Moroney and Bruggeman land blow for new Japanese client at Arqana
Harron, Foote, Mills and Gabbedy among southern hemisphere buyers in Deauville
After swinging and missing for more than a year, agents Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman finally landed on the right mare on behalf of a new Japanese client on day one of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in France.
During the marathon 12-hour session in Deauville, southern hemisphere investors made their mark as agent James Harron, in conjunction with Irishman Hubie de Burgh, bought the most expensive of the contingent – Listed-winning and Group 1-placed three-year-old Times Square (Zarak) for €1.25 million (approx. AU$1.94 million). Times Square is set to race in Australia.
Agents John Foote, Sheamus Mills, Brian McGuire and Damon Gabbedy were also featured on the buyers’ sheet at the conclusion of day one.
Moroney, whose partner Bruggeman was on the ground at Arqana as she has been at northern hemisphere sales over the past few months, was relieved to have signed for the unraced three-year-old filly Shumi La Shumi La for €310,000 (approx. AU$491,000) for Japan syndicate Pangloss YK.
Shumi La Shumi, by the Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) stallion Motivator, is a sister to dual Prix de Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) heroine Treve and a half-sister to the stakes-winning Trois Rois (Hernando).
“Last year was our first full year of having a crack up in Europe for them (Pangloss YK), but we missed out on everything that we wanted in England and Deauville,” Moroney said yesterday.
“This is the first one we’ve got over the line for them, so it is a pleasing result.”
Injury prevented Shumi La Shumi La, initially purchased by Chantilly Bloodstock Agency from the 2020 Arqana Select Yearling Sale, from a racing career, with the decision subsequently made to sell her as a breeding prospect. She is scheduled to arrive in Japan early in the New Year.
“She made 520,000gns as a yearling and then unfortunately she had a hairline fracture of a pelvis, and that was about 11 months ago,” Moroney said.
“She spent a month in box rest and she had another ten months out and they decided she was too valuable to try again.
“They were racing people who bought her, so they put her back up and we were the fortunate ones to buy her.”
Shumi La Shumi La’s new owner Pangloss YK bred the Yoshito Yahagi-trained five-year-old Panthalassa (Lord Kanaloa), a dead-heat winner of the Dubai Turf (Gr 1, 1800m) at Meydan in March and runner-up to Equinox (Kitasan Black) in the 166th Tenno Show (Autumn) (Gr 1, 2000m) in Tokyo on October 30.
Moroney revealed the Pangloss YK syndicate had a tight set of credentials that any mare short-listed must meet to be deemed suitable for breeding in Japan.
“Without any doubt, we were under very strict instructions from this group that we’ve got to buy European types, they’ve got to be a certain height, they won’t buy them under 16 hands and they’ve got to have length and scope, which she does,” he said.
“She is very much a staying–type on type and pedigree and that’s what they are looking for. A lot of the major races over there (in Japan) are staying races, so they are looking to put a bit more scope into (the foals).
“She would match perfectly with a stallion like Lord Kanaloa, for instance, with a blend of speed and her stamina lines. I am sure a sire like that would be under strong consideration for her. It will certainly be a high-end stallion.
“They syndicate mares and breed the foals to sell. They know the market very well, so we are just fortunate that we have been given the opportunity to work with them.”
Moroney and Bruggeman also teamed up with Sydney-based Irish agent Brian McGuire, who is trading under Garryard Equine, to purchase last-start Pontefract Listed winner Thunder Beauty (Night Of Thunder) for €330,000 (approx. AU$512,000).
She was passed in at the Goffs London Sale in June, but was deemed far more valuable by buyers in Deauville, particularly by southern hemisphere buyers.
McGuire, Moroney and Bruggeman were working on behalf of Silverdale Farm’s Steve Grant and racing and breeding partner Ken Lowe’s Carpe Diem syndicate which bought The Castlebridge-consigned four-year-old mare.
Catalogued as Lot 179, the juvenile-winning and Group 1-performed Thunder Beauty is out of Quiania (Dansili) while her second dam is the Group 2 winner Quilanga (Lomitas), a family littered with stakes winners.
“She was a very, very well-performed mare,” Moroney said of the David O’Meara-trained mare who started her career with Irish trainer Ken Condon.
“The two horses that we bought, each of them had a little bit of an injury issue, and she’s a stakes winner with a proper pedigree by a stallion that’s well-known down here.
“She fractured her hind pastern, so she’s got a couple of screws in it, so she’s probably no longer a racing prospect, so she will go to stud, and that probably worked in our favour.
“Some people, particularly the Australians, are looking at fillies and mares to bring down and race with the gap between the breeding seasons.”
The partnership was pushed to the €330,000 figure by fellow southern hemisphere agent, the Melbourne-based Sheamus Mills, who was the under bidder on Thunder Beauty.
Moroney and Bruggeman, though, were outbid on their own high-stakes play when falling just short on top-class Group 2-winning German mare Amazing Grace (Protectionist) when acting for an Australian syndicate which intended to race the four-year-old Down Under next year.
She was purchased by Moyglare Stud for €850,000 (approx. AU$1.3 million) only five lots after paying the session-topping price of €3.2 million for Malavath (Mehmas), the Group 2-winning sister to the unbeaten Classic prospect Knight.
“Catheryne and I were underbidders (at) €810,000 and she made €850,000,” Moroney said of Amazing Grace.
