"Surreal, just ridiculous," was how Cormac Farrell summed up his well-bred Night of Thunder colt selling for €1.9 million (US$2,147,000, €1=US$1.13) in Deauville May 10. His comments were equally applicable to the entirety of the Arqana Breeze Up Sale, which was capped by a sensational quartet of seven-figure lots after a host of the sport's major players showed a seemingly insatiable appetite for the most choice offerings.
Not only is the sales-topping youngster by Darley's young stallion Night of Thunder, sire of One Thousand Guineas (G1) heroine Desert Flower, he is out of Date With Destiny, the only offspring of Coolmore color bearer George Washington.
The rival powerhouses duly clashed over the colt, but it was Godolphin who won out as Anthony Stroud, standing with David Loder and Charlie Appleby in the corridor directly beneath the Coolmore crew, struck his third successful seven-figure bid of the day.
The colt landed connections a monster pinhooking profit as he was sourced from Book 1 of last year's Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at a cost of 90,000 guineas.
The only foal sired by infertile superstar George Washington, listed-placed Date With Destiny has bred four winners, including the 2018 Royal Whip Stakes (G3) scorer Beautiful Morning. Date With Destiny died aged 16 in May last year.
Stroud said of the headline recruit: "He's by Night of Thunder who stands at Kildangan and we've had a One Thousand Guineas winner by him. He's doing very well as a stallion, he's on the ascendancy. This horse is very nice conformationally and he did a very good breeze. He had all the credentials that we look for."
Godolphin Go to the Max
It took all of three lots for the seven-figure mark to be broken at Arqana Saturday morning as Godolphin bid €1 million for a Maryland-bred Maxfield colt from Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm operation. The same connections combined on this day 12 months ago in the record-breaking trade that saw Two Thousand Guineas (G1) hero Ruling Court join the Godolphin fold at a cost of €2.3 million.
"We got right in there," Stroud remarked on Godolphin's early strike. "He's a very attractive horse and we all liked him. He's by a horse who stands at Godolphin's farm in America and obviously he comes from Norman, who we've had a lot of success with. He was a horse that we wanted. He'll go to Charlie Appleby."
First-crop sire Maxfield, a dual grade 1-winning son of Street Sense , stands at Darley's Jonabell Farm in Kentucky at a fee of US$40,000. He is already off the mark at stud having sired winning debutante Piedra Preciosa, who struck at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
The colt, who was bred in Maryland by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds out of the stakes-winning Victory Gallop mare American Victory, is Maxfield's third seven-figure juvenile of the season. Marquee Bloodstock signed for a US$1.25 million filly at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, the same sale that Mitsu Nakauchida gave US$1 million for a colt by the sire.
Saturday morning's trade landed Williamson with a handsome windfall as he picked this seven-figure youngster up for just US$70,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last fall.
Asked how he had pulled off his latest pinhooking masterstroke, Williamson said: "That's our job, isn't it! I bought him with a view to being an early 2-year-old because he was strong but not big.
"Come Christmastime he transformed and grew and looked a totally different horse. That's how it happened, and you always need a bit of luck. He was a beautiful horse. Everybody that saw him this week absolutely loved him. The sire's stock have been selling so well in America. Let's hope he's lucky for the new owners. He's a lovely colt."
Other Seven-Figure Buys
Stroud was back in business a short while later and emerged victorious from a lengthy bidding tussle against an online rival for the Glending Stables-offered Sioux Nation filly out of Brioniya.
The filly is a sibling to three winners, including the listed-placed Bakhchisaray. Her dam, who also has listed form to her name as well as three victories, is a Pivotal half sister to the group 2 scorer Beshaayir. Despite so much black type on her page, the filly was picked up at last year's Arqana V2 Yearling Sale at just €48,000 through Peter and Ross Doyle.
Coolmore may have missed out on the sales-topping son of Night of Thunder, but the Irish firm atoned for that reversal when landing the fourth seven-figure lot of the day. At €290,000 the Siyouni colt was a notably punchy pinhook, but that investment was rewarded when M.V. Magnier brought the gavel down at €1 million.
The colt is the second millionaire Willie Browne has sold this breeze-up season having also presented the Acclamation colt purchased by Godolphin for 1.4 million guineas at the Tattersalls Craven Sale.
Radcliffe Lands Well-Related Justify Colt
Agent Kerri Radcliffe made her visit to Deauville count when she landed the Justify colt out of Oaks Lily at €725,000. Offered by Eddie O'Leary's Lynn Lodge Stud, the colt is a sibling to three stakes horses, including Yarek, whose record includes a group 3 victory and a runner-up effort in the Clasico Jockey Club del Peru (G1).
