Arqana sale posts across-the-board gains

The French classic-placed 3-year-old Glorious Sight led Arqana’s small Arc horses in training sale to across-the-board gains Saturday in France, a day before finishing poorly in the Prix de l’Opera.

Haras de Saint-Pair owner Andreas Putsch, represented by Michel Zerolo’s Oceanic Bloodstock, paid just under $2.3 million for Glorious Sight, a Singspiel filly. Her price in the local currency was 1.7 million euros. Glorious Sight, a daughter of the Group 3 winner Zelding, by Warning, won a minor French stakes at Longchamp before going on to finish second in the Poule d’Eassai des Pouliches, the French 1000 Guineas, and third in the Prix de Diane, the French Oaks. Trainer Robert Collet consigned her to the Arqana auction.

The one-day auction sold 39 horses for about $8,441,510, resulting in an average of about $291,087 and an approximate $186,200 median. There also was a 60,000-euro private sale on the auction grounds, the equivalent of $79,800. Compared year to year, the gross nearly doubled from last year’s sale, when 23 horses sold. The average price shot up by 51 percent, and the median advanced 47 percent. Buy-backs improved but still remained high at 38 percent, down from last year’s 47 percent.

On Sunday, Glorious Sight finished ninth of 10 in the Prix de l’Opera.

Glorious Sight is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Beauty is Truth and six other winners.

Beauty is Truth is the dam of Coolmore’s Group 1-placed and Group 3-winning Dansili filly Fire Lily. She also ran at Longchamp on Sunday, finishing second behind Elusive Kate in the Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches.