Gay O'Callaghan: 'Dark Angel Is Like Family – He Means Everything To Us'

It has been the season of all seasons for the ever-young Dark Angel (Ire). So much so that Gay O'Callaghan has agreed to go in front of the camera to talk about the horse he describes as “part of the family”. 

The master of Yeomanstown Stud speaks about Dark Angel like a father of his favourite son. But when the 19-year-old stallion comes up trumps year after year with genuine top-notchers like Battaash (Ire), Harry Angel (Ire) and now Charyn (Ire), it's hard not to dote over the loveable grey. 

Speaking from his sitting room underneath a Peter Curling-commissioned painting of Dark Angel, who leads the likes of Dubawi (Ire), Kingman (GB), Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire) in the British and Irish Sires' Championship, O'Callaghan says, “To get a horse like Dark Angel–it's a miracle. You don't buy them, you don't find them, they just happen to you.”

This year's Royal Ascot meeting propelled Dark Angel into another stratosphere. Charyn lit the touch paper for what would turn out to be a memorable week for the stallion when winning the G1 Queen Anne Stakes over a mile before Khaadem (Ire) landed back-to-back runnings of the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes over 6f. 

Those big-race victories contributed to Dark Angel being over €560,000 clear of Dubawi in terms of prize-money earned for his offspring this season. 

But there is much more than just two horses doing the business on the big stage for him. The Owen Burrows-trained Alflaila (GB) ran a perfectly respectable comeback race when fourth behind Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes at the royal meeting and is a leading fancy in Saturday's G2 Sky Bet York Stakes. 

All told, Dark Angel has had 64 winners to runners in Britain and Ireland this season, a success rate that has only been bettered by Kingman. He is also operating at a 30% strike-rate and has five winners at stakes level. 

Reflecting on that momentous week at Royal Ascot, O'Callaghan said, “It was wonderful. Guy and David [sons] bred Charyn and he's a wonderful horse–a very successful horse. He goes to France for the Jacques le Marois and hopefully he can strike in another Group 1. His owner's [Nurlan Bizakov] farm is in France and he is going to stand there [at Sumbe]. And obviously Khaadem showed what a high-class sprinter he is for the second year running in the Queen Elizabeth.”

He continued, “But really, the man who really loved Dark Angel was Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. He really had wonderful success with him. From Battaash on, Sheikh Hamdan had a lot of good horses through his hands by Dark Angel. Sheikh Hamdan's support was immeasurable for that horse and hopefully Shadwell will have another big-race winner at York on Saturday with Alflaila.”

Dark Angel speaks to the fabric of Yeomanstown Stud. Having been bred by the O'Callaghan family, he was offered as a yearling by the outfit at the Doncaster St Leger Sale in 2006, where he was knocked down to BBA Ireland for 61,000gns. 

A spellbinding juvenile campaign for Barry Hills, that featured Group 1 success in the Middle Park Stakes, sealed his place at stud where he has been something of an instant hit. 

Gay explained, “He was a very nice yearling and from the first crop of Acclamation (GB), who we tried to buy. We sent Acclamation three mares and this fella was one of the foals born. From the day he was born, he was a really good foal-strong, solid, well-made and good action. We took him to Doncaster and Barry Hills bought him for 61,000gns, which wasn't a bad price at the time. I suppose the rest is history.”

Asked at what point was it where O'Callaghan realised he had unearthed something special, he replied, “Well you never can know that. Once his runners started to come out, they were winning from the word go. I think he had 33 winners in his first year, which is a really good number. From May onwards, everything that was running was winning. It just became very exciting from there.”

That excitement burns bright to this day with Dark Angel, who became a Classic-producing stallion in 2022 when Mangoustine (Fr) landed the French 1,000 Guineas, and can end the year as the Champion Sire in Britain and Ireland. 

“Well, he had a very good Ascot and is leading it at the moment but every week that goes by, he needs to keep topping it up or else he won't stay there,” O'Callaghan commented on the sire of 15 individual Group/Grade I winners to date.

“It's as simple as that. By the end of the year, it could change again but we'd think it would continue for most of the year anyway. It's great to have him up there at any stage. I'm not going to say that we will be there [on top] at the end of the year but we'd love to be there at the end of the year.”

He added, “This horse is like family. He means everything to us and is just a special horse to have around the place. As an individual, he's such a kind horse. He's half human–just a very kind horse and it's very easy to do anything with him. He's been a horse of a lifetime but hopefully we might have time to get one more in!”