Joe Foley

Close to 1,500 foals have changed hands at Goffs and Tattersalls over the past fortnight during what industry stakeholders have acknowledged to be a magic marketplace. This was the year to sell a foal with all of the key figures jumping dramatically at both sales houses.  Not only were the pinhookers predictably strong after what was widely agreed to be an unexpectedly good end to the yearling sales, but a number of end-users--Godolphin, Yulong, Juddmonte and more--really stepped up to the plate at both sales.  There were records broken at...

A dispute between Classic-winning owner Steve Parkin and his former racing and bloodstock advisor Joe Foley over the ownership of Sands Of Mali continued in the High Court on Tuesday.  Parkin and Foley, the owner of Ballyhane Stud, where Sands Of Mali (Fr) is based, severed ties back in March. At the time, the Clipper Logistics boss Parkin moved stallions Space Traveller (GB) and Asymmetric (Ire) from Ballyhane Stud to Starfield Stud.  The court was told on Tuesday that Sands Of Mali, who sits third in the first-season sires' championship...

First-season sire Sands Of Mali (Fr) is at the centre of allegations brought by Steve Parkin against Joe Foley's Ballyhane Stud, the Irish Independent reported on Wednesday. Parkin and his company Clipper BCS, LLP say he acquired the horse for £270,000 in August of 2020, but that Foley is now claiming a 50% share of the son of Panis. In his affidavit, Parkin said that the defendants did not purchase any share in the stallion. Parkin also said the defendant claims that he indicated acknowledgment of shared ownership in a...

After a 20-year business relationship between Clipper Logistics' Steven Parkin and his racing advisor, Ballyhane Stud's Joe Foley, ended in March, Parkin has filed against Foley in the Irish High Court as of Wednesday, The Currency reported. A Classic-winning owner with Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in the 2024 G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, Parkin has had great success with his grey Clipper Logistics silks for many years, with the owner and Foley a formidable team. In the past, the relationship was described as "nearly like family". The master...

The fifth running of the valuable Irish EBF Ballyhane S., which is to be held at Naas on August 5, has attracted 322 entries. Worth a total of €300,000, with €150,000 to the winner and prize-money down to tenth place, the race is for EBF-eligible two-year-olds by sires with a median auction sale price of €75,000 or less. Hugo Palmer was the winning trainer in 2023 with Golden Trick (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}) for the Bronte Collection, which also owned the runner-up Jungle Mate (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}). The Bronte...

It has been confirmed that Sands Of Mali (Fr) will remain at Ballyhane Stud, where he has stood since his retirement in 2021. This is contrary to a statement released on Tuesday by Steve Parkin's Dullingham Park. The Group 1-winning sprinter has his first runners this season. His former stud-mates at Ballyhane, Asymmetric (Ire) and Space Traveller (GB), have moved to Micheal Orlandi's Starfield Stud in Co Westmeath. A statement released by Ballyhane Stud on Friday morning cited "a breakdown in the business relationship between Clipper principal Steve Parkin and...

Exciting young sires Space Traveller (GB) and Sands Of Mali (Fr) have been transferred from Ballyhane Stud to Micheal Orlandi's Starfield Stud for the remainder of the 2024 breeding season. A statement released by Dullingham Park on Tuesday read, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Space Traveller and Sands Of Mali, formerly at Ballyhane Stud, have been relocated to stand the remainder of the 2024 season at Micheal Orlandi's Starfield Stud in Mullingar [County Westmeath]. "Space Traveller is in his second season covering and reports of his first foals are exceptional. His...

"The grey colours, there's a big plan behind all that. Eventually my daughter will take over. I'm doing this for my family when I'm no longer here." Those were the words of owner-breeder Steve Parkin in a TDN interview penned in September last year, revealing all about his ambition to stand stallions at Dullingham Park Stud, plus the succession plan which he hopes will guarantee the long-term future of a racing and bloodstock empire he's spent the last two decades building. Five months on and the wheels are now firmly...

A new Spring Series of median sires races has been added to the Irish Flat racing calendar for 2024 and beyond in what is a significant boost to the three-year-old programme for middle-distance horses. In an announcement made by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the Irish European Breeders' Fund (Irish EBF) and Gowran Park Racecourse on Monday, the Spring Series will conclude with the €200,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Gowran Classic--the richest race ever held at Gowran Park--on Bank Holiday Monday, June 3. Three-year-olds with a median price of no more...

Dandy Man (Ire), the classy sprinter from the sole crop of Mozart (Ire), has died at Ballyhane Stud at the age of 20. As hardy as he was talented, Dandy Man was bred by Noel O'Callaghan at Mountarmstrong Stud from the G3 Molecomb S. winner Lady Alexander (Ire) (Night Shift), who is also the dam of G2 Queen Mary S. victrix Anthem Alexander (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). He raced for five seasons, winning six of his 30 starts, initially for Con Collins in Ireland, then for his daughter Tracey, before he...

Group 2-winning 2-year-old Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) has been retired to stand at Ballyhane Stud for 2024 and will command a fee of €7,000. A high-class juvenile for Alan King, Asymmetric fetched a six-figure prize-tag at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale before landing the G2 Richmond S. in tremendous fashion. That victory was described in the Sporting Life as "a highly impressive performance", with Asymmetric accounting for a quality field, which included subsequent Group 1 winners Perfect Power (Ire) and Ebro River (Ire), as well as the G2 Flying Childers...

Clipper Logistics' Group 1 winner Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) will not be seen on a racecourse again this season and instead will target a Guineas next spring, according to Joe Foley, racing manager for the owners. The imposing three-for-four Karl Burke trainee won her Haydock debut in May, ran second at listed level at Sandown in July and then rattled off victories in August's G3 Sweet Solera S. and the G1 Moyglare Stud S. at the Curragh in September. She was under consideration for next week's G1...