Business up at Arqana

Arqana's October Yearling Sale kicked off Monday with a buoyant trade

resulting in major hikes in the figures from 2009. At the end of the first

session, the gross was €3,619,000, up from

€2,397,000 last year, while the average of

€36,929 and median of

€27,000 represented jumps of 39 percent and

23 percent, respectively.

Late in the session, a colt from the first crop of Dylan Thomas (Ire) proved

the main draw when selling to Earle Mack's Citywest Inc. for

€195,000. Hip No. 98, from Anna and Etienne

Drion's Coulonces Consignment, is out of a close relative of the sire Roi

Gironde (Ire) (Fairy King).

"The French-bred premium program is very friendly for owners," Mack remarked.

"I already have three French-breds in training, and look forward to expanding my

racing stable there."

The second-highest price at the session was the

€180,000 paid by Shadwell for Hip 59, a son of Oasis Dream (GB) and the

stakes-winning and Group 3-placed Cattiva Generosa (Cadeaux Genereux). That sale

capped a successful session for Andreas Putsch's Haras de Saint Pair, which was

also responsible for a colt by Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) out of the Group 3-placed

Anna Mona (Monsun) that sold to Paul Nataf for €95,000.

Marc-Antoine Berghgracht's MAB Agency signed for the day's two top-priced

fillies by Anabaa and Refuse To Bend (Ire). The former, consigned by Haras

d'Etreham, is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Isarnixe (Banyumanik), and sold

for €130,000. The daughter of Refuse To Bend

is a half-sister to Xtension (Xaar) from the draft of La Motteraye. Successful

in last year's Vintage S. (Eng-G2) and placed in both the Dewhurst S. (Eng-G1)

and Coventry S. (Eng-G2), Hip 104's half-brother was also fourth in the Two

Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) in May and third in the Prix Jean Prat (Fr-G1) in

July, and she fetched €87,000 Monday.

Selling continues Tuesday. Full results are available at arqana.com.