203 of the 274 lots found a buyer at a clip of 74 per cent, for turnover of €3,891,000.

The sale is a new creation this year, with part of the catalogue derived from stock that would have previously been offered at the discontinued V2 sale that immediately followed the August Yearling sessions up until 2021.

"We still have a few further adjustments to make to what is a young sale, though one we expect to find its place in the calendar," said Arqana president Eric Hoyeau and the company’s executive director Freddy Powell in a joint statement.

"We’d like to thank the breeders who have placed their trust in us. The clearance rate is a source of satisfaction, and many French professionals, including a lot of trainers, were active, all of which is encouraging.

"Remember that all of these yearlings are eligible for the Arqana Series races which will take place next year."

The statement concluded: "We will analyse each sector of our yearling offering after the conclusion of the October Sale and can take a more rounded view."

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