Frankel Light Tops Arqana Breeding Stock Sale Opener

Three-time group 1 winner Too Darn Hot can count on strong home support as he embarks on his stallion career at Dalham Hall Stud next year, with his owners/breeders Andrew and Madeline Lloyd-Webber spending €1.3 million (US$1,440,720) to add Frankel Light to their broodmare band during the Dec. 7 opening session of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale.

"She's been bought for Watership Down Stud, and she'll go Too Darn Hot next year," said the stud's general manager, Simon Marsh, who stood alongside Charlie Gordon-Watson as the bloodstock agent signed the docket.

Described by auctioneer Ludovic Cornuel as "a real collector's item," Frankel Light was bred and raced by Rashit Shaykhutdinov, who offered the filly at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2016 but retained the daughter of Frankel at 360,000 guineas ($485,390).

The filly was put into training with Francis-Henri Graffard, for whom she won two of her four starts, including the Prix la Sorellina over a mile at La Teste de Buch. She is the fifth foal of the German listed winner Mambo Light, whose other foals include the Australian group 3 scorer Le Juge. The family also includes Chimes of Freedom, Aldebaran, and War of Will.

Frankel Light was consigned by Haras du Mezeray and changed hands carrying to Dark Angel.

Marsh added that Frankel Light would not be the only Watership Down mare to visit their celebrity graduate. He said: "We're absolutely delighted to get this mare, it's a fantastic family, and it's just what we came here to buy. We don't know the exact numbers at the moment, but we'll be sending around half a dozen mares to Too Darn Hot next year."

Too Darn Hot, who won the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (G1), Qatar Prix Jean Prat (G1), and Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1), is due to stand next year at a fee of £50,000.

Frankel Light's dam, Mambo Light, also came under the hammer during Saturday's session but was bought back at €840,000 ($930,930). 

Breeders' Cup Winner's Dam to Peter Brant 

Having produced this year's runaway TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) heroine Uni, Haras d'Etreham's Unaided was widely expected to play a starring role during Arqana's Breeding Stock Sale, and the 10-year-old lived up to her headline billing when she was knocked down to Oceanic Bloodstock's Michel Zerolo for €1.25 million ($1,385,310).

Having signed for the session's second seven-figure lot, Zerolo revealed his purchase was made on behalf of resurgent U.S. owner Peter Brant of White Birch Farm, whose two-tone green silks have been carried to success by the likes of QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club (G1) hero Sottsass and his half sister, the prolific Sistercharlie, who began her career in France before being switched to Chad Brown.

Zerolo said plans remained fluid for Unaided, with no covering sire or long-term home having been decided upon, though he said she would remain in Normandy until she produced the No Nay Never foal she was carrying.

"Nothing has been decided yet," Zerolo said. "There are a number of options; she could stay in France or she could go to Ireland or to England. She will go to Haras des Capucines for the moment, and then we'll see."

Zerolo noted the range of options open to Unaided was so broad in part thanks to a pedigree free of Sadler's Wells blood. The unraced daughter of Dansili is a half sister to two black-type winners, namely group 3 scorer Whazzis and listed-winning Whazzat, who is better known as the dam of James Garfield.

The likes of Rafha, Invincible Spirit, Gustav Klimt, and Chinese White also appear beneath her second dam.

Zerolo added: "She's the dam of a champion in America, that's the main thing. Uni is trained by Chad Brown, who is very close to Peter. Peter sees the filly nearly every day because he's at the barn nearly every day.

"Unaided has a pedigree of rare quality; she can go to Galileo or Frankel or a number of horses."

Earlier in the session, Zerolo went to €520,000 ($576,290) on Brant's behalf to secure the progressive Eliade, with the 3-year-old filly set to continue her racing career across the Atlantic.

Also offered by Haras d'Etreham, the listed-winning daughter of Teofilo is out of Elodie, a Dansili sibling to three group 1 winners: Prix de l'Opera Longines (G1) heroine We Are, Prix Rothschild (G1) victress With You, and Frankel's Qatar Prix du Cadran (G1) scorer Call The Wind.

"I've bought her for Peter Brant, and she'll go to Chad Brown," Zerolo said. "She's a nice filly, very athletic, lightly raced but with a good performance record and a good pedigree. As they say, she ticked all the boxes."

