THURSDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2020 BEST OF BOTH WORLDS PRINCESS LEADS The latest instalment of Emma Berry's winter series on the ARQANA CLOSER crossover between the Flat and National Hunt scenes On Boxing Day, Epatante (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}) followed the example of her stablemate Verdana Blue (Ire) (Getaway {Ger}) by winning the G1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. Her five-length victory (with the previous year's winner back in fourth) came on the back of a similarly impressive win at Newbury in November and launched the 6-year-old mare to the head of the betting for the Unibet Champion Hurdle on Mar. 3. It also shined the spotlight a little brighter on her up-and-coming sire, who stands at Haras de Montaigu in Normandy. The Forien family farm was the birthplace in 2014 of subsequent Derby winner Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}), who started his stud career back >at home' before being transferred to one of Coolmore's National Hunt divisions at Beeches Stud last year. In November, Haras de Montaigu also lost the useful sire Martaline (GB) to a heart attack, but in No Scenes at Arqana=s February Sale | Zuzanna Lupa Risk At All they look to have a more than useful successor. Cont. p2 Arqana's February Sale concluded in a fairly low-key fashion on Wednesday, with two-thirds of the horses brought to the ring for the mixed auction changing hands. Another 120 lots were sold during the second day and overall 239 of the 362 presented in the ring, or 66%, found a buyer. The average of i9,754 was down by 33.5% on the bumper trade at last year's sale, which was helped by the Manneville Dispersal, and that figure was fractionally up on the more regular level seen in 2018. The median of i4,000 also returned to that posted two years ago, while the turnover of i2,350,000, which was down by 55% on a significantly larger catalogue 12 months ago, was again closely in keeping with the normal turn of events at this midwinter event. Epatante & Sophie Candy on the gallops at Nicky Henderson=s Seven Trade got underway with the auction of a breeding right in the Barrows | Racing Post popular young National Hunt stallion No Risk At All (Fr) (My Risk {Fr}), who was bred by the late Sylvia Wildenstein. Winner of IN TDN AMERICA TODAY two Group 3 contests over 10 furlongs, the 13-year-old is a half-brother to Grade 1-winning steeplechaser Nickname (Fr) ZAYAT LAWSUIT BROADENS TO INCLUDE PROMINENT (Lost World {Ire}) and has stood his entire stud career to date at BLOODSTOCK BUSINESS PARTNERS Haras de Montaigu. His best runners include the current The New York lending firm that last month initiated a $23-million Champion Hurdle favourite Epatante (Fr). lawsuit against Ahmed Zayat and Zayat Stables, LLC, has broadly amended its civil complaint in a Kentucky court and additionally targets 10 prominent bloodstock individuals and entities. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 7 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2020 Princess Leads Arqana Closer Cont. from p1 Leading British National Hunt breeders Richard and Sally Aston of Goldford Stud won the battle for the breeding right at i62,000. A sister to another of the Montaigu stallions, Prince Gibraltar (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), led the live action when bought by Pierre Talvard's SCEA Ecurie Haras du Cadran for i82,000. Sold as lot 419, the 5-year-old Princess Bianca (Ire) won twice on the Flat when trained by Carlos and Yann Lerner. Her brother Prince Gibraltar won twice at Group 1 level while another full-sibling Princess Gibraltar (Ire) was a listed winner in Germany. A yearling colt from the first crop of Haras de Montfort et Preaux stallion Recorder (Ire) was the highlight of the young stock section. Consigned by Guillaume and Camille Vitse through their Normandie Breeding, lot 334, a half-brother to listed winner Aubevoye (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), was sold to Sylvain Vidal for i52,000. Howson & Houldsworth Bloodstock were the leading buyers at the sale, signing for six horses for a total of i222,000. Best of Both Worlds Cont. from p1 Since his retirement to stud in 2013, the 13-year-old has been well supported with three-figure books of mares throughout bar 2017, when he covered 87, a drop from the previous year's high ARQANA FEBRUARY SALE of 144. Having started at a fee of i2,500, his fee for this year has risen to i7,000. SESSION TOTALS 2020 2019 Epatante, whose name translates as >Amazing' is certainly $ Catalogued 214 248 living up to this title to date. Beaten a neck on debut in an AQPS $ Number Offered 182 219 bumper when