Deauville's August Yearling Sale opens Friday

Deauville's traditional August Yearling Sale begins under new management

Friday, and the acid test will be whether this year's renewal can arrest a

relative decline in recent years. A group of investors comprised of His Highness

the Aga Khan, Goffs France and the Paris-based art auctioneers Artcurial

purchased Agence Francaise last month. They are hoping that the auction's

fortunes can rise again after disappointing figures since the all-time high of

2001. While this year's catalog has been prepared by Agence Francaise, it will

be the first venture for the Ventes de Deauville group, headed by Georges Rimaud.

The manager of the Aga Khan's racing and breeding operation in France has been

named president of the new group, with Eric Hoyeau, formerly Goffs France's

general manager, appointed the executive director. Philippe Augier, former president of the Agence Francaise,

will head the "Supervisory Council."

"His Highness Aga Khan

controls 50.1 percent of the shares of the new company, with the rest being

split between the French breeders (30 percent) and Artcurial (20 percent)," Rimaud said. "The goal is to have a strong tool for the French breeders to help

them commercialize their yearlings on the market. We aim to work on a long-term

basis and make the French sales more dynamic than they used to be in the past.

With the merging of Goffs France and Agence Francaise under a new banner, it

will create new business opportunities and, with Artcurial, will help create

stronger links between the horse business and the art business to promote

everyone's activity."

"This new challenge is interesting," Executive Director Hoyeau said. "A sales

company is the arm of the commercialization. A good way to make this arm stronger was to join forces

between Goffs France and Agence Francaise, and this is what has been done under

the banner of this new company. It was the right time to do it, even though it

had been in the air for quite a while. It gives us the opportunity to improve

and have some trumps to challenge other major companies in Europe.

"We will try

to grow, make our market more and more international, and it will therefore be

of benefit also to our domestic market," Hoyeau continued. "The two teams have joined and started to

work together from August 1, and everyone is fully enthusiastic and motivated with

this new challenge. We will take the best from both sides and have a stronger

task force. All sales previously conducted by each sales company will be

maintained and we are already working at establishing our 2007 sales calendar.

The first major changes will be seen in the December 2006 catalog. We are

going into a new era and we look forward to it."

"This is the best thing that could have happened," former President Augier

said. "It will give us more strength on the

international market. We will be able to optimize all financial and human

resources. It was in Agence Francaise's legal terms that we had to sell this

year and I am very happy that it has been bought by persons closely involved in

the breeding industry already, not pure investors that have no idea of what the

racing and breeding industries are. It now becomes a good project, that needs to

be developed. The presence of Artcurial is also a good thing and it will create

a good path between them and the auctions that sell art in Deauville."

Despite the recent downturn, the sale has a

well-established reputation and the results of its graduates this year underline

its quality. Javier Gispert's Tie Black (Machiavellian) provided the ultimate return on

her 330,000 investment when capturing the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (Fr-G1) and

Gary Tanaka's acquisition Gentlewave (Monsun), sold at this venue for 55,000 in

2004, took this year's Derby Italiano (Ity-G1) before finishing second in the Irish

Derby (Ire-G1). Other high-profile graduates to have flown the flag this term include the

Marquise de Moratalla's Prix Ganay (Fr-G1) scorer Corre Caminos (Montjeu [Ire])

and Ecurie Mister

Ess AS's Prix Jean Prat (Fr-G1) winner and St James's Palace S. (Eng-G1) runner-up Stormy

River (Verglas [Ire]).

All the major international sires will be represented in the 518-strong

catalog, to be stretched over four days. They include Verglas (Ire), who has

the highest numerical entry of 25, Anabaa, Highest Honor (Fr), Peintre Celebre,

Rock of Gibraltar (Ire), Linamix, Montjeu (Ire), Red Ransom, King's Best,

Galileo (Ire), Sadler's Wells and Green Desert. Of the freshmen with offerings,

High Chaparral (Ire), Hawk Wing, Dalakhani, Oasis Dream (GB), Statue of

Liberty, Domedriver (Ire) and Dubai Destination should attract the customary

keen attention. As expected, bluebloods are aplenty, with seven yearlings out of

Group-1 winning dams and 11 siblings to scorers at the highest level.

