There were fireworks on the first day of the Arqana breeding stock sales at Deauville on December 4 with two G1-winning mares going through the ring for huge sums.
First up, and the sale-topper, was the 3-year-old filly Rougir, winner of the Prix de l’Opéra at ParisLongchamp on Arc day. She went for an all-time Arqana record of €3 million to a partnership of White Birch Farm and Coolmore.
Not a bad day’s work for owner Kamel Cheboub’s Haras de la Gousserie for a filly originally bought as a foal at Arqana for €11,000 and re-sold as a yearling for €55,000. Rougir will stay in training, though with whom is not yet known
But the horse we’re concentrating on here went under the hammer just over an hour later - and fetched nearly as much.
The 5-year-old mare Grand Glory, who won the G1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville in August, had gone down by a mere nose to Rougir in that Prix de l’Opéra, and she too was the subject of a multi-million-euro bidding battle, going in the end for €2.5 million to bloodstock agent Anne-Sophie Yoh Benet’s Yohea Bloodstock for an anonymous first-time buyer.
Grand Glory will stay in training with Gianluca Bietolini with the Saudi Cup in February a possible target. No long-term decision has been made about breeding arrangements.
The sale wasn’t a bad return for the mare’s owners either - Italian Americans John D’Amato, Albert Frassetto and Mike Pietrangelo, who have had a superb roller-coaster ride with Grand Glory.
D’Amato, who travelled from Florida for the sale, said, “I am happy that Grand Glory will be staying in such a great place as France and that Gianluca will continue to train the horse, and that [bloodstock agent] Marco Bozzi gets his deserved recognition as a top-level identifier of racing talent, having originally bought Grand Glory for €18,000.”
He added, “We would have liked to have kept her for breeding - that could have been a lot of fun - but are limited by our ages. She will be a terrific broodmare, and good luck to the new owner.”
Grand Glory had been in top form in her last three races - the Jean Romanet (the first G1 success for both Bietolini and the owners), the Opéra, and the Japan Cup where she finished a gallant fifth behind former world #1 Contrail.
It’s been two years since the daughter of Olympic Glory was a fast-finishing third in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly. She picked up a sickness that autumn and didn’t race again until the following season.
Her form was a little disappointing in 2020 though, but she ran third in a G2 at Deauville in August and won a G3 at Saint-Cloud in October on her favoured soft ground. That encouraged connections to believe still had potential on the track - so much so that she was withdrawn from the Arqana sale last December. “I still thought the mare had room for further improvement,” said Bietolini. “It’s why I convinced the owners to continue her racing career for another season.”
Bietolini, a leading trainer in Italy before moving to France, says of Grand Glory, “She has a gentle character, though she was quite lively during her early years. Over time she has hardened, physically and mentally, mainly thanks to the patient work of my staff and the calm environment Maisons-Laffitte training centre offers.”
Bloodstock agent Bozzi paid €18,000 for Grand Glory for Italian owner Bartolo Faraci after she had failed to go through the ring at the Arqana 2017 October yearling sales. The filly made a winning debut at Deauville in December 2018.
“I saw the filly break her maiden impressively and called Ginaluca to congratulate him,” said D’Amato. “His voice was mixed with both joy and concern - that he was going to lose her to a foreign buyer.”
D’Amato decided this was an opportunity not to be missed. “I decided to put a bid in straight away for Grand Glory and the deal was done for €150,000. Gianluca continued to train the horse.”
D’Amato came over from Florida for Grand Glory’s two G1 runs in Europe this season, when victorious at Deauville in the Prix Jean Romanet, having been given a superb ride by fellow Italian Cristian Demuro, to just nick it on the line, and when just caught on the line by Rougir in the l’Opera.
There was a great atmosphere at Deauville after a head-to-head battle up the straight in the Jean Romanet. Returning to the winner’s enclosure, both Grand Glory and Audarya, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner of 2020, received a tremendous applause and there were emotional scenes all around.
The mare’s shock 23/1 win that day and subsequent quality performances were not unexpected, D’Amato claims.
“Gianluca’s confidence in the mare had us prepared for this eventuality. It is understood horseracing is synonymous with excuses, and we have had our fair share - less than optimal rides, extreme weather and course conditions and sickness. After the Diane, we received plenty of offers, but we never considered selling at that time as we knew her best years were ahead.”
Grand Glory’s final race of the season could have been either the Japan Cup or the BC Filly & Mare Turf, but D’Amato says, “The Breeders’ Cup venue at Del Mar, with three sharp turns and a short stretch, did not seem the right place for her. Japan’s purse and bonus structure and Gianluca’s confidence made the decision easy.”
D’Amato has owned racehorses in the States, France and Italy for a number of years. “I have had Grade 2 wins in the States, winners in Italy, and now a Group 1 winner and stakes-placed runners in France. I began racing in Italy with Gianluca, but after the collapse of Italian racing, he was forced to leave to train in France - as an economic refugee - and I continued to have horses with him.”
D’Amato considers he and his partners are likely to continue investing in French-bred horses. Indeed, they have made a number of purchases that are in pre-training or are being trained by Bietolini, including yearling colts by Churchill and Summer Front, yearling fillies by Holy Roman Emperor and Harry Angel, and 2-year-old colts by Olympic Glory, Kitten's Joy, Almanzor and Wootton Bassett.
“France has world-class racing, a very good payment/bonus structure, and wonderful racetracks and training facilities,” says D’Amato.
“The French have a swift, decisive and punitive response to drug offences, plus minimal vet bills and low training costs overall compared to the U.S.”