“We were very high on her and had done all the work, we had her thoroughly vetted. We landed on €750,000, which we were hoping to buy her for, and Moyglare Stud went €850,000, so I don’t think they were stopping. They had paid over €3 million for one (Malavath) five lots earlier, so I was hoping it might’ve cancelled them out, but they still had some powder dry.
“We pushed to our limit and a little bit more. That was quite disappointing, but it’s a horse sale and that’s what happens. Sheamus Mills was the under bidder on Lot 179 and I sent him a text afterwards saying, ‘sorry about that, mate’ and he wrote back, ‘it’s a horse auction. You win some, you lose some’.”
Mills did not go home empty handed on day one, either, purchasing Wild Vegas (Lope De Vega), a winning three-quarter sister to Listed winner Wildpark (Shamardal) (Lot 103) for €70,000 (approx. AU$108,000) in conjunction with McGuire and, 15 lots later, he signed solely for Listed winner and Group-placed mare Libre (Exceed And Excel) at a cost of €200,000.”
Times Square to race in Australia
Arqana wild card entry Times Square will join four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (No Nay Never) on her way to Australia to race, after she was purchased by Irish agents De Burgh and Harron for €1.25 million, one of seven seven-figure lots sold during the record opening session.
Trained in France by Christophe Ferland, in her nine race starts the three-year-old filly won the Prix de Saint-Cyr (Listed, 1400m) at Longchamp on October 23 and she was also placed in the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1600m) at the same course last October, the first of her two Group 1 placings.
“She’s been purchased to go to Australia and she’ll carry on racing down there,” De Burgh said after signing for the filly.
“I can’t tell you who will train her yet, as the buyer is 35,000 feet up in the air at the moment. We thought the opposition was going to be very strong, so to be quite honest I thought we probably weren’t going to get her.”
The daughter of Zarak (Dubawi) is out of the unraced Siyouni (Pivotal) mare See You Always, a family which also features Breeders’ Cup winner Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega) and Latrobe (Camelot), who raced for owner Lloyd Williams in the 2019 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
“She’s already a Group 1-placed two-year-old and a Classic-placed three-year-old by Zarak out of a Siyouni mare, who are two of the great proven stallions in Europe at the moment,” De Burgh said.
“The family goes back well too and the half-sister is already Group–placed and won her maiden impressively, so there’s lots happening. With all the prize-money in Australia, if she’s a good miler down there then she could win her cost back very quickly.”
Alcohol Free was sold at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale to BBA Ireland for 5.4 million guineas (A$10.239 million) to race in Australia for Yulong Stud. Alcohol Free will be trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Agent John Foote bought two mares, True Icon (Churchill) for €60,000 (approx. AU$93,000) and Win Over (Motivator) for €32,000, on behalf of New Zealand’s Cambridge Stud.
A winner, True Icon is a half-sister to Listed winner Main Desire (High Chaparral) and a daughter of the stakes-placed juvenile winner Purple Glow (Orientate), while Win Over is an unraced half-sister to German Group 3 winner Walkaway (Adlerflug).
Belmont Bloodstock’s Damon Gabbedy, Arqana’s Australasian representative, bought three mares, Lot 142 at €400,000 (approx. AU$612,000) being the most expensive, on behalf of Western Australian breeder Nino Tufilli of Two Fillies Stud, who races Placid Ark Stakes (Listed, 1200m) winning three-year-old filly My Bella Mae (Deep Field).
Sold in foal to Siyouni, the sire of Saturday’s Northerly Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) winner Amelia’s Jewel, Roselyne (Dariyan) is a half-sister to European Group 1 winner Danceteria (Redoute’s Choice) and a three-quarter sister to Listed winner Blossomtime (Shamardal).
Gabbedy also signed for six-time winning Pedro The Great (Henrythenavigator) mare Angelinka for €65,000 (approx. AU$101,000) on behalf of B2B Thoroughbreds’ Ricky Surace and juvenile winner Keshana (Iffraaj) for €50,000.
Bought for breeders Bob and Fiona Guth, Keshana is out of Siyouni mare Kestilla, a four-time winner herself.
Agent Johnny McKeever was also active on day one, purchasing Savoureuse (Siyouni) for €210,000 (approx. AU$325,556) on behalf of clients of Victorian stud farm Three Bridges Thoroughbreds while Australian syndicator First Light Racing signed for two lots through agents Geoffrey Howson and Matt Houldsworth.
First Light paid €160,000 (approx. AU$248,000) for two-time winner Osmose (Zoffany) and €80,000 (approx. AU$124,000) for another two-time winner in Group-performed Zarak mare, Zarafa.
Seven million-euro lots sold during Saturday’s opening session at Arqana, with Moyglare Stud Farm going to €3.2 million (approx. AU$4.96 million) to take home Group 2 winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Gr 1, 8f) runner-up Malavath (Mehmas).
International buyers were out in force with Japanese-based duo Shadai Farm and Katsumi Yoshida also making their presence feld. Shadai went to €1.55 million to secure Hello You (Invincible Spirit), while Yoshida purchased Thunder Drum (Dubawi) for €1.1 million.
Michael Donohue from BBA Ireland, who acts on behalf of Yulong’s Yuesheng Zhang, purchased an astonishing 35 lots on the opening day of trade, headed by the €920,000 (approx. AU$1.4 million) buy Let’s Misbehave (Montjeu).
A total of €45,885,000 changed hands on Saturday, a figure crushing last year’s opening session total of €32,203,000.