'It’s a very emotional moment' - Sottsass sibling brings €2.1 million at Arqana

The old saying goes that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That is precisely what Yoshito Yahagi did at the Arqana August Sale on Sunday and as a result he can now look forward to training a Siyouni brother to Sottsass who fetched a show-stopping bid of €2,100,000.

A little over 24 hours earlier Yahagi had filled the role of frustrated underbidder when the Shamardal colt out of Lady Frankel fetched €1.6 million from Godolphin, but this time around he was clearly determined not to walk away empty-handed.

The auditorium was at full capacity as bloodstock industry heavyweights and a horde of curious racegoers squeezed into the Deauville sales ring to see Ecurie des Monceaux’s latest offering out of the blue hen mare Starlet’s Sister. In just a few turns of the sandy showing ring in front of the rostrum the bid board was up to €650,000 and the €50,000 raises started to come thick and fast.

Once proceedings had gone deep into seven-figure territory it was David Redvers, standing with Sheikh Fahad Al Thani in the shadows on the top tier of the auditorium, who tried clinging to Yahagi’s coat tails. But each time the Qatar Racing man raised his finger to signal an increase of €100,000 the Japanese trainer, sitting just a few rows below his rival, immediately responded in kind.

After a bid of €2.1m had drawn an audible gasp from the crowd, Redvers gave a clear shake of the head and the gavel came down.

“Of course his pedigree is excellent,” said Yahagi after signing the seven-figure docket. “Sottsass won the Arc and My Sister Nat was second to my horse [Loves Only You] in last year’s Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. He’s a good moving horse and I love him. I will bring him to Japan and I hope he will win the Japanese Derby."

On the prospect of this colt one day returning to France to contest the Arc, Yahagi said: “Of course! I hope so. This is not my first time in Deauville but I love the town’s atmosphere and the sales. It's beautiful.”

Yoshito Yahagi gives the thumbs up as Naohiro Goda signs the docket for the Siyouni colt out of Starlet's Sister at ArqanaCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Yahagi added that he could not reveal who would own the colt but said it was a “new Japanese owner.”

The youngster is the eighth foal out of Starlet's Sister, who has quickly established herself as one of the best young producers around. The daughter of Galileo has bred five winners from five runners, headed by Sottsass, whose six victories include top-flight triumphs in the Prix du Jockey Club and Prix Ganay as well as his career-defining win in the 2020 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Starlet's Sister’s first foal is champion US turf mare Sistercharlie, who won three races in France for Alex Pantall before she transferred to Chad Brown and claimed a remarkable seven Grade 1s, including the 2018 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Starlet’s Sister has also bred My Sister Nat, a triple Group/Grade 3 winner who reached the places in three Grade 1s, and the Dubawi filly Pure Dignity, who made a winning debut for Roger Varian and an ownership group comprising Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa and KHK Racing after she sold to Oliver St Lawrence for €2.5m at Arqana in 2020.

Between her five runners Starlet's Sister’s progeny have won 22 races, 16 of which have been at black type level, and her yearlings through the Arqana ring have netted Monceaux receipts totalling €6.072m

“It’s a very emotional moment because it's a reward for the team at home and I feel very proud of their work," said Monceaux's Henri Bozo. "I’m very grateful for this mare because she’s not missing much. It’s a great source of pride to have a horse like this going to Japan when the Japanese are doing so well. It’s a new step and I find it really interesting.

“I’m so grateful to all the team at home. From Bruno [Dieuaide, Bozo’s assistant], who looks after the team and the farm all year long but is never at the sales because he’s busy there, to Jordan [Tancrede, yearling manager], Clementine [Ferrier, communications] and Lucie [Dieuaide, mare and foal manager] and all the team.

“It’s just luck to have a mare like her but it’s all made possible by the hard work of such a great team.”

The session-topping Siyouni colt out of Starlet's Sister at ArqanaCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Bozo also had an update on the 13-year-old Starlet’s Sister, saying: “She has a colt foal by Siyouni on the ground but she’s not in foal as she was due late. We’re undecided as to what we’ll do next year but we’ll enjoy the moment and look forward to seeing the two-year-old and three-year-old race soon.

