Pale moon rises over Deauville as Arqana October Yearling Sale draws to a close

A colt by Sea The Moon topped the bill on the final of five days of trading at the Arqana October Yearling Sale which petered out after a barnstorming first three days.

Offered by Haras d'Ombreville, the colt is a half-brother to the Listed-placed Diadema whose sire, De Treville, is an Oasis Dream half-brother of Too Darn Hot, sire of Futurity Trophy winner Hotazhell.

Purchased by the Broadhurst Agency, the colt is a full-brother to three-year-old Patricia, who won over 1200m at Nimes last month for owner-breeder Rashit Shaykhutdinov.

Their dam, Panja, is a Dalakhani half-sister to Group 3 winner Peace In Motion, who was runner-up in the German 1,000 Guineas, and also dual Listed winner Peace Society. They are out of dual German Group 3 winner Peace Royale, a Sholokhov half-sister to Preis der Diana winner Palmas and black-type winner Penny Lane.

It was the only transaction to hit the €50,000 mark at Arqana on Saturday with the next best a filly by Juddmonte Farms' stalwart Bated Breath at €31,000. Offered by Haras de Castillon, she is the first foal out of Sundaze who is an unraced Shalaa half-sister to the Group 3 Italian St Leger winner Trip To Rhodos, Scandinavian Group 3 winner Brownie and the Listed Prix Madame Jean Couturie winner and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational second Danza Cavallo, who is the dam of Group 3 Prix Noailles winner Cheshire Academy.

Nexus Consulting were the buyers of the session's most expensive filly with five yearlings then making €30,000.

It was a sale of three parts but two halves at Arqana during the week as the five-day October extravaganza showed very defined differences in the results posted by the first two parts and the third part, which ran over two days.

Tuesday's opening session was the elite Part One which saw two colts sell for €500,000 apiece, tying for the second highest price in the sale's history and just shy of the record of €525,000 which was set four years ago.

Even though ten fewer horses were offered during Part One this year compared to last year, records were smashed across the board with the sale registering its best average, median and aggregate figures.

For just the first time in its existence, Part One returned a six-figure average of €105,000 which was a jump of 15 per cent year-on-year while the median grew by a more modest five per cent.

Arqana's October Yearling Sale was an event of three partsCredit: ZUZANNA LUPA

In line with the increase in average was the improvement in aggregate, with €17,830,000 turned over during the single session of trading. That represents a leap of 14 per cent from the equivalent day last year when €15,631,000 was traded.

That was generated by the sale of 171 horses, one more than in 2023, with the clearance rate improving from 83 per cent last year to 86 per cent on Tuesday.

Part Two of the sale was the middle tier of the cake but some of the figures it posted demonstrated even more statistically significant increases than the preceding section.

Both this year and last year, 290 yearlings were offered during Part Two of the sale with the clearance rate dropping from 87 per cent last year to 80 per cent in 2024.

The middle to lower end of the market is suffering even more greatly and the second half of the October Sale reflected this with the increases driven by Wednesday's trade when half a dozen six-figure transactions were made, from a total of nine in the entire section.

Overall the Part Two average climbed by 26 per cent to €37,942 from €30,198 while the median grew by an even more impressive 30 per cent year-on-year from €23,500 to €30,000.

Part Two's aggregate of €8,840,500 represented growth of 16 per cent in 12 months.

As anticipated, Part Three was a very different ball game with declines in all the key indicators. Although the amount of horses offered grew significantly year-on-year and 31 per cent more were offered over the two days than in 2023, turnover only increased by seven per cent from €2,318,500 last year to €2,473,000.

Arqana October Yearling SaleCredit: Zuzanna LUPA

The average dropped 18 per cent from €15,055 last year to €12,303 this week while the year-on-year decrease in the median of €10,000 was even greater at 20 per cent.

Reflecting on the five days of trade Arqana's president Olivier Delloye and Freddy Powell, director of communications commented: "These last five days have ended in the best of ways and we can only be satisfied with the results."

"They [the results] are a testament to the quality of the French product and we have to thank the entire group of buyers who made the journey here and all of our buyers for their work and their endurance during an intense week.

"There was international demand during the sale but the French were not to be defeated and France was strongly represented on the buyers' list at all levels of the market. The number of French trainers or trainers based in France who were in action was encouraging.

"During Part One, Yann Barberot bought the joint-top lot, a son of Night Of Thunder, consigned by Haras du Mont Dit Mont for French owners and Fabrice Chappet bought a son of Victor Ludorum for Jean-Christophe Moran.

"We have to salute this beautiful French activity and this dynamism strengthens our industry.

"All the yearlings sold this week are eligible for the Arqana series."

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