Phoenix of Spain Team Rises Up

A little over two years ago, Geoffrey Howson and Matthew Houldsworth secured a Lope de Vega yearling for 220,000 guineas ($306,699) on behalf of Tony Wechsler and Ann Plummer. That colt was, of course, Phoenix of Spain , the wide-margin winner of the Tattersalls Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) who has been added to the Irish National Stud's stallion roster for 2020.

Howson and Houldsworth were back in action at Arqana on Saturday and on the hunt for a broodmare prospect for Plummer and Wechsler, with the couple keen to support their former charge in his second career.

The agents honed in on Jellicle Ball, a winning and group 3-placed daughter of Invincible Spirit consigned by Haras de Saint Pair, and the pair saw off Japanese interests with a bid of €510,000 ($565,207) to secure her. The 7-year-old, who produced a Frankel filly for Watership Down Stud this year, was offered in foal to Siyouni.

Plummer was in attendance to inspect her purchase, and when asked what appealed about Jellicle Ball, she said: "I like her pedigree, her conformation, and the covering sire. You need a pretty head, too! I used to breed some years ago, but she's my only mare at the moment."

Howson added: "Invincible Spirit is becoming a very good broodmare sire now—that's borne out by his statistics. Matthew and I saw her a few times and thought she was lovely, and the Irish National Stud team agreed with us."

Phoenix of Spain is being introduced to breeders at a fee of €15,000.

Hawthorne Returns

New Zealand-based agent Dean Hawthorne ventured to Deauville 12 months ago to purchase two daughters of Galileo for a cumulative €560,000. He was back at Arqana on Saturday and went to €480,000 ($531,960) for Fleeting Fancy, another daughter of the perennial champion sire who was offered in foal to rising star sire No Nay Never.

"We love Galileo mares, we've been accumulating them for a while now, and we bought a few here last year as well," Hawthorne said. "She's got a lovely early covering to No Nay Never and is carrying a colt. It's a beautiful family and one that's very current. There's a lot going on close up with horses still racing."

Sold through Charles Briere's Fairway Consignment, the 4-year-old is out of Just Pretending, a group 3-winning daughter of Giant's Causeway who also finished third to Chicquita in the Darley Irish Oaks (G1). Fleeting Fancy is a sibling to two stakes performers, the listed-placed Visage and the group 3-placed Persia.

Hawthorne continued: "She's a beautiful mare, too. I thought she was the pick of the Galileos here; she's got that lovely shoulder, rein, and length that we like Down Under. She'll head to Australia and should be in the Southern Hemisphere by next September. We've got a big breeding operation in Australia called GSA Bloodstock. We probably have 80 to 100 mares going to stud next year.

"We've got 10 or 12 Northern Hemisphere mares in there who've all gone Down Under and been covered by top sires. Galileo is turning into a phenomenal broodmare sire; you can send anything to him and get a proper horse."

Roystonia Sets the Pace

Team Howson and Houldsworth clashed with BBA Ireland's Eamonn Reilly as Roystonia took her turn in the ring, and it was the latter party who emerged on top with a bid of €360,000 ($398,970) delivered from the bottom of the stairs by the rostrum.

The 4-year-old daughter of Redoute's Choice bred by Al Asayl Bloodstock when the late Australian great shuttled to the Aga Khan's Haras de Bonneval in 2014 is the first foal out of a Galileo sister to Abu Dhabi Irish Two Thousand Guineas hero Roderic O'Connor.

Roystonia ran six times for Al Asayl and Hugo Palmer, winning a Chepstow novice stakes and gaining black type when third to True Self in the British Stallion Studs E.B.F. Beckford Stakes on her final outing.

"She's for an undisclosed client of the BBA Ireland's who breeds in Ireland," Reilly said of the Haras d'Etreham-consigned lot.

"Obviously, I like the pedigree, she's a sister to a very good horse in Roderic O'Connor and from a deep family, and I really liked the mare herself. I'm a fan of the covering sire, Almanzor, too. She'll head back to Ireland."

The Arqana Breeding Stock Sale continues Sunday at 10 a.m. local time.