Footstepsinthesand

Off the back of a star-studded season, No Nay Never will stand for €175,000 in 2023, which represents a €50,000 rise, while his dual Group 1-winning son Blackbeard (Ire) will join him on the Coolmore roster next year at a price of €25,000. No Nay Never has had an exceptional year. Older filly Alcohol Free (Ire) landed the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, but it has been his Coolmore-owned and Aidan O'Brien-trained juveniles that have set tongues wagging this term. Like his father, Blackbeard landed the G1 Prix Morny in...

The Goffs Sportsman's Yearling Sale got underway in its temporary new guise in Doncaster on Thursday, with a colt by Footstepsinthesand (GB) (lot 647) from Rockfield Farm topping trade with a bid of £50,000 from Kevin Ryan. He is the second foal out of the winning Danehill Dancer (Ire) mare Harpist (Ire) and his year-older full-brother Star Of Orion (Ire) won on debut at Newmarket in June for Ralph Beckett. As was the case with the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale earlier this week and as will be the case...

There may have been relative silence at The Curragh in July when the Ger Lyons-trained Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) won the G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks, but in the Boland household at Piercetown Stud in Meath the decibels were likely to have hit the high notes. Eight months previously the stud's owner Ronnie Boland and his son Aaron had bought a Footstepsinthesand (GB) half-sister to Even So as a foal at Goffs November for €22,000 and the now yearling filly will return to the sales ring with a massive update...

In this TDN series we ask a group of experts for their predictions for the 2020 flat season in Europe. Today we hear from Ross Doyle. TDN: Who do you think will be the leading first-season sire this year? RD: We really liked the yearlings by Territories (Ire) and The Last Lion (Ire), but we will have to go with our old friend Mehmas (Ire). TDN: Have you bought any yearlings by Mehmas? Does he typically stamp his stock? RD: We bought four by him. They are great physicals, strong,...