A filly from the first crop of European champion and classic winner Makfi sold for the highest price of €210,000 ($280,166 in U.S. funds) on the third and final day of the Arqana Deauville August yearling sale Aug. 19.
Bidding for Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International Agency outbid Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock, Hubert Guy, and David Redvers to acqure the chestnut filly, who is the fourth foal out of the winning Zafonic mare Auenpearl. She is a three-quarter sister to French group III winner Split Trois.
The session-topper, who was offered by Lucien Urano's Ecurie des Monceaux, will be sent to Mikel Delzangles, who trained Makfi.
A 6-year-old son of Dubawi, Makfi won the 2010 Stan James One Thousand Guineas (Eng-I) at Newmarket and Prix du Haras de Fresney-le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois (Fr-I) at Longchamp en route to earning the Cartier Award as Europe's champion 3-year-old male that season. He stands at Redvers' Tweenhills Farm and Stud in Gloucestershire, England. His first offspring made their public auction debut at the Arqana sale, including a half sister to multiple group I winner Moonlight Cloud, who sold out of Part 1 of the catalog for €360,000 on opening day, Aug. 17.
Horses offered on day three comprised Part 2 of the Arqana catalog. Figures were up compared with last year's corresponding session, buoyed by 18 yearlings sold for €100,000 ($133,366) or more, compared to 16 in Part 2 last year.
Arqana reported 129 as sold, including two private sales, for total receipts of €7,857,000 ($10,481,177), a 38.7% increase. The average price of €60,597 ($80,829) marked a 5.4% rise and the median price of €52,000 ($69,361) reflected a 10.6% increase.
The clearance rate improved to 76.8%, compared with 63% last year.
The 2013 August yearling sale posted positive results in across all key economic indicators and evidenced the success of the new three-day format intended to increase demand.
"Our decision to reduce the sale by one day and to thereby make it more selective resulted in a strong increase of all market indicators," Arqana chairman Eric Hoyeau said. "This new format clearly brought a much stronger demand to the whole of the sale."
Overall, 263 horses were sold across three days, including 12 private sales, for a cumulative aggregate of €34,682,000 ($46,244,951) , a figure 17% higher than last year despite a 2013 catalog featuring 106 fewer yearlings. The average sale price of €134,622 ($179,509) is the best ever achieved for the August sale and was up a remarkable of 37%, compared with 2012. The percentage of yearlings sold was well up over last year as the clearance rate was 75.1%, compared with 65.7% last year.
The highest priced horse from the two-day Part 1 select portion was a Dubawi filly, who sold to James Harron for €1.5 million ($2,000,094). The Irish-bred bay filly is out of the unraced Cozzene mare Hit The Sky. Harron was bidding on behalf of Sheikh Joaan.
Three other horses broke the seven-figure mark during the select sessions.
"We have just had a fantastic August yearling sale with an intensely strong demand from the first day to the last day of a sale which will most certainly feature as one of the strongest of the year at the European level," Hoyeau said.
"The last day of the sale continued in the same vein as the exceptional weekend; we observed a renewed demand from buyers today with a strong European presence and a show of strength from French buyers."
Arqana's new v2 yearling sale is set for Aug. 20. The aim of sale is to present buyers with a short selection of precocious types, likely to compete at age two.
