‘We’re over the moon’ - shades of Zanthos as Sioux Nation filly leaves monster pinhooking profit at €1.1 million

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A filly by the same sire, bred on the same cross and consigned by the same vendor as Classic hopeful Zanthos rang the bell at €1.1 million midway through the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale in Deauville on Saturday. 

The bidding opened at just €100,000 but was already up to the half million mark by the time the daughter of Sioux Nation had taken a couple of turns of the Deauville ring. The pace slowed and a hush descended once the bid board rolled beyond €500,000. 

Likely protagonists were stationed throughout the auditorium, but matters ultimately boiled down to Anthony Stroud, tucked away down the corridor to the left of the rostrum, and an unidentified online participant. The price continued to increase in €50,000 increments when Stroud signalled a play of €900,000. 

All the presale chat suggested the filly had real claims of reaching millionaire status, and the online player duly threw in a six-figure increase to turn the talk into reality. However, it was Stroud who sealed the deal with a swift €100,000 counter of his own. 

“We’ve bought some good horses [consignor] Glending [Stables], including Vandeek and Zanthos,” said the agent, who had been joined by Zanthos’s trainers Simon and Ed Crisford during the bidding. “This filly did a very good breeze, she went very well. I’m very happy to get her.” 

The agent was unable to reveal training plans in the immediate aftermath of the transaction but said the filly would be raced by a syndicate made up of four undisclosed members.

The seven-figure filly, who fetched €100,000 more than Zanthos did 12 months ago, was offered by Roderic Kavanagh’s Glending Stables. She is out of Porthilly, a daughter of Pivotal whose four victories during her time in training with John Hammond include a Listed contest at Hoppegarten. 

Anthony Stroud signs for the Sioux Nation filly at €1.1 millionCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

While trade proved far from straightforward for plenty of vendors, this filly left connections with a monster profit having been pinhooked for 98,000gns from Book 3 of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. 

“We’re over the moon, it’s a fantastic result,” said Cormac O'Flynn, a partner in Glending Stables. “We bought her in Book 3 and she reminded us a lot of Zanthos back then, that was definitely a big factor. She’s bred on the same cross too and there are plenty of similarities physically, although she’ll probably end up a bigger filly as she looks like she’ll grow a lot. We actually put her in the same stable as Zanthos just for a bit of luck, and thankfully it worked out! If she works out as good on the track we’ll all be delighted.” 

Although the Glending team came out of Arqana in the black, O’Flynn acknowledged that conditions this spring have not always been quite so favourable. 

“It’s definitely been a tough year, we’ve experienced it as well as a lot of others,” he said. “You just have to keep trading your way through it and make the best decisions you can and hope that it comes back around. We all bought yearlings foreseeing a market that was similar to last year and it hasn’t happened, so that’s made things trickier. But the results from this sale, and a couple of the others, speak for themselves, so that’ll help keep the overall business going. 

‘It’s such a stressful game’ - high emotion for Longways Stables as Blue Point colt brings €800,000 

“You can’t just rely on one year, you have to take a longer-term view. There’s going to be ups and downs but ultimately we bring these horses to sell them. We try to do the best we can in terms of preparation, and if the trainers can go on and win with them then they’ll come back to us the following year. If we take a hit one year then hopefully we can make it up the next, but thankfully that didn’t happen today.” 

O’Flynn added: “It’s a big team at Glending. Nicola Short has done such a good job with the filly here this week and David Hannigan has ridden the filly out through the winter, and it’s thanks to their hard work we’re here today. We’re just delighted to be able to bring a filly of that calibre to market.” 

O’Flynn and Kavanagh are toasting the sale of the €1.1m Sioux Nation filly by heading to Longchamp on Sunday to cheer on Zanthos as she tackles the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. 

Godolphin enter the fray

Stroud was also responsible for the day’s second-highest bid when going to €900,000 for a son of Blue Point consigned by Yeomanstown Stud. The transaction saw Godolphin make a much-welcomed return to the buyers’ sheet having been absent from the other breeze-up sales this spring. 

“He’s by Blue Point, who stands at Kildangan and is showing a lot of promise as a stallion,” said Stroud, who confirmed the colt will head to Charlie Appleby at Moulton Paddocks. “He did an excellent breeze, comes from an excellent nursery and passed all the credentials we looked for in a breeze-up horse. We’re very pleased to have him. This is the first breeze-up horse we have bought for Godolphin this year.” 

