In this week's Rowe On Monday, bloodstock agent Jim Clarke takes us inside his French foray, we examine the latest country to join the "virtual" revolution and reveal some of the elite Darley mares who will be visiting Too Darn Hot this spring.
Clarke plays host in France, banks two yearlings at Arqana
Jim Clarke has played tour guide around France, taking a travelling party of his clients to Chantilly, French stud farms, and the best of Deauville’s racing and Arqana’s sales has to offer.
The Brisbane-based bloodstock agent is also making the most of his brief return to Europe, alongside Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker, buying two yearlings at the August sale on Saturday and Sunday for separate clients.
The Arqana experience was an idea conceived last year, and one that gathered legs quickly with the likes of prolific owners and breeders, Ridgmont Farm’s Cunningham family, a group of Baker’s owners and Sherrin Racing’s Michael Sherrin embracing the concept.
“I used to come here fairly regularly when I worked in Europe for Godolphin, and it was one of the highlights of the year. It's a great place to spend a week,” Clarke said of Deauville and Arqana.
“The racing's a lot of fun; the sales are a lot of fun, and I sort of conceived a plan to try and put a group of clients together to give them the experience of coming over here and it has proven to be a very popular tour.
“There was a combination of clients of mine in the breeding side of the industry. They may have mares at Ridgmont or horses with Bjorn, and most of the group have known each other from similar things.”
The Chantilly part of the trip included visits to the stables of trainers Francis Graffard and Tim Donworth as well as inspecting Alessandro Botti’s 2025 Melbourne Cup contender Presage Nocturne, a last-start third in the Group 1 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at Longchamp over 3100m.
But it was back to business on Saturday evening for Clarke when he teamed up with Baker to buy a New Bay half-brother to the trainer’s reigning Sydney Cup winner Arapaho for €200,000 (AU$360,000).
And in a change of strategy for the agent-trainer duo, the half-brother to OTI Racing’s John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained imported Group 3-winning Almanzor stayer Athabascan will remain in Europe to be educated and possibly race prior to being imported to Australia.
“Bjorn and I have bought a couple of European yearlings in the past, but we've brought them straight out to Australia, and they haven't worked,” Clarke said.
“I think part of the reason is because it hasn't been sort of to our advantage to bring them straight out, put them into our Australian system when they're (born in) the other hemisphere, it's just a little bit hard to get them lined up.
“So, we were pretty keen just to try and do it the more traditional way, leave them up here, give them the grounding here, and then bring them out when they've had a bit more experience, a bit more maturity, and a bit more opportunity to get sort of that base fitness in their legs in Europe.”
On Sunday’s second evening session, Clarke was again in action, buying a Siyouni filly for Queensland owner Michael Sherrin of Apache Chase fame.
The filly is out of the stakes-placed Showcasing mare Lady Light, herself a sister to the Group 2-winning European sprinter Tasleet.
Tasleet, a stallion who was shipped to India in 2023, was raced by the late Sheikh Hamdan. Both Clarke-purchased yearlings were bought in conjunction with Lynch Bloodstock.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and its new northern hemisphere representative Stuart Boman got on the board at Arqana on Sunday, purchasing two colts by Churchill and Dark Angel respectively.
The appeal of the €180,000 (A$323,000) Churchill colt, on pedigree alone for the Jockey Club, was obvious with the yearling being out of an Epaulette half-sister to Folk Melody, the dam of Hong Kong’s champion Romantic Warrior.
Australian families up for auction in South Africa
Australasian auction houses have led the way in many ways, particularly Inglis with its thriving Digital thoroughbred sales business, but the rest of the world is catching on.
There are regular online sales in Europe and America, including Inglis’ relatively new USA online arm, and now South Africa is conducting a “virtual sale” of a small, but select group of mares.
Magic Millions has favoured the virtual format, as an adjunct to its live sales series, in most recent years and it successfully sold Star Thoroughbreds’ Group 1-placed mare Olentia for $2.6 million to Wathnan Racing earlier this month.
Bloodstock South Africa will hold its maiden Select Virtual Filly & Mare Sale on Friday where four Graded stakes winners, including Grade 1 scorers, will be offered.
The eight-horse catalogue features two-time Grade 1 winner Fatal Flaw, who is from the family of Australian champion Naturalism, and fellow Grade 1-winning Gimmethegreenlight mare VJ’s Angel.
Also among the offerings is French-born Snitzel mare Tzaritza, who is a half-sister to South Africa's Grade 1 Met winner Whisky Baron, who is by Manhattan Rain, and Australian-bred Encosta De Lago mare Lady Lago, who hails from the family of Australian superstars Elvstroem and Haradasun.
Kiwi auctioneer Steve Davis is in Johannesburg for his regular duties at the BSA August 2YO Sale, which precedes the virtual auction.
Hot book of Godolphin mares for returning shuttler
After months of conjecture about whether champion young Darley stallion Too Darn Hot would return to Australian shores this year, having been rested from shuttle duties in 2024, Godolphin is backing its sire to the hilt this year.
Among the elite mares set to be covered by Too Darn Hot, who will stand for $275,000 (inc GST) at Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley this year, include dual Group 1-winning I Am Invincible mare In Secret, who is in foal to Zoustar, and three-time Group 1-winning Sepoy mare Alizee.
Thousand Guineas winner Flit and Circular, the dam of Godolphin’s Newmarket Handicap-winning stallion Cylinder, will also be mated to Too Darn Hot this year, Darley Australia’s Alastair Pulford confirmed to the Straight Talk podcast.
Other mares include Savatiano, Willowy, Zapateo, Transfers, who is the dam of All-Star Mile winner Tom Kitten.
“It's as good a group of mares as we'd have ever sent to a stallion, I would imagine,” Pulford says.
“It's something else, really.”
Too Darn Hot will cover a restricted book of 101 mares this year, the last nomination being that of which has been donated for the CatWalk Trust charity auction.
He will stand alongside his first crop champion colt Broadsiding whose introductory service fee is $66,000 (inc GST).
