Pride of Poland auction sells 16 Arabian horses for €1m

Sixteen Arabian horses were sold for a combined EUR 1 million on Sunday at the 57th annual Pride of Poland auction in Janów Podlaski, eastern Poland.

Pila, a 9-year-old mare from the Janów Podlaski stud farm, fetched the highest price of EUR 160,000 at the Pride of Poland auction on Sunday.

Photo: PAP/Wojtek Jargiło

All 15 mares and one stallion offered at the auction found buyers, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

The horses came from state-owned stud farms in Janów Podlaski, Michałów and Białka and were bought by customers from Belgium, Iraq, the Czech Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France, Latvia, Sweden and Poland.

The top price of EUR 160,000 was paid by a Belgian buyer for Pila, a 9-year-old dark bay mare from the Janów Podlaski stud farm.

Poganinka, an 11-year-old chestnut mare from Michałów, sold for EUR 140,000 to a buyer from Iraq, while another Michałów mare, 3-year-old Perlita, fetched EUR 121,000 from a buyer from Qatar.

A Polish buyer paid EUR 74,000 for Ejna, a three-year-old bay mare from the Białka stud farm.

Efidenia, an 8-year-old bay mare from Janów Podlaski, sold for EUR 70,000 to a buyer from Saudi Arabia, while El Gazona, a 12-year-old grey mare from Michałów, fetched EUR 65,000 from a Belgian buyer.

Polish Agriculture Minister Stefan Krajewski thanked the organisers and the management and staff of the three stud farms after the auction, saying Poland was restoring the prestige and position of Arabian horse breeding in the country.

Krajewski said the strong interest from bidders was encouraging and pledged continued government support for the state-run stud farms.

Henryk Smolarz, head of the National Support Centre for Agriculture (KOWR), said he was pleased that all the horses offered at the auction had been sold.

He said the results showed the Polish state stud farms were returning to the success of their best years.

Anna Stojanowska, an adviser to the centre's director-general on Arabian horse breeding, said the bidding had remained highly competitive throughout the auction.

"The energy didn't drop from the first horse to the last," she said, adding that the strong bidding showed the breeding programme was "on the right track."

Janów Podlaski stud farm director Weronika Sosnowska said the farm's horses generated EUR 421,000 in sales, while the average price across the auction was more than EUR 60,000.

Marek Trela, a former longtime head of the Janów Podlaski stud farm, said that this year's auction did not feature internationally renowned show horses or world or European champions.

He voiced hope that horses competing in this year's national championship would gain international recognition and boost future auctions.

The auction was preceded by the final of the 48th National Purebred Arabian Horse Show.

The overall champion was Epiforana, a two-year-old grey mare from the Michałów stud farm, which also won the Polish championship for younger mares.

Epiforana, a 2-year-old grey mare from Poland's Michałów stud farm, was named Best in Show in Janów Podlaski on Sunday. Photos: PAP/Wojtek Jargiło

The Polish Arabian Horse Days in Janów Podlaski will end on Monday with the Summer Sale, featuring 22 mares and three stallions from state-owned and private stud farms.

The Summer Sale generally features younger breeding horses at lower prices than those offered at the Pride of Poland auction.

Last year, 13 horses were sold at Pride of Poland for a combined EUR 1.33 million. The highest price, EUR 430,000, was paid by a Swiss buyer for Adelita, an 11-year-old grey mare from Janów Podlaski.

A buyer from the United Arab Emirates paid EUR 350,000 for El Medida, a 6-year-old grey mare from Michałów.

Nineteen horses were sold at last year's Summer Sale for about EUR 215,000 in total.

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Source: IAR, PAP