BBA Ireland Spree Continues on Day 2 at Arqana

After the giddy highs of Day One, trade returned to a more familiar level Dec. 4 at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale. The market was led by the €175,000 ($184,288) Shahnameh, who went to an online bid from Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland.

The Aga Khan Studs' daughter of Churchill  won twice for Francis-Henri Graffard, with her victories coming at La Roche Posay and, on her penultimate outing, Lyon Parilly.

The 3-year-old is out of Shamanova , who won the listed Prix La Moskowa and counts Gran Premio di Milano (G1) winner Shamdala among her siblings. The family goes back to the fourth dam Sharmeen, meaning the iconic Shergar appears at the foot of the page.

BBA Ireland have been by far the most prolific buyer at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, with Donohoe responsible for the majority of the agency's purchases. BBA Ireland led the purchasers table on both Saturday and Sunday with a total of 43 signings generating receipts worth €9,135,000. 

"She's for an existing client," Donohoe said. "We may still race her on, but she will most likely be retired and will be covered by Lucky Vega . From a deep Aga Khan family, she's a great physical, and we think Churchill will be an excellent broodmare sire in time, given his pedigree."

It has been a busy few weeks for Donohoe, with his Arqana spree preceded by the acquisition of Alcohol Free  at 5,400,000gns ($6,781,077), with Australian connections confirming the four-time group 1 winner will join Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for owner Yulong Investments.

Prior to that, the BBA Ireland agent signed alongside the Lucky Vega Syndicate for 19 fillies and mares at a combined outlay of €5.625 million at the Goffs November Sale.

Persian King Reigns Among First-Crop Sires

The second-top lot was signed for by agent Alex Elliott, who went to €160,000 ($168,492) for a colt (Lot 306) from the debut crop of Haras d'Etreham's three-time group 1 winner Persian King .

The Arcadia Elevage-consigned youngster is the first foal out of Miss Monde, an unraced Siyouni  half sister to the Australian group 3 winner Mask Of Time  and the listed-placed Mahari and Milestone. In turn they are out of a half sister to the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) heroine Miss France .

"Persian King was a very good racehorse and he's a big horse himself, and this colt is a big boy, too," Elliott said. "He's out of a mare by Siyouni, who has to have every chance to make it as a broodmare sire as he's a phenomenal sire himself and is by Pivotal.

"It goes back to the family of Miss France, and I actually bought one of her daughters (Miss Saigon for €400,000) last night, so it's a strong Wildenstein family that I like; it's young and it's happening, so I'm delighted to get him. He'll be sent back to Ireland before being offered for resale."

That colt was one of two six-figure lots by Persian King on the day as the Haras d'Etreham team also went to €110,000 ($115,838)  for one of his daughters from Haras de la Cour Blanche. The filly (Lot 319) is out of Nabatea, a winning Camelot half sister to German group 1 winners Nymphea and Nutan.

Etreham's other first-crop sire, Hello Youmzain , also enjoyed a productive day with his first foals selling for up to €90,000, with Marc Antoine Berghgracht signing for the colt out of Quara.

"Today has been a very positive step in launching the stallion careers of Hello Youmzain and Persian King," said Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure. "We had a much bigger group of foals from the stallions here than at Goffs or at Tattersalls, so it was important that it went well.

"Everyone has been very positive about the two stallions and it is nice to see the English, Irish, and buyers in general so keen on them. Not that we had any doubt, but to see them sell well to those foreign buyers and some very good judges is extremely positive.

"We bought a Persian King filly from a nice German family to race for €110,000 and we bought two colts by Hello Youmzain to pinhook. It's been a nice start but we have put in a lot of work with these two stallions. It all began two years ago and, from getting breeders on board, selling shares, selling nominations, and getting them up and running, it's a lot of work, and today is the first big result we have enjoyed from that."

Frivole Set for American Adventure

Henri Bozo is well versed in selling at Arqana in his role as the head of Ecurie des Monceaux, but he turned buyer Sunday evening when going to €155,000 ($163,226) for Frivole  (Lot 548) on behalf of American client Gary Chervenell. The Wertheimer brothers' daughter of Anodin  won one of her 10 starts for Carlos Laffon-Parias, while her page features names such as the group 1-winning Falco.

"She's been bought for Gary Chervenell and he's going to send her to America," Bozo said. "She'll race there and then he's going to breed from her. He has a few mares with us and he's very keen on the nice French and Wertheimer pedigrees, so he's very happy."

Monceaux topped the consignors' charts with 30 lots sold for €9,959,000, including the sale-topping Malavath , who brought €3.2 million from Moyglare Stud on Saturday.

Reflecting on the first two days of trade, Bozo said: "It's the only sale of the year where we do a bit of consigning [for outside clients], and we had some lovely fillies and broodmares to sell. I think everyone agreed that this sale was amazing. Arqana managed to attract a lot of people from everywhere in the world, so it's been a big success."

The Arqana Breeding Stock Sale continues Monday at 11 a.m. local time (10 a.m. GMT).