Stroud also reflected on the state of trade in Deauville and elsewhere on this year’s circuit, saying: “I said this at the first breeze-up sale of the year, the world is in a difficult place at the moment. 

“It’s wonderful that people are buying horses, whether it’s here or elsewhere, but I do feel we’re in a period of correction, hence there’s quite a substantial amount of horses not attaining their reserve.” 

He added: “One wants everyone to prosper, but as I said, it's a very unusual time at the moment and maybe some people have greater priorities than what we’re doing.” 

Yeomanstown Stud's Blue Point colt out of Dancin Inthestreet makes €900,000 to GodolphinCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

The colt was offered by Yeomanstown at Book 1 of last year’s October Yearling Sale and initially changed hands for 375,000gns, only to be returned following a minor issue in the 30 days after the sale. He had been pinhooked as a foal for €180,000. 

Yeomanstown’s David O’Callaghan reacted to Saturday’s transaction by saying: “Today was topsy turvy. We had a draft of six, some of them went very fast and some of them breezed nicely but didn’t clock that well. It was very hard work selling the ones who didn’t clock well and the ones who did gathered a nice fanbase and sold well. 

“It was topped by the Blue Point colt. We’re delighted he sold so well and a huge thank you goes to Sheikh Mohammed, Anthony Stroud, David Loder and the whole team. There were a lot of guys on him but they liked him a lot and stepped up to buy him. It played out nicely.” 

On the broader trade, O’Callaghan added: “The market was definitely a bit narrow as it was the same horses that everyone landed on; people didn’t deviate too far from the same group. That said, there’s still been good trade and some horses have sold very well, it just becomes a little bit harder every year.” 

Go Just Do It sibling snapped up for €850,000

BBA Ireland agent Michael Donohoe went to €850,000 for the Kingman colt out of the Listed-winning Ship Of Dreams. The youngster was pinhooked by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud at 150,000gns last October. 

The colt’s pedigree received a notable enhancement in the lead up to the sale when his three-year-old brother Go Just Do It shed his maiden by four lengths. 

“He’s by a fantastic sire and the full-brother looks quite exciting for Joseph O’Brien,” said Donohoe. “He looked impressive when he won his maiden the other week and is probably going to take his chance in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. 

Michael Donohoe: 'He’s by a fantastic sire and the full-brother looks quite exciting for Joseph O’Brien'Credit: Zuzanna Lupa

“This is a very good-looking horse and came here with a big reputation from Brendan Holland, who’s a great guy to buy from. It’s hard to get a Kingman that looks like that, there’s quite a lot of the damsire [Lope De Vega] about him as well. We haven’t any plans set in stone yet so we’ll just take a breath and let the horse have a couple of easy weeks then we’ll make a few decisions. He could be a mid-season to backend type before hopefully being a Classic prospect next year.” 

While many spoke of the challenging market, Donohoe shared a slightly different perspective on proceedings, saying: “I think trade has been good. The vendors were maybe a little bit optimistic to start with but I think trade has picked up as the day’s gone and they’ve become more realistic. For a nice horse it’s been pretty solid.” 

Eustace puts up a big Performance

Hong Kong-based trainer David Eustace marked a maiden visit to the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale by securing a son of up-and-coming US turf sire Oscar Performance at €700,000. The six-figure youngster was consigned by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill and purchased in conjunction with agents Billy Jackson-Stops and Will Douglass. 

“We came here to try and find a horse that might fit the bill to win a Hong Kong Derby,” said Eustace. “He was the horse that really stuck out for us. He had a beautiful action, plenty of scope, I loved his breeze. He was just the right model. It’s not an easy brief to fill for horses from the southern hemisphere so we thought this was worth a go.” 

Asked what inspired his Deauville recruitment mission, Eustace said: “We were told the market might not be that strong! Sadly that doesn’t appear to be the case. Billy Jackson-Stops and Will Douglass do a lot of my bloodstock work and they put the idea into my head that there’d be the right sort of stock here to try and fill that brief. Everyone wants to try and win the Derby so it’s probably the hardest race to win in Hong Kong, but he looks that style of horse.” 

The youngster was making his second appearance on the public market, having previously gone unsold at $85,000 when offered at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale in 2024. 

Mill Ridge Farm’s Oscar Performance has a growing reputation among the Kentucky stallion ranks, with his roll of honour headed by Grade 1 scorers Trikari and World Beater. The son of Kitten’s Joy is standing the current season at a fee of $60,000. 

