DEAUVILLE, France — If you can't keep a good man down, you certainly keep two good men down, and unquestionably the most pleasing sight on the early morning rounds at Arqana was that of Roger Marley and Brendan Holland. The breeze-up boys par excellence had each suffered a health scare earlier in the year but, true to the resilience of their particular sector, the masters of Church Farm and Grove Stud respectively are back in action and on the hunt for the next round of youngsters to return with to Deauville next May.While Holland was recovering from heart surgery in June, he had the welcome boost of watching one of his 2026 breeze-up graduates, Libertango (No Nay Never), win the G3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot. The filly had been bought by Hubert Guy at last year's Arqana August Sale and prepared for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale by the team at Grove Stud. She is likely to be back in action in next week's G2 Lowther Stakes at York. “It's a long time since anyone has screamed as loud in a hospital,” Holland told Brian Sheerin that June day, speaking from the ICU in Cork. Happily, if there's screaming to be done at York, he will be able to do so at the track. Marley admitted at Arqana that he had been taken aback by the number of well-wishers. “So many people kept stopping us that I was worried that we weren't going to be able to get enough horses looked at,” he said. Brendan Holland and Roger Marley | Emma Berry They were certainly not alone in putting in the hard yards on Friday. A planeload had arrived from Saratoga the day before, following a blockbuster sale at Fasig-Tipton where the yearling average was an eye-watering $777,730. It would be folly to suggest an Arqana average of a similar level, and one key element of this year's yearling sales will be the level of participation by the breeze-up pinhookers. But after several sunspangled days of inspections in Deauville, the feedback on the ground regarding the quality of the stock on offer is generally extremely positive. Norelands Seeing Stars and Only Fans for BarodaIn a year in which Sea The Stars continues to exert his might on the track, with Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh and Grand Prix de Paris winner Maltese Cross adding to his Group 1 laurels along with Daryz and Alpha looking like one of the most exciting two-year-old fillies in training, an octet of his yearlings is catalogued for the August Sale. Two of those – both fillies – are in the draft of Norelands Stud, a name well known in Ireland and Britain but a first-time consignor at Arqana.“We decided to bring three select fillies to the sale that we thought we'd be able to prep early enough,” said Norelands' Hamish McCalmont.“Sea The Stars had the two-year-old stakes winner [on Wednesday, Quest For Stars] and he's obviously got Alpha as well. He needs no introduction really but to be able to get these kind of good two-year-olds as well is really exciting. With Sea The Stars fillies, there's that residual value. He's done so well as a broodmare sire as well. A lot of owner-breeders come to the sale and they might be thinking they want a good racehorse, obviously, but they're also thinking of residual value and foundation mares.”Completing the Norelands trio and their first yearling through the ring on Sunday is a granddaughter of Sea The Stars in a Sea The Moon filly out of the Pivotal mare Perriand from the family of Prix de Diane winner Bright Sky. The highlight of Sea The Moon's year has been the Poule d'Essai des Poulains victory of Rayif, who runs in Sunday's G1 Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques Le Marois.Returning to Arqana for a second time is WH Bloodstock, the operation run by Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh. They too have a trio of yearlings to offer, including a colt from the first crop of Arqana October graduate Paddington out of Peach Tree (Galileo), a full-sister to the treble Classic winner Love. “It's a very international market here so it's fantastic if you have yearlings to suit this sale,” said Wadham at the start of a busy spell for WH Bloodstock, which will include their largest-ever Tattersalls October Book 1 draft of 15 yearlings. Baroda Stud also began its Arqana representation in a small way some years ago but now has a sizeable draft on offer this August, selling on behalf of breeders such as Blue Diamond Stud, Newsells Park Stud and Yulong. “The way I know it's grown is through the number of fans,” said Baroda's David Cox in reference to the must have accessory for the front of every stable door during a heatwave in Deauville. “When we first came here we were told we'd need fans for the horses as it can get very hot. First we bought six, then we had to buy four more and now we are up to 18.”Good VibrationsAs the sales crowd prepared to gather at a lavish party to celebrate Arqana's 20th anniversary on the eve of the sale, CEO Freddy Powell anticipated a strong start to the European yearling sales season.“It's a very strong year on the first-season sire front, especially with horses like Vadeni, Mishriff and Ace Impact – they were very close to being the best horses in the world at different stages throughout their careers,” he said. “To have them standing in France and to have a good representation of their first yearlings selling here this week is very special.”He continued, “The feeling we got when we put the entire catalogue together was that the quality is very strong. Everybody around the sale ground, they are telling me that their shortlists are not short. There are a lot of horses making people's lists so that is very positive. We think the horses are there and they are by the right sires and have the right pedigree. What the graduates from this sale have done on the racetrack – between Constitution River, Diamond Necklace, Blue Bolt, Opera Ballo and Balantina – is amazing so it is very difficult to be pessimistic.“Deauville is a lovely place to come to but it is never easy to get here. Between all of our planes, we travelled over 130 people to Deauville. Not only do we have a big European and American presence but Japanese buyers have become increasingly important here.”The Golden Ticket initiative, which was launched in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Arqana, could add to the vibe here in Deauville, particularly given that the buyers of the lots through the ring on Saturday evening will be in contention to land themselves one of 10 €30,000 vouchers to be spent on another horse at the August Yearling Sale.Powell added, “We wanted to come up with an idea because we were just a bit tired of seeing people sitting on their hands waiting to see what the market was like before playing. We wanted to create a bit of a buzz and use this voucher idea to highlight all of the good horses who have been sold in the first 80 lots throughout the past 20 years. The likes of Sottsass, Wings Of Eagles, Balantina and Look De Vega were all sold early in this sale. The lot number has very little to do with how good a horse is. If you like a horse, go for it. We are investing €300,000 in these vouchers and I am pretty sure we will get that money back if people play early.” The post ‘The Shortlists Are Not Short’: Arqana Braced for Golden Hours appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.