The German-bred three-year-old Schwarzer Peter (Neatico) was the most expensive lot sold at this year's Arqana Arc Sale, held at Saint-Cloud on Saturday evening, when bought by ITC on behalf of Half Company for €1,000,000.
Trained in Germany by Markus Klug, Schwarzer Peter has run eight times for one win and four placings including when second int he Group 1 Deutsches Derby (2400m) at Hambourg in July.
ITC's Jean-Pierre de Gasté, who finished the sale as the leading buyer, bought the colt on behalf of Saudi Sheikh Haif bin Mohamed Al Qahtani, who is at the helm of Haif Stable and Haif Farm, that already has horses in Saudi Arabia and in France.
The same combination also secured the sale's second top price lot, Rozgar (Exceed And Excel), who was offered as Lot 21 by the Aga Khan Studs for and sold for €800,000. Rozgar won the Listed Prix Marchand d'Or (1200m) at Chantilly earlier this year for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard and came to the sale with a current rating of 109.
Offered by @AgaKhanStuds as lot 2⃣1⃣ at The Arc Sale, ROZGAR is purchased by @gouffern Jean-Pierre de Gasté on behalf of Haif Stable for €800,000. The 3yo colt by #ExceedAndExcel (@DarleyEurope) trained by @GraffardRacing is already a Listed winner. pic.twitter.com/vedts0efB9
— ARQANA (@InfoArqana) October 1, 2022
Two lots look set to be bound for Australia with Listed placed four-year-old filly Bellaciaociao (Camelot) bought for €150,000 by Blandford Bloodstock and Ontrack Thoroughbreds. That combination went to €130,000 at last year's Arc Sale to secure Hopeful (Motivator) who won the Listed Lord Mayor's Cup (2000m) at Rosehill for Annabel Neasham earlier this year. Bjorn Baker Racing, Avenue Bloodstock and Clarke Bloodstock meanwhile teamed up to buy three-year-old Dreamflight (Frankel) for €275,000. The son of Frankel (Galileo) has won twice including the Group 3 Prix Thomas Byron (1600m) at two and added the Listed Prix Omnium (1600m) to his resume this season.
When the sale concluded on Saturday evening, 27 of the 34 lots offered had been sold, producing a clearance rate of 79 per cent. The average finished at €291,852, the second highest ever, and the aggregate was €7,880,000.
Following the sale, Arqana President Éric Hoyeau and Executive Director Freddy Powell said; "We would like to thank all our vendors who entrusted us with horses of this quality. For an elite sale, the percentage of horses sold is exceptional, which testifies to the quality of the horses presented and also to the attractiveness of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend.
"Every year, the sale attracts an international clientele, as shown by tonight's purchases from Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bahrain, the United States, Europe, Hong Kong etc. We wish them all the best for the future."
Click here to view the full results.
