A Royal Buzz at Auction

This year's sale, though, had an undercurrent of excitement. Buyers huddled to compare notes, scribbling calculations against lot numbers.

Rumors circulated that Dubai's ruling Maktum family, last year's highest bidder, was back with other big names. "There's a real buzz -- much more than the last couple of years," one visitor said.

Sortita, the top yearling at this year's auction, was bought for about $960,000, well above last year's top price, on behalf of Sheik Hamdan ibn Rashid al Maktum.

Much of the new optimism stemmed from the arrival of the Aga Khan, France's biggest owner-breeder and heir to a long family racing tradition, among the auction house's shareholders.

The Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili Muslims, joined in July with French breeders and Artcurial, the art auction house owned by Dassault Group, to acquire Ventes de Deauville and merge it with its closest domestic rival, Goffs France.

The new auction house, to be called Arqana, will be France's second-largest after Christie's.

"France has everything it needs to be a [thoroughbred] market with international coverage," said Georges Rimaud, chairman of the new holding company, adding that he wanted the auction house to attract more top-quality horses from overseas breeders.

Other observers noted that the Aga Khan showed new interest in France when he expanded his stables by buying the breeding operation of late industrialist Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2005.

It signaled, the observers said, a broader revival in the French bloodstock market, traditionally dominated by owner-breeders who race their own horses.

Horses sold at Deauville have a good record for later victories. But last year's auction, despite a strong international market, saw an 8% drop in the average sale price, to about $90,000.