The sale circuit heads back to Deauville this week for the Arqana Summer edition, held June 30-July 1, and buyers from different disciplines will have the opportunity to stock up from some of Europe's leading operations.
The Aga Khan Studs are among the vendors with offerings set for the sale, and their drafts are always keenly anticipated. The team consigns five lots on the second day of the event, each of those horses hailing from typically excellent families. Three of them are colts or geldings, while two well-related fillies complete the team.
While the bloodlines are what attract customers to the breeding stock, the inbuilt stamina of many of those with futures on the track can make them attractive dual-purpose prospects.
A case in point was Kizlyar, who was purchased from the Aga Khan draft as a maiden winner 12 months earlier for €110,000 before becoming one of Joseph O'Brien's success stories when landing the Ascot Stakes.
The first of the Aga Khan lots into the ring is the once-raced Rostak, a debut winner at Compiegne this month for Francis Graffard. The 3-year-old Blue Point gelding did well to score against more experienced rivals, staying on to win by a neck at the line, while he is also in possession of a typically smart pedigree.
Nemone Routh, director and racing manager of the Aga Khan Studs, said: "He's a well-bred horse as a half brother to two stakes horses out of a Sea The Stars mare. He's a nice horse with untapped potential, and he did well to win his race. He was one of the newcomers that day, and he beat the horses with more experience. You could expect him to come on for that run, so he's a slightly unknown quantity."
The draft also includes Night of Thunder colt Derawar, a winner of his second start at Fontainebleau in April. The 3-year-old hails from the family of European champion Almanzor, and his page received a recent winning update.
She said: "He's a nice colt who's very genuine, and he can carry on winning races. His three-part sister Deressa, whom we sold last year, won a nice handicap recently. He's a very sound horse, and he'll carry on racing."
The Aga Khan bloodlines are always hugely sought after and for very good reason. With carefully cultivated bloodlines going back decades, the foundations are in place for other people to breed from such blue-blooded stock.
Among the most recent mares sold who have gone on to produce top-level winners is Balankiyla, dam of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) scorer Balantina, as well as model broodmare Dialafara, dam of dual classic hero Capri.
The first filly to sell is the 3-year-old Shumikha, an unraced daughter of excellent broodmare sire Blame and from a family which includes Prix de Diane (G1) heroine Shemaka, as well as Champion Stakes (G1) victor Bay Bridge. Helpfully, the page received a further grade 1 update this month through the filly's close relation Portfolio Duration, who won the New York Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course for trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables.
Completing the line-up is Bayramova, a 3-year-old daughter of Iffraaj from the family of Balantina, who has raced a handful of times for Delzangles.
Having had the breeze of the breeze-up section June 29, the opening day of the sale is dedicated to flat-bred 2-year-olds, breeding stock, and stores. The second and final day will see horses in training go under the hammer.
