Arqana August Yearling Sale begins

Arqana's four-day August Yearling Sale gets underway at Deauville on Friday,

with the management hoping that the latest edition follows in the steps of its

predecessors in advertising the strength of the new sales company.

Last year's auction smashed all records, but that came a few weeks before the

financial crisis hit the world, and it is with cautious optimism that the

company's President Eric Hoyeau awaits the traditional opener of the major

international sales season.

"In 2008, the international economic crisis had just started before our sale,

but at the time no one was able to predict that it would be so dramatic," Hoyeau

said. "It had not yet spread everywhere in the press, and we did avoid its

negative psychological effect. We had a good catalog and the demand was there,

which explains our good results.

"Since then, things have changed and horse markets have gone down in both

hemispheres and, therefore, our main goal is that consigners sell well and have

positive results. Last year, the average price was around

€110,000 and, even if we drop down by 10

percent, we would remain at a satisfactory level. With our 2009 catalog, we have

the tools to resist quite well, and the French premiums system is a great

incentive that is no longer ignored by foreign investors."

With 502 yearlings presented, there is a small cutback in numbers on the

three previous years, which reflects Arqana's response to the current

difficulties and focus on quality rather than quantity. This year's catalog

offers approximately 25 percent who are siblings of group winners and, during

the first two days, one out of every two yearlings will have been produced by a

mare who has already foaled a group-caliber horse.

Notable graduates of the sale include the globe-trotting Group 1 winner

Doctor Dino (Fr) (Muhtathir [GB]), the 2007 Prix du Jockey-Club (Fr-G1) hero

Lawman, Champion S. (Eng-G1) victor Literato and last year's Prix Jean-Luc

Lagardere (Fr-G1) winner Naaqoos (Oasis Dream [GB]).

This year's Poule d'Essai des Poulains (Fr-G1) saw another classic one-two

for Arqana graduates as Silver Frost (Verglas [Ire]), a

€95,000 yearling two years ago, led home Le

Havre (Noverre) in the Longchamp contest. The latter went on to provide a

handsome return on his €100,000 tag when

capturing the Prix du Jockey-Club (Fr-G1).

Galileo (Ire) is the most represented sire in the catalog with 20 yearlings,

followed by Hurricane Run (Ire), who heads the first-crop sires list that also

includes Holy Roman Emperor, Ad Valorem, Aragorn (Ire), Araafa (Ire), Aussie

Rules, Cacique (Ire), Iffraaj, Librettist and Shirocco (Ger).

Selling gets underway Friday, with full catalog and updates available on www.arqana.com.