Haras de la Gousserie Grabs Toronado Colt at Arqana

The top-priced yearling sold during the first session of Arqana's new September Sale Sept. 8 will carry the ever-more-familiar yellow and green silks of Haras de la Gousserie, made famous in recent seasons by Sealiway , Rougir , and Skazino . 

A Toronado  colt (Lot 34) from the Fairway Consignment, the €120,000 (US$119,177) chestnut named Tomakay is out of the young Hold That Tiger producer Loumaxaye, whose first offspring, Hayejohn , clocked up a third juvenile victory in the listed Prix des Jouvenceaux et des Jouvencelles Bernard Ferrand at Vichy in July, and was fifth at Longchamp shortly after his brother's sale Thursday. 

That provided a fine return for breeders Pascale Mesnard and Marc Dumont, who reported that Loumaxaye has a filly foal by The Grey Gatsby  and is carrying a full brother or sister to Hayejohn by Johnny Barnes .

Speaking for the new owners, Mathieu Alex said: "He's for Haras de la Gousserie and is out of a mare who is clearly capable of producing a good horse.

"He's a lovely looking colt and the owners have already had success with Phoceen , who was bred by Pascale."

Hassett at the Double 

The separation of these two days from the end of the August Yearling sale may have meant there were fewer foreign buyers on the grounds, but one man who certainly found the new arrangement to his liking was the Bloodstock Connection's Johnny Hassett, who bought two of the top five lots on Day One. 

First, Hassett won out at €68,000 ($67,533) for a son (Lot 71) of Shalaa  out of a half sister to the runaway stallion success Mehmas , bred by Haras de Castillon. 

"I loved him, he's early and fast," said Hassett. "His dam is a half to Mehmas, who was a very fast breezer, a very good horse, and is now a very good sire. 

"The family works for breeze-ups, so he's a bullseye. I'd say he's a Craven horse, an early season pre-Ascot breeze-up horse." 

Hassett praised Arqana for the reworked calendar, which he felt fills an important gap for pinhookers who might be a little priced out of the company's premium offerings in August and October.

"Compliments to Arqana for putting this sale on and I think it's a sale that will stay," said Hassett. "It's probably the third-ranked sale in France and I think there's some value in a very good-looking yearling out of a Galileo mare."

Barely 20 minutes later, Hassett went to €85,000 ($84,417) for a handsome son (Lot 82) of Inns of Court , the former Andre Fabre-trained sprinter-miler who now stands at Tally-Ho and whose first yearlings are on the market this autumn. 

Brought to market by Haras de Grandcamp, the February-born colt is already named Tiger King and is out of the unraced Motivator  mare Pink Perpetue, a half sister to dual listed winner Pink Gin . 

Hassett signed under his new enterprise, Get In The Game, which allows investors to buy shares in breeze-up purchases. 

"It's a little bit beyond my comfort zone in terms of buying for breeze-ups," said Hassett. "The last 29 horses we bought made 50,000 more when we sold them. I don't have a magic trick to make a horse worth 50,000 more. I buy a horse that's worth 150 for 85 and hope I don't screw it up. 

"In this kind of a sale, with the clientele that are here, loads of people have 40 grand to buy a horse. Those horses were in demand and very expensive. There's fewer people above 60 grand and I think the value is there." 

Hassett added: "The horse himself is a gorgeous individual, with very good X-rays and a very good scope, while he's from a very good vendor who has sold a lot of good horses."

He was conceived at a fee of €5,000 ($4,965) and follows a €125,000 ($124,143) colt by the sire sold to Robson Aguiar and Amo Racing at Goffs UK last month. 

Facts and Figures 

The new two-day format includes some yearlings which would have previously gone through the v2 sale in August, while others might have been consigned to Osarus in previous years. Comparisons are therefore difficult, but the bare statistics on Thursday were probably a little below Arqana's hopes. 

In all, 101 of 141 horses were sold at a clip of 71% for an aggregate of €2,113,000 ($2,098,515). That translates to an average of €20,921 ($20,777) and a median of €15,000 ($14,897). 

The second part of the catalog sells Sept. 9, beginning at 2:00 p.m. local time.