Teamwork key to sharp rise of leading French vendor

Leading French commercial nursery Ecurie des Monceaux finished this week's Arqana August Yearling Sale as top consignor by gross receipts for a fifth consecutive year.

The stud, owned by Lucien Urano and managed by Henri Bozo, took its first draft to the August sale in 2009 when it finished seventh among all consignors, and it has managed to establish itself as the dominant vendor at Deauville in just seven years.

At the three-day sale that started on Sunday, Monceaux was responsible for the four highest-priced lots headed by the €1.4 million Galileo half-sister to Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita - a fourth consecutive seven-figure yearling at the sale for the dam Prudenzia.