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Group Two placed three-year-old sells to David O’Meara for €400,000 

Juan De Montalban (Lope De Vega) topped the Arqana Summer Sale on Thursday when bought for €400,000 by David O’Meara. 

The colt has run five times to date for two wins and was last seen running second in the Derby Italiano (Gr 2, 2200m) at Capannelle on May 23 when trained by Robert Biondi. He had formerly been trained by Andrew Balding who had bought him for 85,000gns at Book 1 of the 2019 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.  

Juan De Montalban, who is out of the stakes placed mare Abilene (Samum), was bought for Sheikh Abdullah, a longstanding owner of O’Meara. 

"He's going to be owned by Sheikh Abdullah, who has been a good owner of mine for a few years. He wanted a horse to run in black-type races, in Group races. I think this fella will suit him. 

"I just thought he was a very, very good individual and he's only going to get better. He's only a young horse and he's got a big future."

The most expensive filly to sell on Thursday was four-year-old Saiga (Teofilo) who was bought for €190,000 by Horse France on behalf of Castlehyde Farm. Saiga has won twice including at Listed level in France and is out of Group 1 winning mare Vorda (Orpen). 

Overall 411 of the 513 lots offered were sold at a clearance rate of 80 per cent. The average sat at €20,865 and median was €10,000 while the turnover was €8,572,000.