'We’re trying to raise great champions' - sale toppers and Group 1 winners making October a marquee month for Mont Dit Mont

One day on from selling the joint-top lot of the opening session at Arqana, the staff and management of Haras du Mont Dit Mont were trying to keep their feet firmly on the ground. 

That might be easier said than done given the €500,000 sale of their Night Of Thunder colt to Yann Barberot followed on the heels of Anthony Stroud giving €240,000 for a son of Sea The Moon.

And even those twin strikes might have to take silver and bronze medals for the month when you consider that the farm celebrated its first Group 1 winner after Vertical Blue edged out Zarigana to land the Prix Marcel Boussac. 

Based near Cabourg in Normandy, Mont Dit Mont is the natural extension of Neil Helliwell's Prime Equestrian racing project, one which general manager Didier Reed says sprang from the realisation that "when you have a couple of good fillies, the phone starts to ring".

"We wanted to race in the beginning," says Reed, who started the project with Helliwell 12 years ago. "We thought racing would be something fun we could entertain our clients with.

"We’re construction people and we wanted a new challenge. So we bought a few horses and then started looking for trainers. We did things backwards. We didn’t start with broodmares."

The Night Of Thunder colt out of Paramount during his €500,000 sale to Yann Barberot on the first day of Arqana's October Yearling SaleCredit: ZUZANNA LUPA

Reed adds: "Listening to some good advisors we worked out that it’s not a numbers game the way we had thought, it’s a quality issue. Breeding a horse that doesn’t win a race is not interesting to us. We’re trying to raise great champions."

Hiring good people is also important and the arrival of breeding manager Jennifer Sessier in June 2021 coincided with the decision to start selling yearlings at Arqana.

"We had our first August draft – just two horses – the following year and sold a Sea The Stars colt for €640,000," says Sessier. "Last year we sold a Wootton Bassett for €575,000 and then we had the Night Of Thunder.

"So we’ve had good results and we’ve been fortunate that they have all been bought by good owners and gone to good trainers. That’s really important for a farm which only has 25 mares and can’t be compared with much bigger studs." 

Yann Barberot signs the docket for Haras du Mont Dit Mont's Night Of Thunder colt at Arqana on TuesdayCredit: ZUZANNA LUPA

This last point is one which Reed and Sessier agree on, and the sale of the Night Of Thunder colt to Barberot, a trainer not only local to them but with whom they already enjoy a good relationship, is arguably the cherry on top of the cake for the Mont Dit Mont team.

"We had a great day on Tuesday and I can only hope that continues," says Sessier. "There’s Corey Beach, who is highly rated by Yann Barberot, and the Wootton Bassett we sold last year [Behike] is with Ralph Beckett and seems to be going the right way as well."

Sessier was expecting several key players to follow the Night Of Thunder into the ring after he had been vetted 13 times, while the colt reportedly never turned a hair during multiple inspections.

And her prediction an hour before selling began on Wednesday that the farm's Showcasing colt "would not have looked out of place in Part 1 of the sale" proved particularly prophetic as Ross Doyle gave €170,000, sending him straight to the top of the day two charts.

Vertical Blue gave Haras du Mont Dit Mont a first Group 1 winner in the Prix Marcel BoussacCredit: Edward Whitaker

All have benefited from an approach of raising the horses and sales prep which is hoped gives them excellent temperaments when the buying public comes calling.

"We give them a long preparation for the sales over 12 weeks, which gives the horses time to develop slowly," says Sessier. "We do things progressively so if we get a really rotten day on the weather front or whatever else might occur, we can afford to miss a day or two, while they get the weekends off as they are only babies."

Asked what selling the joint sale-topper means, Sessier says: "It’s recognition for the work of the whole team who have put an enormous amount of work into raising these horses. 

"The satisfaction is knowing that we have seen the task right the way through and when several very good judges go after the same horse, your work is recognised." 

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