Long-time

leading vendor Haras d'Etreham will again be the largest consignor, with 62 to

sell.

"This is the best possible thing that could have happened," said Marc de Chambure,

leading consignor with Haras d'Etreham, regarding the new management. "Both

companies used to do business on different sectors of the industry and this is a

natural merging. From a personal point of view, I don't really know what to

expect from the sale. I have a very good draft of yearlings and I have to think

positive. The market is strong throughout the world and the demand is there.

Yearlings sold well at Fasig-Tipton July and at Saratoga, and we can only hope

that the same will happen in Deauville."

Three of the Haras d'Etreham consignment are particularly noteworthy. Hip No.

5 is a Rock of Gibraltar half-brother to the top-class miler and sire

Gold Away (Ire) (Goldneyev) and smart stakes-winning mares and stakes

producers Blushing Gleam (GB) (Caerleon) and Danzigaway (Danehill). Silent Name (Jpn)

(Sunday Silence)

has provided a recent boost to this page when winning this year's Arcadia H.

(G2) and finishing third in both the Shoemaker

Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) and Eddie Read H (G1). Hip 81, a Danehill Dancer filly,

is a half-sister to the 1995 Prix de la Foret (Fr-G1) winner Poplar

Bluff (GB) (Dowsing). Another filly, Hip 125,  is a daughter of Diesis (GB)

and the 2002 Prix d'Astarte (Fr-G2) winner

and Flower Bowl Invitational S. (G1) runner-up Turtle Bow (Fr) (Turtle Island), who is

herself a half-sister to last year's Prix Jean Prat scorer Turtle

Bowl (Ire) (Dyhim Diamond [Ire]). This is also the family of the Aga Khan's 1991

Prix Ganay (Fr-G1) winner Kartajana (Ire) (Shernazar [Ire]) and the same year's Prix de

Diane (French Oaks) (Fr-G1) heroine Caerlina (Ire) (Caerleon).

Haras de la Reboursiere et de Montaigu offers a sizeable draft of 41. Among

them are Hip 24, a half-sister by Hawk Wing to this year's impressive Prix Ganay

winner Corre Caminos and the useful stakes performer

Racinger (Spectrum) from the family of the top-class Princesse Lida (Nijinsky

II); as well as Hip 149, a daughter of Sadler's Wells and

Athyka (Secretariat), who was a high-class middle-distance performer. Athyka

captured the Prix de l'Opera de Longchamp (Fr-G2) in 1988 and1989 before producing the 1997 Oaklawn H.

(G1) scorer and sire

Atticus (Nureyev). This is a top-class family boosted last year by

Godolphin's Premio Lydia Tesio (Ity-G1) scorer Dubai Surprise (King's Best).

Haras des Capucines will send out 39, including Hip 55, a Sadler's Wells

half-brother to Godolphin's 2002 One Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1),

Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1) and Flower Bowl Invitational heroine Kazzia (Ger) (Zinaad).

The colt

hails from a classy German family, which includes the 1987

Preis von Europa (Ger-G1) winner Kamiros (*Star Appeal).

Haras du Mezeray offers possibly the highlight of the sale, Hip 93, a

daughter of Monsun and Sacarina (Old Vic), thus a full-sister to the German

champions Samum

and Salve Regina and this year's Deutsches Derby (Ger-G1) hero

Schiaparelli.

Of the overseas consignors, England's Watership Down and Ireland's Ballylinch Stud have significant drafts.

"It is the beginning of a new era," bloodstock agent Robert Nataf

remarked. "The good thing about this new company is that the French breeders

have their destiny in their hands again, and let's hope they will make good use

of it. The catalog looks good and there will be buyers at

the sale. We can only live in hope."

Selling

gets under way on Friday, and the auction will continue through the weekend,

concluding with Monday's final session. Full catalog and updates can be found on www.deauville-sales.com.