Godolphin Spends €750,000 as Monceaux Tops the Arqana October Sale Opener

October 21, 2026

Godolphin paid a session-topping €360,000 for a Blue Point colt as Ecurie des Monceaux led the vendors on day one of the Arqana October Yearling Sale, where clearance jumped to 81%.

Ecurie des Monceaux and its founder Henri Bozo had a day to remember on Tuesday, 20 October, as the Arqana October Yearling Sale opened in strong form. Godolphin spent €750,000 on three yearlings, topping the session with a €360,000 Blue Point colt from Monceaux — and just hours later, Bozo’s famous broodmare Prudenzia added yet another winner to her extraordinary record.

Godolphin lands the session-topper

The highest price of the opening session came when Anthony Stroud, bidding on behalf of Godolphin, went to €360,000 for a colt by Blue Point offered by Ecurie des Monceaux. It was the most expensive of Stroud’s three signatures on the day.

The colt is out of Ronea, a daughter of Sea The Stars bred by the Wertheimer family. Monceaux bought the mare for €135,000 at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in 2023 and chose to send her to a proven stallion — a decision that paid off handsomely. Ronea is a half-sister to Listed winner Mosaique, and both are out of the Group 3 winner The Juliet Rose, herself a half-sister to Zetland Stakes and Classic Trial winner Arabian Crown and German stakes winner Everest Rose.

Bozo said the colt deserved the attention. Blue Point, he explained, is “going from strength to strength” and passes on a great attitude to his offspring. He added that he had liked the mare from the moment Monceaux bought her from the Wertheimers, and described the colt as a nice individual with a great attitude and walk.

A Sea The Stars colt and a Recoletos connection

Godolphin had opened its account earlier in the afternoon, paying €260,000 for a Sea The Stars colt from Haras d’Etreham. He is out of Penny Lane, a Listed-winning mare by Lord Of England with an excellent record at stud. She has produced four winners, headed by this year’s Prix du Calvados winner Woot Woot, a daughter of Wootton Bassett who sold for the same €260,000 at last year’s October Sale. Penny Lane is also the dam of the Group 3-placed winner Padishakh.

Godolphin’s third purchase was a colt by Muhaarar out of a sister to the dual Group 1 winner Recoletos, bringing the operation’s first-day outlay to €750,000.

The top lots of day one

Monceaux tops the vendors

Bozo’s operation dominated the selling side. By the close of the session, Ecurie des Monceaux had sold 21 yearlings for a combined €2,329,000, comfortably the highest total among the vendors. Monceaux was responsible for three of the six highest-priced lots of the day, including the session-topper and the opening lot of the sale.

Prudenzia strikes again

For Bozo, though, the sale ring was only half the story. On the same afternoon, his celebrated mare Prudenzia produced yet another winner when her daughter Marylebone broke her maiden at Yarmouth. The Night Of Thunder filly had been bought by Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing for €3 million at last year’s Arqana August Yearling Sale, and her success made her the tenth winner out of the Dansili mare.

Prudenzia’s record is one of the most remarkable in modern European breeding. Her offspring include the multiple Group 1 winner Diamond Necklace, Australian Group 1 scorer Magic Wand, 2013 Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita and the Group winner Philomene, runner-up in the 2021 Prix de Diane.

Bozo added that he was delighted for Amo Racing, for the mare and for the whole family.

A healthier market than last year

The wider figures from the opening session pointed to a solid, broad-based market. A total of 154 of the 191 lots offered found new homes, giving a clearance rate of 81% — a clear improvement on the 69% recorded on the same day 12 months earlier. Turnover rose 2% to €14,114,000, even though 24 fewer horses went through the ring.

The average price slipped slightly, by 2%, to €91,649, but the median climbed 7% to €75,000 — a sign that demand was spread across the middle of the market rather than concentrated on a handful of expensive lots. Bozo agreed: “If you brought a nice horse with a nice physical and a decent pedigree, there was plenty of interest from many different buyers. It was not polarised at all. I thought it was a good market.”

The positive start in Deauville follows a strong autumn across Europe’s yearling sales, with Tattersalls’ October Yearling Sale in Newmarket passing 210 million guineas in turnover.

Rabbah Bloodstock the busiest buyer

Rabbah Bloodstock was the most active buyer of the day, signing for nine yearlings at a total cost of €1,456,000. Its most expensive purchase was the only Night Of Thunder colt in the catalogue, knocked down for €310,000 to trainer James Tate, who was standing alongside owner Jaber Abdullah. The underbidder was pinhooker Johnny Hassett, who went to €300,000 with an eye on the breeze-up sales.

The chestnut colt was offered by Alban Chevalier du Fau on behalf of Haras des Trois Chapelles. He is the first foal of Amiravati, a Siyouni mare who raced in Godolphin colours before winning for Nicolas Clement. Haras des Trois Chapelles bought her for 135,000 guineas at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2023. She is a half-sister to Prix Jean Prat winner Aesop’s Fables and comes from the family of the brilliant Lammtarra.

Tate said the breeders had recommended the colt and that Jaber Abdullah liked him very much. The youngster will head to his owner’s stud in Ireland. “If he isn’t quite as good as Night Of Thunder, perhaps he will be as good as Lammtarra!” Tate joked. Chevalier du Fau admitted the sale was not entirely straightforward, as the colt is a first foal with a few minor faults, but said he already looks like a racehorse with plenty of speed — proof, in his words, that horses in this price bracket can sell in October.

Rabbah had made its intentions clear from the very first lot, paying €240,000 for a Monceaux-consigned Blue Point colt out of Fancy Me, a Group 3-winning daughter of Pivotal from the family of Listed scorer See You Around.

De Watrigant returns to familiar families

Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International made two purchases at €200,000, both rooted in bloodlines he knows well. The first, signed alongside trainer Yann Lerner, was a Monceaux-consigned colt by Zarak out of the Oasis Dream mare Mer Blanche, from the distinguished Moussac family developed at Haras du Mezeray. De Watrigant previously bought the family’s Group 1 winner Mekhtaal, later a Prix d’Ispahan winner, for €300,000 at the 2014 August Sale. He praised the colt’s “outstanding physique and exceptional movement”.

The second was a colt from the first crop of Little Big Bear, offered by Haras de Saint-Vincent. De Watrigant had wanted him in August, but the colt missed that sale after a minor injury in his box. The agent knows the sire better than most: he bought Little Big Bear himself for €320,000 at the 2021 Arqana August Sale on behalf of MV Magnier, before the colt went on to win the Phoenix Stakes. “I have tremendous faith in his sire, who passes on scope, precocity and exceptional movement to his offspring,” he said.

Written by James Whitmore