The colt, already named Billieveinmiracles, was making his third visit to the sales. He first fetched US$310,000 from Big Bear Bloodstock as a foal before he was pinhooked through Mags O'Toole at US$150,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Kings and Queens Farm.
Radcliffe was unable to reveal whose colors the colt would run in or who would train the six-figure youngster, but she said his racing career would commence on the other side of the Atlantic.
"He's by Justify, so it doesn't get much better, and he'll go to America for an undisclosed client," she said. "I don't know who's going to train him yet but we'll figure that one out as we go along.
"He's got a great pedigree and is a gorgeous horse, and we all know what happened with a Justify from this sale last weekend."
Radcliffe recently spent US$2.5 million on two lots on behalf of Memo Racing at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The agent said she was returning to the U.S. for next week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale to continue the Memo Racing recruitment drive.
"Memo Racing is a new partnership that's been put together," she said. "It's a hedge fund that has been buying in America. I'm going back to Baltimore on Tuesday and we'll be buying more there too."
Other American connections active at the sale included agent Justin Casse, who signed the ticket on a €425,000 Gun Runner colt; Marquee Bloodstock, which purchased a Practical Joke filly and Wootton Bassett filly; and Repole Stables acquiring a Sioux Nation filly and a Siyouni filly.
Mitole Half to Valiant Force Sells for €800,000
Leading buyer honors went the way of Blandford Bloodstock, whose agent Richard Brown was active towards the head of the market throughout the day in Deauville. By the close of trade, Blandford had signed for nine lots for an outlay of €3,695,000, a haul that included some of the session's most choice offerings.
Brown's biggest acquisition was the Mitole half sister to 2023 Norfolk Stakes (G2) hero Valiant Force. The filly, who was offered by Tally-Ho Stud, had already cost some punchy figures before, bringing US$300,000 from Brookstone Farm as a weanling at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale in 2023 before Tulip Stables signed the ticket at US$525,000 at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale last year. On Saturday Brown brought the hammer down at €800,000 for the filly bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. Ramon Horta Rangel.
The agent, who unearthed Wathnan Racing's 2024 Norfolk winner Shareholder at this sale last year, was unable to divulge ownership or training plans. He did, however, express relief at landing the in-demand filly after having to fill the role of underbidder on numerous occasions throughout the day.
"That's the one I wanted all day," he said. "I think she's an outstanding physical; she stands over a load of ground, she's a sister to a Norfolk Stakes winner and from a vendor I've had a long and happy history with. It's been a very frustrating day but that's made it, I'm happy now. The market has been extremely strong and we've been on what we perceive to be the best horses here, so it's been tough. It's extraordinary trade.
"She's a beautiful filly and I thought she was an outstanding athlete. Of course the stallion makes a difference, you can't ignore it, but when they've galloped like she did, you don't need to focus on that element quite as much. He's a perfectly good stallion who's started his career well, but the main reason for buying her was how she breezed. She looked pretty special walking around out there."
Sale Statistics
Of the 157 lots on offer, 136 sold for an 87% clearance rate. The sale grossed €27,444,500 (US$31,012,285) with an €201,798 (US$228,032) average and median of €120,000 (US$135,600), all records for the Arqana sale, with the average also touted as a new European high-water mark. Last year's sale posted turnover of €21,514,000, €166,775 average, and €100,000 median with a 74% clearance rate.
Brown reflected on trade in Deauville and the broader European breeze-up season as a whole.
"There's been some very smart horses sold today, I think it was a very high-quality sale," he said. "All credit to Arqana, it's been extraordinary. I think there's more depth to the market than normal this year. I actually had a couple of smaller orders at the Guineas Sale last week and got blown out, so I filled those here earlier.
"This is an elite, select sale, so I think you'd take the kind of clearance rate we've had today. Like any sale, I'm sure there's guys who've had tough days and I feel for them because it's hard when all this is going on around you. But I think you can't say anything other than it's been a pretty extraordinary breeze-up season."
Consignor Willie Browne shared the view held by many vendors that the strength at the top was not necessarily replicated throughout the market.
"It's selective," he said. "It's very much time-related. I haven't watched it too closely today but they tell me there's some soft patches here. Luckily enough I've sold everything bar one, but you need a fast horse. I don't know the blueprint for a fast horse until you start training them. After that, you just need a bit of luck I suppose."
