'I think there will be plenty of business here' - star sires set to power early excitement at Arqana's October Yearling Sale

Those hoping to see a knock-on effect from the spectacular bidding wars seen at Newmarket earlier this month may not have long to wait on day one of Arqana's October Yearling Sale in Deauville, with the first ten lots featuring some real star sire power.

In no particular order, the opening salvo features two of the four yearlings in the catalogue by both Siyouni and Sea The Stars, as well as lots by Too Darn Hot, Camelot, Kameko, St Mark’s Basilica and Sea The Moon. 

There are two ways of looking at such a high stakes start to proceedings; either an early battle or two will loosen everybody up and the bids will flow freely, or else vendors of some expensively bred stock will have to weigh their options with little evidence to go on as to how this week’s market market will play. 

While Arqana August is one big test project for what will come thereafter across Europe, the agents, trainers and breeze-up consignors assembled in Deauville this week know where they stand in terms of what they’ve spent in Doncaster, Newmarket and Ireland, and which orders still need filling.

Despite a ceaseless blanket of drizzle there were plenty of potential buyers completing their inspections on Monday afternoon, with two of the biggest hitters from Tattersalls doing the rounds.

Matt Coleman is hoping to fill yearling orders at Arqana's October Sale this weekCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Alex Elliott and the team at Amo Racing were putting in the hard yards, as was one of Godolphin's chief talent scouts Anthony Stroud, though it should be pointed out he was accompanied by Jane Chapple-Hyam and long-standing client Peter Harris. 

His colleague at Stroud Coleman Bloodstock, Matt Coleman, was expecting plenty of good trade, despite the eye-watering sums which changed hands at Tattersalls. 

"I don’t think any of us have seen two weeks of sales like that in a long time," said Coleman. "I don’t think this sale will be quite like that but Anthony and David Loder are here on behalf of Godolphin, while Anthony is also representing other clients." 

Coleman added: "I see Anthony Ramsden of Valmont is here and Alex Elliott is here, so I’m sure Amo might be having a look. The big players from Newmarket are still here and there’s actually more English trainers than usual for Arqana October, probably because they struggled to fill orders the last two weeks. 

"There’s definitely more breeze-up consignors and English trainers here than I’ve seen before. I think there will be plenty of business here and we’ve still got a couple of orders to fill so we’ll do our best."

'We're hoping to have a little bit of stardust sprinkled here'

One of the busiest yards throughout Monday afternoon was that of La Motteraye Consignment, who are due to send 19 lots through the ring during Tuesday's Part 1, from a total draft of 46 yearlings.

"Obviously what happened at Tatts was incredible and you can’t expect a repeat of that," said Gwenael Monneraye, who runs La Motteraye alongside his wife Lucie Lamotte. 

"We are certainly hoping to have a little bit of that stardust sprinkled here. I get the impression that plenty of breeze-up trainers still need to stock up, and the major players from Newmarket are all here. 

"I would say we’ve had more showings that in previous years for October, especially today, so those are all good signs. Alex Elliott and the other big hitters are here and now all we can do is cross our fingers."

La Motteraye's colt by Zarak out of Vegas Valentine is one of the early highlights on TuesdayCredit: ZUZANNA LUPA

This year's catalogue cover star, Poule d'Essai hero Metropolitan, was secured late in the opening session 12 months ago by Alessandro Marconi for €78,000, just the latest example of how this sale has grown in reputation from the ugly sibling of the glamorous August gathering into the ideal complement, featuring yearlings who may well have benefited from that extra ten weeks or so.

As a son of Haras de Bonneval resident Zarak, Metropolitan is a reminder of one of the more specific dynamics which operates around this particular week.  

Monneraye said: "Among all the French sales, this is the one which relies on how well French-based stallions have been performing, because a lot of French breeders are represented here. On that front things are going well, and history suggests that augurs well for this sale. 

"Zarak is obviously doing very well and Hello Youmzain is having success as well. That’s definitely a help."

'We've got a good collection of horses that have developed well'

There will be lots of fingers crossed that the combination of horses and buyers present will get things rolling on Tuesday, which features the elite 200 or so yearlings on offer. 

Arqana's director of bloodstock Freddy Powell said: "We’re pretty satisfied with the activity on the grounds since Sunday morning; the buyers seem happy with the horses and the vendors with the amount of footfall they’ve had. 

"Looking at the horses for day one we’ve got a good collection that have developed nicely and there's plenty of sire power represented.

Freddy Powell of Arqana is hopeful that the auction can ride the wave from TattersallsCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

"We’ve got plenty of British and Irish clients here as well of course as the French, some from Germany and Scandinavia, as well as some Americans who got in yesterday."

Powell added: "I hope that the wave of good sales results in Europe over the last fortnight will carry on to us. There’s those who maybe haven’t yet been able to buy elsewhere as well as plenty of return business from people who have good memories of their previous purchases here.

"And we have people who have won races in this year’s Arqana Series and it’s always great to see prize-money being reinvested at the sales."

Arqana October Yearling Sale Factfile

Where Arqana sales complex, Deauville

When Five day sale begins with Part One on Tuesday at 11am local time (10am BST), Part Two is on Wednesday and Thursday, starting at 2pm local time (1pm BST) on both days and Part Three takes place on Friday and Saturday, beginning at 2pm local time (1pm BST) on Friday and 11am local time (10am BST) on Saturday

Last year's stats From 672 lots offered, 577 sold (86 per cent) for turnover of €25,559,500 (down two per cent year-on-year), an average of €44,297 (up 1 per cent) and a median of €25,000 (down four per cent)

Notable graduates Land Legend (offered by Ecurie des Monceaux, bought by Avenue Bloodstock for €100,000); Metropolitan (offered by Haras de Clairefontaine, bought by Alessandro Marconi for €78,000); Exxtra (offered by Jedburgh Stud, bought by Carlos and Yann Lerner for €26,000); War Chimes (offered by Haras des Capucines, bought by David Menuisier for €62,000); Jayarebe (offered by Haras d'Ombreville, bought by Sam Sangster Bloodstock for €180,000)

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