First Crop By Caravaggio Takes To The Stage At Arqana

The European sales caravan rolls on to Deauville this week, where seven yearlings from the first crop of top sprinter Caravaggio will be offered at the Arqana Select Yearling Sale.

‘The Ballydoyle Bullet’ covered a first book of mares that boasted both quality and quantity; with an impressive 48% of the total 187 having earned black-type on the track, or produced Stakes performers.

Caravaggio’s first representative at Arqana contributed the statistic as a half-brother to Grade 3 Florida Oaks winner Outburst and will be offered by Haras de l’Hotellerie as Lot 59.

Lot 128 from Ecurie des Monceaux is sure to prove popular based on pedigree alone, being out of a full-sister to Irish and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Seventh Heaven (Galileo). Second dam La Traviata, herself a dual Stakes winner, also produced Group 1 Middle Park Stakes victor Crusade.

Marie The Sea made a promising start to her broodmare career when her first produce, a Caravaggio colt, fetched €130,000 as a foal last December. Related to such high-class horses as Le Havre and Polar Falcon, he makes his second sales ring appearance as Lot 151 by Coulonces Sales.

Lot 192 is another grey colt whose page features memorable racehorses; his second dam Riskaverse won three Grade 1 contests and went on to produce top-flight performer Say (Galileo) - herself the dam of Grade 1 winner Fog Of War.

The pattern of grey colts continues with Haras des Granges’ offering (Lot 197), the first foal out of a half-sister to dual Group winner Prairie Star and Group 2 heroine Pacific Rim.

The trend continues in the Haras d’Etreham draft (Lot 323), with a grey half-brother to two Stakes horses, out of a half-sister to Stakes winner and producer Albisola (Montjeu). Group 1 winners Ectot and Most Improved are other recognisable names on the page, as are top-flight performers Daban and Johnny Barnes.

Haras du Cadran’s homebred mare Savage Rose (Rock Of Gibraltar) won both of her starts as a three-year-old and her first foal, a bay filly, is catalogued as Lot 223. Her strong female family includes top-class two and three-year-old Midway Lady, Epsom Oaks heroine Eswarah and Irish 1,000 Guineas third Umniyatee.