Vicki Gibbins’ chronicle
ARQANA SUMMER SALE
1/2/3 JULY
The baseline statistics for the Arqana Summer Sale continued a positive trend, with median, aggregate and top price all up from 2024. The sale of German 1,000 guineas (Gr.2) winner Txope for 1.2 million euros in 2022 has skewed the top lot record, but the purchase of the Al Shaqab-owned Zekret for 520,000 euros became the second-highest lot sold in the sale’s history. French bloodstock agent Nicky Bertran de Balanda, working alongside British-based Alex Elliott signed the docket for the son of Zarak and it is expected the colt will head to Joseph O’Brien in Ireland for a hurdling career.
TATTERSALLS JULY SALE
8/9/10/11 JULY
The action on the track at Newmarket’s July Course was matched by the frenetic energy of the Tattersalls July Sale, where the record for top-lot fell twice during the four-day sale. On the second day of the sale, the Juddmonte-consigned Orchid Bouquet fetched a new high of 550,000 guineas, knocked down to Badgers Bloodstock. A daughter of Kingman, Orchid Bouquet boasts a strong Juddmonte pedigree as a full-sister to the recently deceased Coventry Stakes (Gr.2) winning stallion Calyx. Badger Bloodstock’s Grant Prichard-Gordon was racing manager for Juddmonte for seventeen years and was keen to show his enthusiasm for the filly’s breeding: “I obviously love Juddmonte families, I knew the fifth dam and that is the whole attraction, and my client does too. The client has been very keen on Juddmonte families, and we both agree there. This filly stays in Europe.” “I did not think we would have to spend so much, but these Juddmonte fillies and mares always have a premium. It is one of the very top Juddmonte families, there is so much happening around it, and it just keeps staying alive.” However, the action on day three of the sale reached new heights. With an increased median of 24 % from the same day in 2024, Royal Ascot victor Quai De Bethune set a new record for the highest-value lot at the July Sale, with Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown signing the docket for 750,000 guineas. “The horse won at Royal Ascot, didn’t have the smoothest passage in the race but still found a way to win,” said Brown. “It is rare for a Royal Ascot winner to come onto the market, and he is still relatively lightly raced. The plan looks like he is going to go back to Andrew [Balding, trainer] with potentially a Middle Eastern campaign ahead, but we will give him a break now.”
JHRA SELECT SALE
14/15 JULY
It was a new era for Japanese bloodstock as the first foals by six-time Group/Graded winner Equinox entered the ring, achieving an incredible combined total of 3,565,000,000 yen (€20,655,610). The first Equinox foal to be offered at public auction in Japan, a filly out of Prix Penelope (Gr.2) winner Camprock fetched 230,000,000 yen to Kaneko Makoto Holdings – a useful return on investment for Northern Farm’s Katsumi Yoshida, who purchased the mare for 850,000 euros at Arqana in 2016. Yet it was little surprise to see Lot 344 catch the imagination of many buyers. The colt is the fourth foal out of US Champion Older Dirt Mare Midnight Bijou, and his price of 580,000,000 yen was the third-highest achieved in the sale’s history. Nebraska Racing were listed as the purchasers of the impeccably-bred colt, but their identity remains undisclosed. In the yearling section, Shadai Stallion Station’s Kitasan Black, sire of Equinox, continued to dominate, achieving the highest price of the session at 420,000,000 yen. The colt is out of a four-time Graded winning mare in Australia Mosheen, and was bought by the unknown Nebraska Racing. Katsumi Yoshida, Director of JRHA and owner of Northern Farm, said: “There were more than 200 visitors at our Northern Farm yesterday, which is 30% more than last year. Therefore, I expected active market, but this is actually more active I expected. “We have strong roster of stallions here in Japan and the quality of broodmare in Japan is very high standard now. And I understand all consignors did a very good job to prepare their yearlings for today’s session. I think the owners could make big investment with confidence.”