American Pharoah Colt Dominates Arqana Breeze-Up Sale

Expectations can be a dangerous thing in the unforgiving breeze-up sale arena, but the Grove Stud camp was right to hold the American Pharoah  colt (Lot 21) out of Tare Green in such high esteem.

Even among a catalog some were describing as the best they have seen at any breeze-up sale, the colt looked something potentially out of the ordinary, and Laurent Benoit was plainly in agreement, having secured the sale-topping son of the U.S. Triple Crown hero for €1.1 million (US$1,235,850) on behalf of Coolmore's M.V. Magnier at Arqana May 11.

Active bidders were situated all around the Arqana auditorium, but only Freddy Powell, taking instructions on the phone in the dimly lit bidders' area to the left of Ludovic Cornuel's rostrum, could go with Benoit when the price plowed on into seven-figure territory.

However, after one last subtle gesture from Coolmore's Paul Shanahan, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Benoit in the packed gangway, the French agent delivered the bid that brought the gavel down.

"He's been bought for the Coolmore partners," Benoit confirmed a short while later. "We had an order to get a very nice colt, the best colt in this sale, to go to André Fabre. Monsieur Fabre was very keen to get an American Pharoah. He came here yesterday especially to see this horse, and this will be his first by the sire.

"He was delighted with the horse, who's clearly coped very well with his sales prep. I think his natural ability has made everything very easy for him. He was very well prepared by Grove Stud, which is a great nursery. We weren't surprised we had to pay such a price for him as we think he has a stallion's pedigree."

The colt provided a number of firsts, not only being the first progeny of American Pharoah to head to Fabre's famed Chantilly academy, but also by supplying Grove Stud's Brendan Holland with his maiden seven-figure graduate.

Despite having never reached such exalted territory in the sales ring before, Holland said he harbored hopes of this colt being the one to take him there.

"I thought that he had a chance of making seven figures," said Holland. "He'd been so well received, he'd breezed and vetted very well, the sire has got off to a great start, and he's a fantastic looker, so I knew we had a chance of getting €750,000. After that, who knows? It's a lot of money."

Such well-bred colts tend not to come cheap at any stage of their lives, and Holland had to part with $275,000 for the youngster, who is out of a Giant's Causeway half sister to Leroidesanimaux, at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

When asked about investing such sizable sums in his pinhooks, Holland said: "It sounds like a lot of money, but it's all relative to the pedigree and the physical. I think I was about right for him on the day, but he wasn't cheap and I was at my limit.

"But I've been pinhooking for 20 years or more, so it doesn't happen overnight that you can afford those horses or that you have the confidence to actually go and do it.

"And it takes years to build up a track record of preparing enough good horses that people can be confident in buying off you. You could be at this game years and (selling a seven-figure horse) still wouldn't happen.

"This is the first horse I've sold for more than a million, and it's a great feeling, no doubt. When it gets past a certain price, you can enjoy it. By that stage, you're willing it on. It's like backing a horse and he's five lengths clear with a furlong to go!"

The confidence shown in Holland's ability to prepare high-class prospects is backed up by a list of graduates that includes Prix du Jockey Club (G1) winner The Grey Gatsby, Jaguar Cars Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) heroine Rosdhu Queen, Vision.ae Middle Park Stakes (G1) scorer Astaire, and the redoubtable Stormy Antarctic.

Holland also paid tribute to his five-strong team at Grove Stud, saying: "It's a great feeling, and I'm delighted for them. It gives everyone involved at home a great boost.

"They put a lot of themselves into it, and I'm grateful that I have such good people around me. This game is all about the people. You can't produce the horses if you haven't got highly skilled people around you, and, thankfully, I have."

Saturday's sale was not the first time the progeny of American Pharoah have proved a hit in the Arqana ring, with a filly out of Marbre Rose fetching €850,000 from Deuce Greathouse and the daughter of Shawara bringing €750,000 from Magnier at the August Yearling Sale. 

The colt out of Tare Green is the second seven-figure breezer by American Pharoah, with Coolmore also securing the $1.65 million colt out of Spice Island at The Gulfstream Sale in March.

Big things were expected of this year's Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, and Saturday's auction in Deauville did not disappoint, with the €1.1 million top lot and a further six two-year-olds making €500,000 or more.

By the close of trade, 145 juveniles had been offered and 114 sold for a clearance rate of 79%. Those sales brought an aggregate of €14,797,000 ($16,624,430), which remained on par with the previous year's total of €14,868,000.

It was a similar story for the average, which finished at €129,800 ($145,828), down less than 1% on the €130,675 recorded 12 months ago. The median dipped from €80,000 to €75,000 ($84,263).

Willie Browne's Mocklershill operation was the leading vendor by turnover, with 16 lots selling for a combined €3,441,000 and an average of €215,065. They were led by the €800,000 Kingman half sister to Rizeena who went the way of Godolphin early in the session.

Brendan Holland's Grove Stud dominated proceedings by average, with eight lots selling for €2,795,000 and an average of €349,375. The lion's share of those proceeds came from the €1.1m American Pharoah colt who topped the sale when signed for by Benoit on behalf of Magnier, who was the leading buyer by aggregate.

The Arqana team highlighted the diversity of buyers as a particularly pleasing aspect of trade, as was the consistency with the year-on-year comparisons between key market metrics.

"The figures were very much on a par with last year, and there was a good diversity among the buying bench, with faces from Europe, America, and Hong Kong," said Alix Choppin, the company's head of business development.

"The breeze-up sector is going up in professionalism and consistency every year. It all comes thanks to hard work, be that the consignors for preparing these horses or the Arqana team for bringing the clients in.

"We thank the vendors for their support and the buyers, who were a mixture of loyal clients like Coolmore, Godolphin, and Charlie Gordon-Watson, and then some new faces, including the clients of Jamie McCalmont and David Simcock and Douglas Whyte."