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Pursuit Of Success go to €750,000 on day one of the sale which saw figures decline from 2019
Durance (Champs Elysees) was the headline act of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale on Saturday as Pursuit Of Success went to €750,000 for the mare from the Ronald Rauscher draft.
Catalogued as Lot 174, the mare landed five races headlined by Premio di Milano (Gr 2, 2000m) and was placed at elite level on two occasions and she is out of Djidda (Lando), who also produced Listed winner Dextera (Royal Dragon).
Dextara herself produced stakes-placed mare Devilish Lips (Konigstiger), the dam of German Group 2 scorer Dragon Lips (Footstepsinthesand) and Listed winner Dynamic Lips (Excellent Art).
A new top lot at the Breeding Stock Sale as James Delahooke (Pursuit of Success) secures DURANCE (lot 1⃣7⃣4⃣) for €750,000, a Gr.2 winner who took 3rd in the Gr.1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks). She was offered by Ronald Rauscher. pic.twitter.com/Wf4igKWrQd
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A few lots later, Truth (Galileo) - who hails from one of the best families in the studbook - was purchased for €580,000 by Minister Stud from the Haras de Bouquetot draft.
Catalogued as Lot 178, the mare was offered in foal to Siyouni (Pivotal) and she has already produced four foals.
The mare is from one of the best bred Coolmore families, being out of Listed winner Prudenzia (Dansili), making her a sister to last season’s LKS Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Magic Wand, while she is also a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Chicquita (Montjeu) and a further five winners.
Prudenzia herself is a daughter of winning Zafonic (Gone West) mare Platonic - the dam of six other winners including Group 3 scorer Pacifique (Montjeu), who in turn produced fellow Group 3 winner Paix (Muhaarar).
Platonic is also the dam of Derby Trial Stakes (Listed, 1m3.5f) winner English King (Camelot), who made headlines at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale in October when he was purchased by Armando Duarte, Ballymore Stables and Paul Moroney Bloodstock for 925,000gns - the most ever paid for a colt at the sale.
Further afield, Platonic is also a half-sister to Pongee (Barathea), who in turn produced last year’s Cranbourne Cup (Listed, 2050m) winner Dr Drill (Dansili).
Earlier in the afternoon, Psara (Invincible Spirit) - who hails from the same family as Truth - was purchased by Meridian International for €500,000
Catalogued as Lot 148 and offered by Ecurie De Monceaux, the one-time winner is out of Pacifique and she was offered in foal to Coolmore Stud shuttler Churchill (Galileo), meaning the resulting foal will be bred on the same cross as 2019 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) winner Magna Grecia, who just finished covering his first book of mares at Coolmore’s Jerrys Plains base in Australia.
“I loved everything about her,” said Meridian International’s Ghislain Bozzo. “She is a magnificent mare, with a lot of quality and very well born. She has it all. She's in foal to Churchill, he's a stallion that I really like and I think he's an ideal cross. I bought it as part of a partnership.”
Meanwhile, one-time winner and Listed-placed filly Kraquante (Bated Breath) will continue his career in Australia with Ballarat-based trainer Archie Alexander after Arthur Hoyeau went to €155,000 for the three-year-old at the Arqana Breeding Sale on Saturday.
Catalogued as Lot 45, the filly is out of winning stakes-placed Beat Hollow (Sadler’s Wells) mare Desert Image.
Further back this is the same family as Group 3 winner Zaizafon (The Minstrel) - the dam of multiple Group 1 winner and successful sire Zafonic (Gone West), Group 3 winner Zamindar (Gone West) and Listed scorer Choice Spirit (Danzig).
Overall on Saturday 154 of the 193 lots offered were sold for a clearance rate of 80 per cent. A year ago 163 lots sold on the first day for €22,997,000. The aggregate this year down 17 per cent to €18,936,000 whilst the average of €122,961 was down 13 per cent from €141,086 a year ago. The median this year was €75,000. The sale continues on Sunday.
