Arqana Sale Topper Osaila Set to See St Mark's Basilica

St Mark's Basilica  is undoubtedly the star attraction among last season's European classic generation that have been retired to stud and Coolmore's son of Siyouni  is the intended first cover for the top lot sold on day two of Arqana's February Mixed Sale.

Arthur Hoyeau won out at €200,000 (US$226,785) for Osaila  (Lot 224), one of several broodmares from the Al Shaqab draft to attract attention at the top end of the market. 

Osaila's racing career with Richard Hannon featured wins in the Juddmonte Princess Margaret Stakes (G3) at 2 and both the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn (G3) and the Sandringham Handicap at 3, while the daughter of Danehill Dancer  boasts a purple pedigree. 

A full sister to Dance Design Stakes (G3) winner Obama Rule , Osaila is out of the Entrepreneur mare Mennetou, whose own dam was the 1980 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) winner in Detroit and is half sister to another in Carnegie.

Another of Mennetou's siblings is the Nureyev mare Mayenne, whose descendants include the Jim Bolger-bred Banimpire  and Twilight Payment . 

Hoyeau said: "She's for a client who was looking to buy a mare to go to St Mark's Basilica. I think she was the best mare in the sale and comes from a great racing family, being blessed with an exceptional pedigree.

"She hasn't been too lucky thus far but she's bred a winner (Tiger Touch, by American Pharoah  ) and the No Nay Never  colt she produced last year will have the chance to prove himself.

"St Mark's Basilica was a brilliant racehorse and we were looking for a mare to suit."

Dubawi Daughter Heads to Ireland

Agent Alain Decrion won out at €140,000 ($158,749) after a protracted battle for Zomara (Lot 227), a Dubawi  mare sold by the Channel Consignment in foal to Persian King . 

Decrion confirmed that Yeomanstown Stud had made the investment in the 7-year-old, who is out of a half sister to the stallions Ectot  and Most Improved . 

Zomara won once in three starts for Wertheimer et Frere and made €62,000 ($70,600) on her first trip through the Arqana ring during the 2018 Breeding Stock sale, before producing a Starspangledbanner  colt in 2021 for Steve Burggraf's Ecurie de Montlahuc.

Redvers Bolsters Broodmare Band 

Helcia (Lot 231), an Olympic Glory  daughter of Breeders' Cup-winning sprinter Mizdirection , will head to Tweenhills Farm for a date with Zoustar. 

Having toured the Arqana sales grounds 24 hours earlier, David Redvers struck the winning bid of €115,000 ($130,401) by phone for the mare—offered by Haras de Bouquetot—who is in foal to Mehmas . 

In a stellar career Mizdirection won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) in 2012 and 2013, while the choice of Helcia's last cover was another positive influence.

"She's a mare I saw yesterday when I was over and I thought she was lovely," said Redvers. "She's carrying to Mehmas, who is a stallion I'm very sweet on and we've already bought Malavath  and Hierarchy  by him. 

"She's out of a grade 1-winning sprinter and, with speed in mind, she'll be visiting Zoustar this season."

Bouquetot enjoyed more success when Paul Harley went to €120,000 ($136,071) to secure Mahabba (Lot 388), a daughter of Galileo in foal to Starspangledbanner. 

She is out of the Dansili mare Bewitched , a three-time winner at group 3 level for Charles O'Brien who has already produced three black-type performers, including Pablo Escobarr  and Roberto Escobarr , both full brothers to Mahabba.  

Harley bought her for a long-standing client who keeps his stock in Normandy with Anna Sundstrom. 

Swiss Affair for A'Ali

Breeding prospects from Lordship Stud's famous Swiss families are rare enough features in sales catalogs and Newsells Park Stud took the opportunity presented when paying €85,000 ($96,383) for Swiss Affair (Lot 324).

A Pivotal  daughter out of the influential Indian Ridge mare Swiss Lake , she is a full sister to the speedy Swiss Diva , whose three black-type victories for trainer David Elsworth all came in France, and whose Kingman  filly Poetry  won the Criterium de Vitesse at Chantilly for Lordship and Michael Bell. 

Presented by Antoine Bellanger's Arcadia Elevage, Swiss Affair never made the racecourse but her Kingman yearling colt was bought here last October by Mags O'Toole and Oak Tree Farm for €80,000 ($92,744).  

Acting for Newsells, Eugene Daly signed for Swiss Affair and revealed that it would be the stud's debutant stallion A'Ali  who she will visit.

"She's just a lovely mare by Pivotal from a lovely fast family and there's lots to like about her," said Daly. "The Kingman is supposed to be going well and is heading to the breeze-up sales.

"She's been bought to go to A'Ali at Newsells Park Stud. She was a little bit more expensive than we thought, but you have to pay for them."

No Nay Never Son Strikes

A son of No Nay Never  out of the Galileo mare Meeting (Lot 222) made the early running, falling to Fairway Consignment's Charles Briere for €80,000 ($90,713).

One of a number of lots presented by Domaine de l'Etang in order to dissolve a partnership with Ecurie de Cachene, the colt was among a few short yearlings dotted through the catalog. 

Meeting failed to win for Aidan O'Brien but there is plenty of quality in the immediate family; the colt's second dam is the Clodovil  mare Manderley , who was fourth in Miss France's QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) and who is also a full sister to Gregorian . 

Briere said of his purchase: "I've bought him for a partnership and he's a good-looking colt with scope to progress given he was a May foal. 

"And No Nay Never out of a Galileo mare is a great mating."

Solid Trade

A slightly greater volume and emphasis on flat broodmares than on the comparable day last year, as well as an extra 27 lots, contributed to big rises in the Wednesday turnover year-on-year. 

All in, 159 horses changed hands at a clearance rate of a whisker under 82%, while turnover of €2,383,000 ($2,702,140) compared with €1,377,500 in COVID-19 affected 2021. 

The size of catalog and intensity of trade was more in keeping with pre-COVID levels across the two days, with total turnover of €4,171,800 ($4,730,500) being an increase of 36% on last year, for an average price of €13,847 ($15,701) (up 20%) and a median of €6,000 ($6,803). 

Only a bumper 2019 session of 420 lots surpassed those totals in previous February sales. 

There was a healthy mix of buyers from France and across Europe and the Middle East, while British and Irish breeders show no signs of cooling on French bloodstock as the 2022 covering season gets underway.