trained by Armand Lefeuvre, the son of her $ Number Sold 120 181 $ Not Sold 62 38 breeders Francois-Xavier and Anne Doulce Lefeuvre, she has $ Clearance Rate 65.9% 82.7% won six times since then. The only blot on her copybook has $ High Price i82,000 i72,000 been when finishing down the field in the G2 Tattersalls Mares' $ Gross i996,600 i1,395,000 Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham last year. Top-rated on 159, she $ Average (% change) i8,305 (+7.8%) i7,707 is the star of a first crop which also includes William and Angela $ Median (% change) i4,000 (-20%) i5,000 Rucker's G1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase winner Esprit Du Large CUMULATIVE 2020 2019 (Fr). Both hold entries for the Cheltenham Festival, along with $ Catalogued 430 497 the seven-time winner Gumball (Fr), the unbeaten Forien-bred $ Number Offered 362 420 $ Number Sold 239 353 Nickolson (Fr) and Cheveley Park Stud's promising novice chaser $ Not Sold 123 67 Allaho (Fr). $ Clearance Rate 66% 84% No Risk At All's runners have headlined a couple of boutique $ High Price i135,000 i500,000 sales in the last 12 months, while a breeding right in the stallion $ Gross i2,350,000 i5,282,500 i $ Average (% change) i9,754 (-33.5%) i14,686 was sold for 62,000 at Arqana's February Sale this week (see $ Median (% change) i4,000 (-27.2%) i5,500 accompanying sales report). Papa Tango Charly (Fr) topped the Goffs UK Aintree Sale last April at ,440,000. Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 7 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2020 Best of Both Worlds Cont. The former Timmy Hyde-trained bumper winner Keskonrisk (Fr) set a new record for the Goffs UK January Sale a few weeks ago when sold for ,370,000 through Hyde's Camas Park Stud. The 5-year-old will doubtless be remembered fondly by the Hyde family, not just for his chunky sales price but for the fact that he provided Hyde's 16-year-old grandson Daniel with his Senior Vice President Gary King first winner as an amateur rider on New Year's Day. Keskonrisk Twitter: @garykingTDN was bought in France as a 2-year-old by Daniel's father Timmy [email protected] Hyde Jr, whose dual-purpose credentials extend to being the + 1.732.320.0975 breeder of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo). The gelding will continue his career in Ireland, where he is now International Editor trained by Joseph O'Brien for Mike Grech, who has purchased Kelsey Riley several expensive jumpers this season through former Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight. [email protected] European Editor Coraline's French Influence Emma Berry The branch of the Juddmonte family which includes Haras de Twitter: @collingsberry Montaigu's late resident Martaline has had quite an influence on [email protected] the jumps scene in France and beyond. From two visits to Linamix (Fr), Martaline's dam Coraline (GB) (Sadler's Wells) also Associate International Editor Heather Anderson produced his full-brother, the G1 Prix du Cadran winner Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Reefscape (GB). He served one season at stud, siring just a handful runners owing to poor fertility. However, his sole Marketing Manager winner, the appropriately named L'Unique (Fr), proved to be a Alayna Cullen good one, landing the G1 Matalan Anniversary 4YO Hurdle at Twitter: @AlaynaCullen Aintree for Alan King. [email protected] Another of Coraline's offspring, the dual Group 2 winner Coastal Path (GB) (Halling), found his way to one of France's Contributing Editor leading jumps studs, Haras de Cercy, where he was retired last Alan Carasso Twitter: @EquinealTDN year at the age of 15 after he too was found to have fertility problems. He had longer innings, however, lasting 10 seasons, Cafe Racing and his name may well be to the fore at Cheltenham next month Sean Cronin through the unbeaten Asterion Forlonge (Fr) or the useful Tom Frary staying hurdler Bacardys (Fr), both of whom are trained by [email protected] Willie Mullins. Coraline was herself a daughter of Bahamian (GB), whose Irish Correspondent dynasty includes the Flat sires Oasis Dream (GB) and Kingman Daithi Harvey (GB). Coraline's half-sister, the Irish Oaks winner Wemyss Bight Regular Columnists (GB) (Dancing Brave), is the dam of dual-purpose stallion Beat Chris McGrath | John Berry Hollow (GB), who may yet have more decent jumpers to come John Boyce | Amy Lynam since his move to Ballylinch Stud. Another member of the family, Melissa Steele New Bay (GB), is also resident at Ballylinch and will have his first runners this year. IN TDN AUS/NZ TODAY One of Beat Hollow's offspring who may well be worth keeping an eye on is Politesse (Ire).