Txope Tops Final Day of Arqana Summer Sale

France's World Cup-winning striker Antoine Griezmann has known some drama during his career but, for the hush that descended as his German One Thousand Guineas (G2) heroine Txope  took to the Arqana sales ring, the tension was off the charts. 

As the winning agent confirmed little more than five minutes later after a rapid and high-powered shootout: "It's rare that a filly of that caliber comes on the market at public auction."

The daughter of Siyouni  was a €310,000 (US$365,923) yearling purchase but when Ludovic Cornuel asked for an opening bid of €500,000 ($522,475)—and after only a little coaxing achieved that ambitious basecamp —it was clear it would take something special to separate three interested parties. 

While one stream of bids came by phone high to Cornuel's right, Nicolas Bertran de Balanda kept piling on the pressure from the top of the staircase under the left hand bid board.  

In the end both had to give way when a final raise of €100,000 ($104,495) from outside the pavilion brought the short and brutal contest to an end.

BBA Ireland's Michael Donohoe and Yulong International have been a formidable combination this week and it will be the green and white silks of Zhang Yuesheng that will be carried the next time Txope races.

As Yulong's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray was still digesting the moment, Donohoe gave his reaction.

"We're going to sit down and make a plan," said Donohoe. "Sam Fairgray and Mr. Zhang are both here. We're very tempted to send her to California for the Del Mar Oaks (G1T); that's at the end of August. 

"She's got a lot of upside as she's a racing prospect and she'll be a lovely addition to the Yulong broodmare band in Australia at the end of her racing career. But we're very much looking forward to seeing her racing on and seeing what more she can achieve. 

Donohoe added: "She was a beautiful physical, she vetted very well, and she's a lovely pedigree so we weren't surprised.

"Mr. Zhang has been a great supporter of European sales and he visited Arqana a couple of years ago. Eric Hoyeau and the team looked after him very well and he was keen to come back and support it."

Txope has been expertly campaigned by Philip Decouz and while there were any number of high-profile trainers in the ring to see her change hands, there appears to be no rush to decide who will guide her racing career going forward.

Havana Angel Shows Value of Amy Murphy's French Adventure

Newmarket trainer Amy Murphy has already clocked up eight wins in France this season from her Chantilly satellite and 2-year-old Havana Angel  provided further validation of the project when selling to Narvick International's Emmanuel de Seroux for €320,000 ($334,384).

A daughter of Havana Grey  and the Epaulette mare Clamara bred by Gerard Mullins, Havana Angel finished third to subsequent Norfolk Stakes (G2) hero The Ridler  before switching to France, where he supplemented a win at Dieppe with an excellent effort when third in the Prix du Bois (G3) at Chantilly.

She hails from the family of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Sweet Roberta and will be heading to California herself, where she will carry the colors of Marsha Naify. 

"I saw her run at Chantilly the other day and I was impressed," said Seroux. "She ran very well in a good field. She had been very impressive before and had run well in England against some very good horses. We think she has a lot of talent.

"The choice of the trainer will be up to Marsha but there is maybe a good chance that Leonard Powell could train her but Marsha will have the last word."

The two-day sale concluded with improvements from 2021 on every metric, with a clearance rate of 86%, median €16,000 ($16,598), and unprecedented average and aggregate figures of €34,369 ($35,657) and €13,133,300 ($13,629,657), respectively.