This colt actually possesses a European female family, with his dam being out of a sister to Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Naaqoos. However, Eustace said the individual was of as much, if not more, significance than his page. 

“He’s a great type and it’s not all on pedigree, you can’t get too bogged down on that, frankly,” he said. “If you look at some of the best horses to have come through Hong Kong, there’s not necessarily a trend in terms of their breeding.” 

He added: “Wherever you are in the world, breeze-up sales produce good horses and this sale is no different so we thought we’d come and have a look. The quality of horse has been very impressive and hopefully we’ve landed on the right one.” 

Mocklershill's Oscar Performance colt sells for €700,000 at the Arqana Breeze-Up SaleCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Trade had burst into life just three lots earlier when Anthony Stroud and Emmanuel de Seroux clashed over Tradewinds Stud’s Constitution colt. De Seroux was responsible for the bid of €540,000 that saw his rival give a dejected shake of the head. 

Tradewinds’ Shane Power described the result as a “big relief” after staking $210,000 on the colt at last year’s Keeneland September Sale, making the youngster the outfit’s biggest pinhook to date. 

“The horse has been a real pro from the moment he arrived in the yard,” said Power, who runs Tradewinds with his brother, Alex. “I wouldn’t say I never had a moment’s doubt but he’s always showed us plenty so it’s just been a matter of getting him here in one piece. 

“To be fair to him he always puts his best foot forward and he delivered on the day. We’re delighted to get a good return in a difficult market, which unfortunately is a reflection of where the world is at the moment; there’s a lot of uncertainty. 

“Fair play to all the people that are still stumping up the money to buy these horses because it’s a lot of money for anyone. Fair play to the agents, everybody involved, as it means that people like us can make a living out of it.” 

Asked if he ever had any doubts about risking such a punchy outlay, Power said: “When they come home off the flight and are a little bit shook looking you might question yourself a little bit, but to be fair to the horse as soon as we started riding him and doing bits with him we knew he was very genuine, very good mentally. When they try for you it’s 80 per cent of the battle. We’ve been around enough of them now to know from an early stage when they’re going to put their head down and try for you, and he did that.” 

He added: “That was the most expensive horse we’ve pinhooked by a long way and obviously you’re coming over here thinking you’re going to do well but you still have to do it on the day, then go through all the shows and vettings. It’s a big relief, to be honest. It’s very exciting to have a horse like that who appeals to everybody.” 

€600,000 fillies find favour

A pair of well-related fillies brought €600,000 apiece, led by Hubie de Burgh’s purchase of a daughter of Dubawi from Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm. The filly boasts arguably the best page in the catalogue, being out of a sibling to the Wertheimers’ Group 1 winners Aventure and Left Hand, both of whom struck in the Prix Vermeille. 

De Burgh signed on behalf of Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm, who already owns this filly’s close relation in Audubon Park, another daughter of Dubawi out of the dam’s half-sister Right Hand. Audubon Park only made the track three times but won a Listed race on her second start and was last seen finishing second in the Prix Saint-Alary. 

“I’ve bought her for Craig Bernick,” said De Burgh. “She got injured but we thought she was very, very good. This filly looks just like her. Craig is collecting a select band of broodmares for the future so we need Dubawis with pedigrees like this, and if she’s a stakes winner she’ll join the broodmare band. 

“These kinds of pedigrees are so hard to find. She breezed well for a filly that shouldn’t because she needs time. We just love her.” 

Hubie de Burgh: 'These kinds of pedigrees are so hard to find'Credit: Zuanna Lupa

Expanding on more immediate plans, De Burgh said: “She’ll go to Francis Graffard, who trained Audubon Park for us. We’re going back to the well again. If she won a stakes race she’d make €2m or more. If she won a Group race she’d make €5m! Now we just need to cross our fingers and wish for good luck.”

The youngster, who was bred by Ed’s Stud, was making it third time lucky having been withdrawn from two of last year’s yearling sales. 

Later in the session Ed Sackville hit the €600,000 mark when securing the Bloodstock Connection’s Night Of Thunder filly out of Sous Les Etoiles. The filly was signed for by Ghrghar Stables at 180,000gns at last year’s December Yearling Sale. 

The youngster hails from Anthony Oppenheimer’s signature family, with the likes of Rebecca Sharp and Golden Horn appearing back on the page. 

“The stallion needs no introduction,” said Sackville. “She’s from an established and successful vendor and she’s a lovely physical from a great Oppenheimer family. She’s been bought to be trained in England. Let’s hope that she justifies her price tag.”

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