This Homeric evening ended with a firework display the likes of which you only see every 4 or 5 years.
It had to be the horse! His name is ROQUETAS VD RADSTAKE .
We needed the customers! There were around ten of them at €100,000, five more at €200,000 and three after €300,000, on the internet, on the phone and in the hall.
And in the end it was CIAN O’CONNOR who won over the phone at €330,000, supported by his team of local advisers who had warmly recommended ROQUETAS to him, and also by a wildly enthusiastic audience.
Known for his interest in the ‘crème de la crème’ of horses, the Irish rider and merchant has often set his sights on our best young performers (FANCY DE KERGANE, ECLIPSE DES FORETS…) and seeing him go closer to the source by buying a crack three-year-old is good news for breeding.
An hour earlier Guy BELOOUSSOF, Laurent GUILLET and Emmanuel PORTET had won the phenomenal LOKI DES FORETS for €155,000 after a long battle with Groupe France Elevage.
In the end, with a turnover of €1,468,000, this evening was the best ever and the 2024 vintage the 4th best in the history of the Fences auctions.
These highly satisfactory results should not obscure the fact that, as with Thoroughbreds, it is the very top end of the market that is underpinning it.
The ever-increasing demands of buyers should encourage sellers to maintain their efforts and standards to produce horses of the highest quality.