Hunt Begins for Another Audarya at Arqana October Sale

Yearling sale season moves on to Arqana this week and an event which has, should it be needed, some ready evidence that each stop is worthwhile for buyers seeking a quality horse.

August's Darley Prix Jean Romanet (G1) had two graduates of the October Sale split by a short head. Gianluca Bietolini's Grand Glory  was bought privately for just €18,000 (US$21,179) from Haras de Bourgeauville in 2017 and has won races in four consecutive years, also losing out by just a nose to Rougir  in this month's Prix de l'Opera Longines (G1).

The filly Grand Glory beat at Deauville, Audarya , was the defending champion and poster girl of the October Sale not only for the auction house but for Haras des Capucines, which sold the daughter of Wootton Bassett  to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock and Alison Swinburn for €125,000 ($147,475) that very same year. James Fanshawe's star also landed the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) last year.

While it is not a sale with quite the same reputation as Arqana's showpiece August offering, there are plenty of individuals who come to hand later in the calendar and numerous top-class sires and vendors represented among a heavyweight catalog of more than 700.

"Every consignment needs to sell a good horse from time to time," said Eric Puerari, who founded Capucines with Michel Zerolo in 1994.

"It's true she was sold in October, even though (sire) Wootton Bassett was not what he has been since, but she was a beautiful filly at the time.

"I think it's very important to sell a horse who has some maturity and of course competition is less important in October. The results of the sale are pretty good, a lot of nice horses are coming from there. It's a bit less expensive, but usually, a well-bred horse with quality does well there."

Puerari brings more than 30 lots to Deauville through the week and selected a few to note from the draft.

"I have a bunch of nice Almanzor s," he said. "He's a young stallion, he hasn't had a lot of precocious horses yet but he's on his way.

"There are two very interesting colts, one is out of Rapid Transaction (Lot 98), he's a half brother to two black-type horses and is a beautiful colt, and another who is nice out of Bartira (Lot 196), she's the dam of a good stakes winner as well. 

"There are two nice colts by Le Havre  too, one out of a stakes winner in Persona Grata (Lot 87), who is a half brother to Lovely Esteem , who was group 2-placed in Ireland this year.

"There's a nice Wootton Bassett colt out of a young Siyouni  mare, Swing For Me (Lot 124), that's an interesting cross, and it's the family of Last Tycoon ."

He continued, "We have an Australia  colt (Lot 182), he's doing really well this year and he's a half brother to a group 2 winner in Australia called King of Leogrance . Then there is a Kingman  (Lot 224) out of Dancing Breeze, a young black-type mare from the family of Halfway To Heaven .

"They're nice horses from top-class stallions, they just needed to mature a little bit. They could have been in August as well, I think they have the same quality as my August yearlings."

Capucines offers plenty of its own stock and was in the news lately with the €400,000 ($463,734) purchase of Gleneagles  filly Tabera  at the Arc Sale, and also boards for elite owners such as Martin Schwartz. Exceptional performers from Winged Love  to Flotilla  have come from the farm over the years and Puerari has noted some encouraging performances from the most recent classes.

"I'm not really a consignor but we have some regular clients who give us their yearlings to sell, we sold Cheshire Academy , he won the Prix Noailles (G3), a prep for the (Qatar Prix du) Jockey Club (G1), and Etoile , a grade 1 winner (in the E. P. Taylor Stakes) for close friends as well," he said.

"We've also had some 2-year-old winners bred from the farm. Who Knows  won the Circus Maximus Prix Francois Boutin (G3) and Welwal won the Prix de Crevecoeur for Jean-Claude Rouget, which is a top-class maiden race at Deauville in August. Cheshire Academy has been resting since the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) but I think he'll make a nice 4-year-old."