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€ 190,000, the highest priced of the mares and was sold to bloodstock agent Alex Elliott on behalf of Valmont Racing.“ I thought she was the best breeding prospect here”, said Elliott.“ I came here with a view to breeding her to Kingman— the Green Desert Invincible Spirit line has done very well with the family, her brother by Invincible Spirit won a Group 2. We’ ll give her a chance and see if we can do a bit more on the track with her first. I bought her for Valmont and we’ re going to send her to Ralph Beckett who does very well with Lope De Vega fillies”. The Aga Khan Studs’ draft also produced Katashina, sold for € 165,000, and the well-related Sindafa, who made € 115,000. On the weanling side of the sale, a Mehmas colt headed the overall sessions with a price tag of € 220,000. Hailing from the maternal family of Group 1 mares Soviet Song and Marsha, the colt is out of the Black Type performer Russian Rhythm and was purchased by Tally-Ho Stud from Boherguy Stud. Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud said:“ We brought him here thinking he would stand out and it has paid dividends. He was a client’ s horse, and I’ m absolutely thrilled for them. He has been extremely busy— he has a lovely page and the physical stacked up, so he was always going to be popular. We knew we were going well but I didn’ t think we’ d reach the € 200,000 mark. I was confident he would sell and we’ d get a decent price for him, but that definitely wasn’ t on the cards!”
AKTEM FEBRUARY SALE – 13 FEBRUARY AKTEM, a new online auction house in France, kicked off their sales season with the February Online Sale which saw a variety of different lots, including stallion shares, breeding rights and breeding stock. The total turnover amounted to € 1,381,000, putting the online auction house as the second-highest grossing operator for an online sale in France. Sevenna’ s Knight, trained by André Fabre to three Group victories at Longchamp, sold to a stallion syndicate for € 305,000 and will begin his stallion career at Haras du Hoguenot in 2026. Always anticipated to be popular, Group 2 winning mare Amour du Mathan, in foal to Walk In The Park, was sold to bloodstock agent Guy Petit.“ I bought her for one of my French clients who invests in all the top-quality mares available on the market,” he said.“ She ticked all the boxes— she’ s a daughter of Saint des Saints, in foal to the best stallion in Europe. It’ s a great opportunity for French breeding to be able to keep a mare of this quality in the country.” Sofiane Benaroussi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AKTEM, said:“ The whole team is delighted with this result, which proves that the arrival of a new, reliable agency within what is nonetheless a selective market truly has its place. In creating AKTEM, our aim was to bring a new market opportunity and to offer a high-quality service, attentive to the needs of industry professionals. This first success gives us confidence for the future, and we look forward to establishing AKTEM on a long-term basis within this evolving sector, alongside dynamic players such as ARQANA, which has been working for 20 years to expand its influence worldwide. Our commercial team has done an outstanding job in putting together this first sale in record time, and we will maintain our efforts for the upcoming engagements.”
ARQANA DEAUVILLE FEBRUARY MIXED SALE – 17 / 18 FEBRUARY The Arqana Deauville February Mixed Sale continued to prove popular with vendors and purchasers alike, achieving a turnover of € 3,290,250 – the highest in the last three years. 240 lots passed under the hammer with an average of € 13,709, the peak achieved since 2023. It was wildcard entry Dante Nonantais who topped the sale at € 180,000, sold to Thibault de Seyssel. Trained by Florian Bellemere, the three-year-old was a winner on his sole start at Deauville in January and has been purchased with the intention of a Melbourne Cup bid, joining the yard of Australian trainer Tony McEvoy.“ I’ ve bought him for OTI; he will head to Australia,” said Thibault de Seyssel.“ He is a superb horse that made a very promising debut and
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