Bozzi on top with Italian job Agnes at the end of selective day 1 trade

Listed-placed Agnes led the way during a decidedly selective opening session of the two-day Arqana February mixed sale, with Italian connections making a sustained play for the daughter of Planteur to see off a couple of persistent rivals.

Agnes was kept busy at three and, having been claimed for €32,000 following a win at Maisons-Laffitte in October, rounded off an 11-race campaign when second at Toulouse over a mile and a half in the Listed Prix Max Sicard for trainer Pia Brandt.

Agent Marco Bozzi went to €135,000 to secure the four-year-old filly, marking a fine turnaround for owner Serge Stempniak.

Bozzi said: "She's going to Italy, where she'll be in training with Raffaele Biondi. He's planning to bring her back to France in the second half of the season.

"She's for Luigi Roveda and his wife who bought a foal here in November by Affaire Solitaire, a stallion they stand.

"I like the filly, she's performed very well and she passed every vet. It was their only target in the catalogue. She's been bought to race."

Top jumping prospect heads to Symonds

One of the most recent black-type scorers in the catalogue, four-year-old filly Running D'Or, made six figures on the back of her win in the Listed Prix Andre Massena at Cagnes-sur-Mer on January 5.

Geoffrey Howson and Matt Houldsworth secured the four-year-old as a racing and breeding prospect for €100,000 after she was offered by trainer Serge Foucher, best known as the man who guided the early career of Kauto Star.

While Running D'Or may boast slightly unfamiliar heritage in terms of both her sire Archange D'Or and broodmare sire Zero Problemo, she hails from the family of useful hurdler Missy Tata and RSA Chase hero Bostons Angel, while her exploits on the Cote d'Azur prove she has plenty of talent.

A Listed winner over hurdles at Cagnes-sur-Mer last month, Running D'Or will now be trained by Tom Symonds after being purchase for €100,000 by Howson and Houldsworth Bloodstock at ArqanaCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

"She's been bought for an English client and is going into training with Tom Symonds in Herefordshire," said Howson. "She's a Listed winner - which you can never take away - and we thought she was a nice individual. She'll be aimed at the valuable mares' races in Britain next season.

"Her owner has started a National Hunt breeding operation and is an established owner with Tom."

€75,000 for well-related mare in foal to US Navy Flag

Owner Alain Jathiere has been a long-time ally of Jean-Claude Rouget, while his brown and red silks have also been carried to success more recently by proteges of Pia Brandt, Simone Brogi and Didier Guillemin.

Jathiere's breeding ambitions came to the fore midway through the session as Meridian International's Ghislain Bozo struck at €75,000 for La Pedrera, a Danehill Dancer half-sister to Naaqoos in foal to US Navy Flag.

In foal to US Navy Flag, La Pedrera was a €75,000 purchase at Arqana on Tuesday and will join Alain Jathiere's broodmare bandCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

"She's a mare I know well, since I bought her as a yearling and she is obviously from a very good family," said Bozo.

"Her three-year-old Intello filly [Glamoureuse] is highly-regarded by her trainer Nicolas Clement, she has a good-looking two-year-old Shalaa colt with Henri-Francois Devin, and her Almanzor yearling was bought here last year by Arthur Hoyeau for €60,000. So the price is pretty much what the market would have predicted.

"She's a pretty mare and is for Monsieur Jathiere."

Later in the session Haras du Lieu des Champs' Richard Powell secured Attachante, an unraced Teofilo daughter of Prix de Diane runner-up Abbatiale.

Powell described the hammer-price of €52,000 as in line with expectations given Attachante is carrying to Shalaa.

Her dam Abbtiale went down by just a short head to Zainta in the 1998 Prix de Diane but Attachante was a star on day one of the Arqana February sale, making €52,000 when sold carrying to ShalaaCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

McAuliffe strikes for dam of Olendon

Few mares hit the Group 1 bar as early in their career as Talema, whose second foal Olendon last season followed up victory in the Listed Prix Finlande with a fine second in the Prix Saint-Alary for owner-breeder Gerard Augustin-Normand and trainer Pascal Bary.

Offered in foal to Brametot by Guillaume Vitse's Normandie Breeding, the daughter of Sunday Break was knocked down for €46,000 to Oxfordshire-based Kevin McAuliffe.

A winner at two herself, Talema is a half-sister to Prix du Calvados winner Mambia, who has further advertised the vibrant nature of the family with her first two products, notably a Japan-based son of Kingman, Danon Justice.

"She's a nice mare and has bred a good horse, so what’s not to like?" said McAuliffe. "At nine she's only young, and the yearling made €31,000 earlier in the session. How many mares breed Group 1 horses?

"The pedigree is free of most influences so there are opportunities there."

Talema notched a second success when her 2019 colt by Ectot, already named Tollevast, was sold to Marc-Antoine Bergracht for €31,000, the highest price of the day among the yearlings offered.

A date with Golden Horn

Howson and Houldsworth were in action early in the day when giving €36,000 for Vivid Dream, a daughter of Dream Ahead who was placed at both two and three for Alessandro Botti and who is a half-sister to Shamtee, who won the 2018 Prix Finlande for trainer Xavier Thomas-Demeaulte before finishing fourth in the Prix Sandringham when dropped back to a mile.

Vivid Dream could be in line to be covered by Dalham Hall Stud's Golden Horn (pictured)Credit: Edward Whitaker

"She's been bought for a client in the UK, most likely to support Golden Horn," said Houldsworth. "We thought physically she'd suit him, and I think he could have quite a big year with his three-year-olds this year.

"She's got a great pedigree, you've got Territories and Street Cry in there, and she's a half-sister to a stakes winner in Shamtee, so she ticked quite a few boxes."

Clearance rate down on exceptional 2019

Last February Arqana benefited from two important dispersals from the bloodstock holdings of the late Marquesa de Moratalla and Issam Fares, so there should be no surprise that turnover for day one was slightly less than half the 2019 figure.

Of more concern was the fall off in clearance rate, with only 118 of the 180 lots offered changing hands, down to 65.5 per cent from last year's very strong 85.5 per cent.