An Elusive City filly topped the fourth and final day of selling at the Arqana August Yearling Sale in Deauville on Monday.  Sir Robert Ogden secured the French-bred sister to the stakes performer Mister Hughie for €190,000.  Haras de Grandcamp consigned the filly who is from Bonne Nere (Stepneyev).

The purchase took Ogden’s total expenditure over the four-day sale to €1.83 million for 8 horses.  “We have bought some very nice individuals,” Ogden’s racing manager Barry Simpson said.  “This year we have broadened our spectrum and gone for different types of yearlings.  We will also use a bigger spread of trainers and some will be prepared in France.”

Another prolific purchaser at the sale, Sylvain Vidal, signed for 22 horses for €2.14 million.

The top price for a colt Monday was the €100,000 Valerie Dissaux paid for a son of Dubawi.  The colt was offered by Haras du Petit Tellier and was produced by the Summer Dance (Machiavellian).

The Arqana sale closed with a substantial drop in average, due mostly to reduced demand at the top of the market.  A total of 280 lots sold for an average of €94,145, a 17% decline from a year ago.  The median maintained well with the figure of €70,000 down less than 3%.

“The top tier of the market has suffered through reduced competition at the highest level,” Arqana President Eric Hoyeau commented.  “However, the core market has remained very solid, with genuine depth up to €400,000.  The lower end of the market proved very selective, with buyers preferring to go home empty handed rather than purchase a horse that didn’t tick all the boxes.”