Monday 19 August 2024
Group winners and strong six-figure sales defined a successful weekend for the Aga Khan stallions on the Normandy coast.
At the head of affairs was SIYOUNI, whose daughter Mqse De Sévigné picked up the fifth Group 1 success of her career when winning her second successive Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville. Baron Edouard de Rothchild’s homebred will now target the Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before heading to the paddocks.
“Everything has been said about this mare and, at the age of five, she is still at the top of her game,” said the winning owner. “It is a remarkable feat to win the Rothschild and Romanet two years in a row. We never made it a mystery that the Arc is the target and that was her last run before October.”
Jockey Alexis Pouchin added: “Mqse de Sévigné is the mare of a lifetime, she is incredible and rises to the occasion in all of her races.”
At the Arqana August Yearling Sale meanwhile, SIYOUNI’s feature lots included a filly out of Flaunt (a half-sister to Group 1 winner and producer Lillie Langtry) consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux, who sold for €700,000 to Jean-Pierre Dubois and Dream With Me Stable.
Another SIYOUNI filly from the same consignment, out of a half-sister to Gr.1 Prix Vermeille winner Left Hand, was sold for €650,000 to Jane Mangan on behalf of the Thoroughbred Racing Corporation Limited.
This illustrious Wertheimer page also featured Aventure, who herself starred over the weekend when landing the Gr.2 Prix de Pomone. The daughter of SEA THE STARS had previously been seen finishing a close fourth in the Gr.1 Prix de Diane, having been a runaway winner of the Gr.3 Prix de Royaumont earlier in the season. She will next be targeted at the Prix Vermeille.
SEA THE STARS was also responsible for the top lot on day 2 of the Arqana Sale, when a filly out of a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner The Fugue, consigned by Haras de Castillon, sold for €730,000 to Alex Solis and Jason Litt on behalf of LNJ Foxwoods.
The previous day, a filly closely related to Gr.1 winner Sea The Moon, consigned by Barton Stud, sold for €550,000 to Rabbah Bloodstock.
The sale also featured the first crop of yearlings by ZARAK bred at an increased fee of €25,000. Nine sold for an average of almost €160,000, with Amanda Skiffington giving the top price for a colt from the same aforementioned Wertheimer family of Left Hand and Aventure. Out of Listed winner Bilissie, he was bred and consigned by Haras de la Perelle and sold for €360,000.
Another ZARAK colt, from the family of Group/Grade 1 winners Sophisticat and Serena’s Song, sold for €230,000 to Chauvigny Global Equine from the consignment of Haras d’Etreham.
