Cotai Glory

Well, that was good. The jam-packed car parks at Kildare Paddocks translated into rip-roaring trade on the opening day of the November Foal Sale as the momentum gathered up towards the end of the yearling season carried over into what proved a memorable Monday for vendors at Goffs.  And the €90,000 top lot by Blue Point (Ire)? It came at a time where the vendor needed it most. Rob Tierney might be best known as the face of Noel O'Callaghan's Mountarmstrong Stud. Together, the pair have enjoyed many good days....

Respect. It really is that simple. If we want to be involved with horses in sport we must treat those animals who give us either our pleasure or livelihood - or both - with decency and dignity. There are rogue elements, of course, but it is how the majority of people involved in horseracing feel and act, be they breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys or fans. Perhaps the most touching embodiment of this was witnessed during a recent visit to Sapporo racecourse in Japan, where there is a shrine alongside the...

When Michelangelo sculpted David, you'd imagine he took the time to stand back, blow the dust off of his brow and marvel at his masterpiece, wouldn't you? Like David, Tally-Ho Stud has taken years of hard chiseling but you must be living in Lalaland if you think Tony O'Callaghan is a man for slowing down and taking in all that has been achieved.  If there's one thing O'Callaghan hates more than arrogance it's idleness. With 200 mares on the farm, considerably more yearlings and foals coming through the system, a...

There will be a lot of I-told-you-sos when looking back on the first-season sires' championship with Blue Point (Ire) living up to his lofty billing by amassing 50 individual winners in Europe including two Group 1 scorers in what can only be described as a dream debut season.  The pledge of support behind Blue Point from a very early stage, in what was viewed by many as the most competitive first-season sires' championship in a long time, was telling.  Perhaps one of the most accurate predictions came from trainer Richard...

Tally-Ho Stud has announced that new recruit Good Guess will stand at €17,500 in 2024 while Mehmas has ben dropped €10,000 to a fee of €50,000. The stud's flagbearer Kodiac, the sire of Good Guess, has also had his fee relaxed from €40,000 to €35,000 for 2024. A statement published on Monday read, "We are delighted to announce that G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Good Guess will stand his first season in 2024 at a fee of €17,500. "A 420,000gns yearling from the family of Classic-winning miler Russian Rhythm, Good...

It never ceases to amaze how much debate the two-year-old races at Royal Ascot generate each year. A quick scan on racing Twitter over the past few days confirmed as much.  For all the fascinating puzzles that the royal meeting will serve up this week, including whether Paddington (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) can cope with Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the St James's Palace, what will reign supreme in the Prince Of Wales's or if any of the Australian sprinters can land a blow in the King's Stand S., it's the...

Alice Haynes and Ado McGuinness, who have emblazoned the value on offer at the breeze-up sales by hitting the ground running with their respective purchases this season, have described shopping in that market as a hugely important aspect of their business.  Well-known breeze-up consignor Eddie Linehan of Lackendarra Stables agrees with Haynes and McGuinness that the value has favoured the buyer when it has come to shopping at the middle to lower tiers of the market due to the amount of choice in that sector. However, Linehan, who admitted that...

It's early-February and already the Flat enthusiasts are getting excited about what stallion will end the season as champion first-season sire. A futile exercise, one would have thought? Not a bit of it. Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season.  O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire)...

Blue Point (Ire) has been installed as the 2-1 favourite to be crowned leading first-season Flat sire in Britain and Ireland by Paddy Power. Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) has been inserted at 5-2 next best in the betting while Coolmore's Ten Sovereigns (Ire) has been quoted at odds of 3-1. Tally-Ho Stud, responsible for two of the past three champion first-season sires Mehmas (Ire) and Cotai Glory (GB), are represented by 4-1 chance Inns Of Court (Ire). It's 10-1 the field. Blue Point stands at Kildangan Stud for €35,000...

It is not exactly a state secret that the team at Tally-Ho Stud, to use that old phrase, prefer their horses to do the talking. This could be misconstrued as a lack of friendliness but if you talk to other members of the bloodstock community about Tony and Anne O'Callaghan and their sons Roger and Henry, you will almost certainly hear variations of the phrase "lovely people". Indeed, within the family kitchen at the stone farmhouse just a short stretch up from the stallion yard a warm welcome is issued...

It is perhaps at this level of the market that bookings have not yet been finalised for this year's matings. While a number of those named here have since moved up in fee bracket on the back of success with runners and subsequent market response, there is still plenty of value to be found in the hope that stallions coming through could be similarly upwardly mobile. The aim of this exercise has been to show the average profit for stallions at each of four different levels of the market according...

First job in the Thoroughbred industry? I started riding for Stephane Cerulis during the summer holidays back in Belgium when I was aged 14. Biggest influence on your career? Criquette Head. She is like a second mum, the best advisor and most importantly she made me fall in love with training. Favourite racehorse of all time, and why? Treve. I was lucky enough to ride her while she was in training which was a fantastic experience. Who will be champion first-season sire in 2023? Blue Point. Greatest race in the...