Monday 15 August 2022
The leading French sire SIYOUNI was responsible for the top lot at day two of Arqana on Sunday, as the full brother to Classic and Arc winner Sottsass was knocked down for €2.1 million.
The flashy chestnut from Ecurie des Monceaux is headed to Japan following his purchase by trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
“It’s a really good pedigree and he’s a very well-made colt. I loved him,” said Yahagi. “He’s Sottsass’s brother, and My Sister Nat was second to my horse [Loves Only You] at last year’s Breeders’ Cup. She’s also a very good filly. I will take him to Japan and I hope he will win the Japanese Derby, then I hope to bring him back to France later.”
Henri Bozo of Ecurie des Monceaux added: “That was a fantastic sale. You always have to be very happy when you sell a horse at a price like that. It was a great pride. It's a great pride to have a mare like that, it was a great pride to have the staff to bring a horse like that to sale.
‘It will be very interesting to follow a horse in Japan and with a trainer like Mr Yahagi. To be honest, I had no idea who was going to buy him. There were three or four groups of serious players interested in him, and I didn't know who was going to buy him, but I was confident he was going to sell well. The horse was showing himself well. He's a good horse - he's a very good horse - and he came into the ring with so much pride and self-confidence. It was very nice.”
The same vendors struck again with another SIYOUNI later in the session, as lot 216, a filly out of the Stakes winning mare Aviatress, was sold for €1.4 million. Bred by Monceaux in partnership with Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods, she was bought back outright by the latter team, with Alex Solis and Jason Litt doing the bidding.
Solis said: “The Roths actually owned the mare with Henri. We are partners and we've known about her the whole time. She's been a star since she was a foal and we were very excited to watch her grow and to come here. She's a spectacular filly. The Roths race a lot of fillies but this one had to come to auction as she was owned in partnership and we didn't want to let her go.”
Also on Sunday, lot 199, a SIYOUNI filly out of Gr.3 winner Aigue Marine consigned by Lady O’Reilly’s Haras de la Louvière, sold for €600,000 to Nicholas Clement on behalf of Dr Ramon Tallaj.
At the end of two days selling, SIYOUNI is the leading sire (more than one sold), with an average of €477,333.