“We kept her two-year-old [Snowpark] because we have no female progeny out of the mare so we decided not to sell her as a yearling last year and have kept her with Jean-Claude Rouget, who trained Sottsass. He’s very happy with her and we’re looking forward to seeing her run.”

Starlet’s Sister’s influence is not just confined to the racecourse and the sales ring as Sottsass has spent the last two covering seasons at Coolmore, where he served books of significant quality and quantity iat fees of €30,000 in 2021 and €25,000 this year.

Yahagi was not done for the day as he later went to €560,000 for the Kingman colt out of Waldjagd offered by Domaine de l’Etang. The youngster, a half-brother to the Group 2 scorer Waldbiene and the Listed-winning Urwald, provided connections with a chunky bit of pinhooking profit as he had been sourced through Avenir Bloodstock for €280,000 at last year’s Arqana December Sale.

LNJ Foxwoods keep hold of ‘spectacular athlete’

The third seven-figure lot of this year’s August Sale came late in the session when Alex Solis of Solis/Litt Bloodstock went to €1.4m for the striking grey Siyouni filly out of the Listed-winning Aviatress.

The filly was bred in partnership between Monceaux and the Roth family’s LNJ Foxwoods and Solis, who was joined by Nanci Roth, explained the latter had bought out their partners to take sole ownership of the youngster.

“The Roths actually own the mare with Henri and their partners so we’ve known about her since she was a foal and she’s been a star the whole time,” said Solis.

“It’s been very exciting to watch her grow up and come to this point and become a spectacular athlete. The Roths race a lot of fillies but she’s one who had to come to auction because it was a partnership, but we didn’t want to let her go.”

The striking grey Siyouni filly out of the Listed-winning AviatressCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Aviatress, a daughter of Shamardal who takes her grey colouring from her damsire Unbridled’s Song, was bred by Monceaux and bought by LNJ Foxwoods at the 2017 August Sale for €450,000. She won twice for Alain de Royer-Dupré, including the Prix de Saint-Cyr.

Roth, who is based in the US, added: “I don’t know whether we’ll take her home, it’s up to Jason [Litt] and Alex to decide where they feel the best place to race her is. We’ve raced horses in France though, including Golden Valentine who was a Group winner and retired here.”

Golden Valentine, who is best remembered for winning the Group 3 Prix Minerve, will be represented during Monday’s session of the August Sale when her Dubawi colt, another bred in partnership between Monceaux and LNJ Foxwoods, will be offered as Lot 292.

Knight strikes

Lady O'Reilly’s Haras de la Louvière enjoyed an evening to remember with the sale of two of the session’s headline acts, including the Wootton Bassett filly out of Ambivalence who drew a bid of €750,000 from agent Richard Knight.

Bred by Petra Bloodstock Agency and Ecurie de Meautry, the filly is the second foal out of the Listed-placed dam, whose siblings include the Group 2 Prix Corrida winner Armande. The page features Allegretta as fourth dam, meaning that the breed-shaping Urban Sea and her sire sons Galileo and Sea The Stars appear back in the pedigree.

“She'll stay here in France and she was bought for a client of mine,” said Knight. “We picked her out and we thought she was an absolute queen. For me physically she was the best filly in the sale so we're absolutely delighted to get her.

“I love the stallion, Wootton Bassett, and obviously the dam was stakes placed. She's a second foal, which I like as well so she just ticked so many boxes for us. She was the one we really wanted to get.”

Richard Knight: 'We picked her out and we thought she was an absolute queen.'Credit: Zuzanna Lupa

On the price, Knight added: “I'm not surprised at all that she made that. Coming in here I thought she was too nice and two or three people were on her. To buy the really nice ones you have to step up and pay.”

Knight also went to €360,000 to secure the Adlerflug filly out of Sylvestra from Haras d’Etreham on behalf of the same client.

Clement collects

Earlier in the evening Nicolas Clement went to €600,000 to secure the Siyouni half-sister to Listed winner Fenelon from Haras de la Louviere.

