(Edited Arqana press release)
The Deauville August yearling sale, which is conducted by Arqana, got off to a slow start Aug. 13 in France.
The gross for the opening session dropped 40% from last year to €11.5 million ($14,778,100 in U.S. funds). A factor in the setback was the lower number of yearlings offered (85 as compared to 105 last year).
The average price for the 60 horses that sold declined 26% to €175,403 ($225,402). The median fell 16% to €150,000 ($192,758).
A filly by Galileo out of Clara Bow brought €600,000 ($771,030) to top the session. Raised at Haras du Berlais and consigned by Haras d’Etreham, she was purchased by Charles Gordon-Watson in a private transaction.
“Today we have witnessed the same trend that was observed earlier this year at Melbourne, Sidney, Hokkaido, and more recently at Saratoga,” said Arqana president Eric Hoyeau. “There were plenty of inspections and the quality on offer was as good as last year, yet the market proved difficult and price levels were significantly down. The diversity of buyers above €200,000 ($257,010) is a positive sign that there is still a lot of appetite for quality yearlings, but the budgets are no longer the same as buyers seem to be setting themselves strict limitations.”