Linamix colt ranks as Deauville's priciest on Sunday

The momentum built during the first two sessions continued during the second

half of the Arqana's Deauville Yearling Sale, with the market proving strong and

active despite a drop in the quality of horses. The top seller at Deauville

Sunday was a colt by Linamix, purchased for 160,000 by trainer

Jean-Claude Rouget. Rouget was very much in the spotlight, as he had just

saddled both Lord du Sud (Linamix) to win the Prix Kergorlay (Fr-G2) and Germance

(Silver Hawk) to take the Prix de la Nonette (Fr-G3) before heading to the sale. The page of

the session topper, Hip No. 282, received a serious boost after the catalog was

published, as his three-year-old full sister Mysterious Lina (Linamix) won a listed

race and was second to Germance in the Prix de la Nonette. The grey

was consigned by Haras des Capucines on behalf of leading harness trainer

Jean-Pierre Dubois, who has become more active in the Thoroughbred market in the

last 10 years as an owner and breeder. Dubois still owns Mysterious Lina.

Of the 82 yearlings which went through the ring at the Arqana's Deauville

Yearling Sale Sunday, 65 sold for a gross 4,266,000 and an average of 65,631.

The median stood at 65,000, while the clearance rate was again very high at a

shade less than 80 percent.

"The depth of the market and many new buyers, from all over, who could not buy

on the first two days (contributed to the high clearance rate)," explained Eric Hoyeau, managing director of Arqana.

"The French

buyers have also been much more active on the day and should continue for the

last day. At this stage, we can now make a comparison with last year--we are up

by 32 percent on this first three days of the 2005 sale, the average being up by

12 percent, with a remarkably high clearance rate of 79.93 percent. Our gross

this year, for three days, is up almost 10 percent from last year's total gross,

and we still have 180 yearlings to sell (on Monday). We could not be more pleased

with these results, may it continue like that."

Full results can be found at www.deauville-sales.com.