Siyouni Filly Tops Arqana Summer Sale Breeze-Up Session

Arqana's Summer Sale kicked off July 2 with a session of flat breeze-up horses, which was topped by the Siyouni filly (Lot 12) out of Al Thakhira who went the way of Paul Nataf for €110,000 (US$124,533).

Offered by Windmill Stables, the filly was bred by Al Shaqab Racing and is the second foal out of the Vision.ae Rockfel Stakes (G2) winner.

"She's a nice filly who did a good breeze," said Nataf. "She's by a top sire and out of a mare who's by Dubawi and was a group winner, so everything about her was nice.

"The only thing is she's a bit small, but then the dam was very small as well, so we'd still expect her to be a top filly.

"She'll go into training with Jean-Claude Rouget and the plan will be to try and win a group race."

Al Thakhira boasts a perfect record as a broodmare, with her sole runner to date, the Toronado filly Eraidah, having made a winning debut at Chantilly in April.

Nataf has enjoyed some success with his past Summer Sale breeze-up buys, having sourced the progressive Mister Nino, a son of Magician who has won his last two starts, from last year's renewal at €30,000 ($34,923).

A short while later Paul Webber entered the fray when he parted with €75,000 ($84,909) for the Authorized colt (Lot 28) offered by l'Ecurie La Frenee.

"I was looking for a dual-purpose horse who can run on the flat and then possibly go hurdling as the stores are getting so expensive," said Webber.

"He breezed nicely and he has a bit of scope, so hopefully he's the sort of horse who might get one run as a backend 2-year-old, but if not we can give him a bit longer."

Authorized, the Vodafone Epsom Derby (G1)-winning son of Montjeu, has spent the last six breeding seasons at Darley's French base of Haras du Logis. He has sired five group 1-winning flat performers, but his most famous offspring is undoubtedly the dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll.

"Authorized is a good dual-purpose sire and he keeps coming up with nice horses who seem to enjoy their jumping," added Webber. "This horse looked to have a really good attitude and it's great to have underbidders like Alex Elliott and JP!"

The breeze-up session concluded with 21 2-year-olds having brought turnover of €465,000 ($526,436) (up 34% year-on-year), an average of €22,145 ($25,071) (up 104%) and a median of €12,000 ($13,585) (up from €7,250).

Last year's breeze-up session was topped by the Dabirsim filly bought by Federico Barberini for €57,000 ($66,354).