At the Arqana Trot sale in Deauville, which started on Wednesday (Sept, 2) top price was 500,000 Euros for a half-brother to two-time Prix d’Amerique winner Bold Eagle.
It was the prominent Swedish horse owner, Courant Stable, who secured the winning bid of 500,000 Euros after a fierce bidding war for Danish-registered Opera Royal, sired by Tactical Landing out of Reethi Rah Jet.
As a Danish-registered horse, Opera Royal has limited racing opportunities as a youngster in France. The plan is to ship him to the U.S., where he will be trained by Marcus Melander.
Courant has successfully taken this route before, bringing horses back home to Sweden as 4-year-olds to compete in major Swedish—or in this case, Danish—stakes races.
A total of 23 horses at the sale sold for 100,000 Euros or more, with offspring of Idao de Tillard proving particularly popular.
He is the star of French harness racing—not only on the racetrack, but in the breeding barn as well.
Nine offspring sired by Idao de Tillard sold for an average price of 123,222 Euros.
Among stallions with more than five offspring sold, the average prices were as follows:
Face Time Bourbon: 23 offspring – 100,043 Euros
Royal Dream: 7 offspring – 53,000 Euros
Booster Winner: 8 offspring – 40,875 Euros
Italiano Vero: 6 offspring – 39,167 Euros
The auction continues Thursday (Sept. 3) – all results and live streaming at this URL https://www.arqana-trot.com/resultats/ventes-de-yearlings-2026/236