Henri Bozo reflects on an 'intense and beautiful' day of success at Arqana

Henri Bozo has known some magical days in August on the Arqana sales grounds, but after a patchy first day of the repositioned Select Yearling Sale he may dared not have hoped for the kind of success that Thursday produced for Ecurie des Monceaux, as the operation sold the top two lots for €2,500,000 and €2,000,000.

Of course it helps to be bringing horses to market by the two most in demand stallions in Europe, Galileo and Dubawi, while the mares that bore them, Prudenzia and Starlet's Sister, have become genuine star-makers in their own rights.

A full-brother to Magic Wand by Galileo set the tone when Coolmore's MV Magnier went to €2m, before Fawzi Nass and Oliver St Lawrence bested Godolphin at €2.5m for the Dubawi half-sister to Sottsass and Sistercharlie.

Read the Day 2 Arqana Select Yearlings sale report

The end of day leaderboard also featured Monceaux offerings in a half-sister to Polydream by Siyouni, who is set to race for Gainesway Farm after Jean-Claude Rouget gave €700,000, as well as a Frankel filly bought by Sebastien Desmontils for Japanese owner Hisaaki Saito at €630,000.

All told, the two days of trade saw Monceaux sell 23 yearlings for €9.835m

Late on Thursday Bozo reflected: "It's a special day. It's been intense because we had a lot of good yearlings one after another and when I left the house I was a little worried, given yesterday [day one] was tough. There wasn't a lot of atmosphere yesterday but today it has been incredible for everyone involved.

Lot 251: the Dubawi filly out of Starlet's Sister sells for €2.5 millionCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

"I knew we had some big lots and some exceptional horses but it's never done ahead of time, especially in this difficult climate. But it's been a beautiful day.

"The atmosphere has been just like the biggest days in August, even though not all the buyers have been here. There has been a lot of work from the agents and the sales company and it's just incredible."

Prospective buyers will have needed little introduction to the respective pages of Monceaux's two star lots but those agents on the ground on Deauville - most of whom will have paid more than one visit to the farm in the preceding weeks - still needed to be convinced by the individuals.

"I wouldn't say I was confident about the two horses," said Bozo, who enjoyed a quiet celebration with his staff and a few key allies in the Monceaux yard in a corner of the sales complex. "I knew they were exceptional individuals - the Dubawi filly and the Galileo colt - though both in their different ways. I certainly felt we were going to market with horses that were out of the ordinary.

"The filly has incredible value as a breeding prospect from a mare [Starlet's Sister] that hasn't thrown a bad horse. I knew she was a filly that would attract the biggest buyers in the world, be they the major breeders or those just passionate about horses.

Lot 199: the Galileo brother to Magic Wand brings €2,000,000 in the Arqana ringCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

"The colt has something incredible about him, the way that he moves as well as his pedigree. Then you add in Galileo for a cross that is proven to work."

Market reflections

Of course not everyone can enjoy the level of success tasted by the Monceaux team once again on Thursday. But Bozo's perspective on how the market in Deauville has held up in the most challenging of circumstances is still a valuable indicator.

He said: "Day one was difficult as far as we were concerned, though there were breeders like Haras du Mezeray and Haras des Capucines that had some very big successes. You have to keep it in perspective and perhaps it was just the horses that went through yesterday.

"Today I felt there was a lot more intensity to the trade. I knew we had a good bunch but there was a lot more atmosphere. Yesterday people were quite guarded while they waited to see what happened. It's a difficult year for everyone and one unlike any other so people were perhaps hesitant."

Ecurie des Monceaux's big-money successes at Arqana have become an August staple and it is easy to forget that the enterprise is still relatively young, with their first yearlings consigned little more than a decade ago.

In a world where certainty is in short supply, the biggest buyers believed in their proven track record and went beyond prices anyone might have dared to predict ahead of time.

Read about the top lots at Arqana Day 1 as well as the other trade making the news on Wednesday