This year’s Arc sale, as always held on the eve of the prestigious Qatar Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe, generated a turnover of €4,435,500 (including private sales), with 26 horses changing
hands for an average price of €150,808.
A recent wild card entry, lot 20 MUTIN, was the object of some fierce bidding between Asian
Bloodstock and the Irish agent Hubie de Burgh, with the hammer finally falling at €700,000 in
favour of the latter. A pure product of the Head breeding operation as well as being trained by
Christiane Head-Maarek, MUTIN is a son of Kentucky Dynamite and the second foal out of the
Listed winner Mytographie. The unbeaten winner of the Prix de Thimecourt (F) at Chantilly on
27 July and the Prix Caro (D) at Saint-Cloud on 17 September, he has yet to be stretched on
either of his two starts two date.
The second and third top prices were knocked down to Asian Bloodstock, acting on behalf of
Howard Liang, buyer of AVANTAGE (lot 52) for €380,000 and of CAY VERDE (lot 6) for
€320,000. In just five starts under the helm of Pia Brandt, AVANTAGE a two-year-old son of
Layman, finished third in the Prix François Boutin (L.) at Deauville on 12 August before finishing
second in the Prix de la Rochette (Gr.3) a month later at Longchamp, not beaten far by the
highly promising What a Name. Also a two year old, CAY VERDE a son of Bahamian Bounty,
has made his name most notably by finishing third in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes and Gimcrack
Stakes, run at Goodwood and York respectively, before taking the Prix d’Arenberg (Gr.3) at
Chantilly on 11 September this year, ahead of the Group 1 placed Baileys Jubilee. Cay Verde and
Avantage are now both likely to pursue their race careers in Hong-Kong.
Anthony Stroud was the buyer of the Jean-Claude Rouget trained MOONWALK IN PARIS (lot
46) for €310,000. By Oratorio, Moonwalk in Paris won the Prix Edmond Blanc (Gr.3) at Saint-
Cloud on 1 April before finishing second in the Prix du Chemin de Fer du Nord (Gr.3) at
Chantilly, beaten by VAGABOND SHOES (lot 8) himself bought for €100,000 by Hubert Guy.
Moonwalk in Paris also finished second in the Prix Quincey (Gr.3) at Deauville on that 26 August
this year, just a quarter of a length behind the Group 2 placed Fractionnal.
Rupert Pritchard Gordon also proved very active, successfully bidding on lots 39 PRINCE MAG
and 12 AMIENS, sold for €290,000 and €205,000 respectively. By Zamindar, the three year old
PRINCE MAG finished second in the Prix du Prince d’Orange (Gr.3) on 22 September at
Longchamp on his first attempt at this level. Also a three year old, the Galileo colt AMIENS
won two races before finishing a good fourth in the Prix de Lutèce (Gr.3) at Longchamp on 9
September this year, not beaten far by the promising Verema, Canticum and Only a Pleasure.
A daughter of the highly successful sire Street Cry, and a third foal out of the Listed placed Always
Awesome, STREET SECRET (lot 7) was bought for €260,000 by Oceanic Bloodstock. From the
family of Urban Sea, she has been placed three times at Stakes level whilst trained by Pia Brandt.
Eric Hoyeau, chairman of ARQANA, commented after the sale: “The international impact of the
Arc weekend allows this sale to successfully meet its objectives from year to year, with a dynamic
particularly geared towards export. As demonstrated by MUTIN, two year olds were particularly
popular and proved the most attractive to buyers. We would like to thank buyers from Hong
Kong, Australia, the United States and also from Dubai and Qatar and we hope they enjoy a
great day’s racing on Sunday and we paticularly wish them every success with the horses bought
tonight at this sale.”
