The Hong Kong Jockey Club purchased six colts at the recent Arqana Deaville Yearling Sale (14 - 16 August) for a total outlay of €1.56 million (approximately HK$13.65 million), including a full-brother to European champion sprinter Slade Power.
Catalogued as Lot 22, that well-related youngster was an early purchase on day one of France’s premier yearling auction and the Club bid €450,000 before the hammer fell in its favour. The athletic colt’s esteemed sibling won Newmarket’s G1 July Cup (1200m) and the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot in 2014, while the pair’s sire, Dutch Art, peaked to win the G1 Prix Morny (1200m) and G1 Middle Park Stakes (1200m) as a juvenile and placed three times in the top grade as a three-year-old, including when a close second in the July Cup.
Nine lots later, the Club secured an attractive Elusive Quality colt from a proven black type family, the first foal born to French Listed winner Ighraa.
Day two brought three choice individuals, two of which are closely related through the high-class Ysoldina, which placed third to the outstanding Divine Proportions in the 2005 G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (1600m). Ysoldina is the dam of Lot 150, a grey colt by Hong Kong success story Holy Roman Emperor, and is second dam to Lot 134, a Redoute’s Choice colt out of the mare’s winning daughter, Torentosa. The Club’s third purchase during that session was Lot 137, an attractive Dark Angel half-brother to G3 winner Trois Lunes.
The Club’s final purchase, Lot 358, is a speed-oriented bay colt from the second crop of the promising young sprint stallion Bated Breath, winner of the G2 Temple Stakes in the UK and G1 placed on both sides of the Atlantic. The strong bay hails from a talented family that has produced the likes of Bosra Sham, Hector Protector and Act One.
Purchase details
Lot 22 – ch c Dutch Art ex Girl Power €450,000 (approximately HKD$3,937,500)
Lot 31 – b c Elusive Quality ex Ighraa €120,000 (approx. HKD$1,050,000)
Lot 134 – b c Redoute's Choice ex Torentosa €220,000 (approx. HKD$1,925,000)
Lot 137 – gr c Dark Angel ex Trip To The Moon €380,000 (approx. HKD$3,325,000)
Lot 150 – gr c Holy Roman Emperor ex Ysoldina €130,000 (approx. HKD$1,137,500)
Lot 358 – b c Bated Breath / Bonnie Doon €260,000 (approx. HKD$2,275,000)