The filly is another bred on the Siyouni-Galileo cross as she is out of Aigue Marine, a half-sister to Mekhtaal who won two Grade 3s during her time in training with the successful bidder’s brother, Christophe.

Haras de la Louviere's Siyouni half-sister to Listed winner Fenelon sells to Nicolas Clement for €600,000Credit: Zuzanna Lupa

The filly is set to carry the colours of Dr Ramon Tallaj, as Clement explained, saying: “I met Dr Tallaj last year at Saratoga and he has horses with my brother, Christophe.

“We bought [multiple winner] Galifa here in December and started a company called RT Racing, the same as he has in America. We’ve had three winners and we want more so we bought this filly.”

Tallaj added: “This filly will be running in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in a couple of years’ time. Nicolas will make that happen! The atmosphere here is very good. This is my first time and I will continue coming back.”

Godolphin go again

Fresh from securing the session-topping Shamardal colt on day one, the Godolphin buying team returned to their position down the corridor to the right of the rostrum and bid €575,000 for the Dubawi filly out of Birch Grove, who was another to hail from the Monceaux draft.

Birch Grove won a Clairefontaine Listed race while she was in training with David Simcock and was bought by a partnership of Monceaux, Rifa Mustang and Zalim Bifov for 700,000gns at the 2019 December Mares Sale carrying her first foal, a filly by Kingman.

“She's a Dubawi and we love Dubawi,” said Anthony Stroud. “She's a very nice filly from a very good stud farm in Monceaux. She was incredibly athletic and we're very glad to buy her.”

The filly is bred on the Dubawi-Galileo cross that has produced the likes of Dartmouth, Ghaiyyath and Night Of Thunder.

Fruitful day for Frankel continues

The session got off to a bright start when Simon Mockridge, general manager of Juddmonte’s British division, went to €450,000 for the Frankel colt out of Spain Burg. The youngster was offered by Haras de Saint Pair, who bred the colt in partnership with Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm.

Spain Burg was a high-class two-year-old, with her four juvenile victories including a defeat of Fair Eva in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes, after which she sold to Reeves Thoroughbred Racing for €1.5m at the Arqana Arc Sale. The daughter of Sageburg was back on the market in 2017 when White Birch Farm signed the ticket at 650,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

The six-figure transaction continued a fruitful day in Deauville for Frankel after Inspiral won the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois and Eternal Pearl claimed the Group 3 Prix Minerve.

Simon Mockridge: 'He’s a phenomenal stallion and of course we want to support him'Credit: Zuzanna Lupa

“The mare was a very good two-year-old and had plenty of speed,” said Mockridge. “Frankel has had a fantastic season, he’s had seven Group 1 winners this year and we saw Inspiral win today, which was great, and Eternal Pearl won as well.

“He’s a phenomenal stallion and of course we want to support him. This horse will take a bit of time but he’s big and strong and physically he looks like a very good horse. He’ll go back to Ireland to be broken in with Barry Mahon, who’ll manage him over there. Then, in discussion with the [Abdullah] family, we’ll decide where the horse is going to go to be trained.”

The Kingman sister to Group 3 Jersey Stakes winner Noble Truth had looked like providing another of the session’s early highlights when knocked down on a bid of €600,000, but it transpired the Haras des Capucines-consigned filly had been bought back by her breeder Jean-Pierre Dubois.

The session generated turnover of €15.612m, an average of €233,015 and a median of €140,000 as 67 lots sold from an offering of 80, meaning the clearance rate was 84 per cent.

The restructuring of the sale, with parts one and two merged over the three days, means year-on-year comparisons will be best assessed at the end of the third and final day, which begins on Monday at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).

More to read:

Shamardal colt leads Arqana day one trade at €1.6 million

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'The August Sale is a big part of our economic strategy so it’s definitely a big deal' - James Thomas speaks to Ecurie des Monceaux's Henri Bozo

'He impressed then and has progressed from there' - Ballylinch's Waldgeist colt