Mehmas

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...

Aughamore Stud's Michael Gleeson has said that producing Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), arguably the most impressive two-year-old winner there has been so far this season and a genuine Royal Ascot contender, eclipses anything the family-run farm has achieved in the sales ring.  Gleeson runs one of the shrewdest breeding and pinhooking operations in Ireland along with his brother Laurence. The Westmeath men have made a habit of producing a number of big results at the sales in recent years and are now savouring what looks a real Coventry S. contender...

Seven years ago Churchill (Ire) beat Mehmas (Ire) in the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S., and they both now feature prominently in their second careers at stud. For Mehmas, that's nothing new. He was champion first-season sire, then leading second-season sire, and he gave way only to New Bay (GB) last year among his generation. Now with his fourth crop of runners taking to the track, the Tally-Ho Stud resident is back in front among his intake with four group winners to his credit so far this year, including...

Leading trainer Richard Hannon has nominated the juveniles who have been impressing him the most at home on the gallops and described himself as a massive fan of first-season sire Blue Point (Ire).  So impressed is Hannon by Godolphin's freshman sire, whose first runner--Action Point (Ire)--was a winner, he has predicted that he will struggle to get near the progeny of Blue Point at the sales in the coming years.  Alongside the leading bloodstock agents Peter and Ross Doyle, Hannon has amassed a team of over 100 two-year-olds to go...

When Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) provided Japan with a breakthrough victory in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, Tom Ryan, one of the key men behind the lucrative two-day meeting, punched the proverbial air. Of all the results possible in the big race, a Japanese victory would have been right up there as the most desirable for a relatively new fixture on the international racing circuit, as extravagant the prize-money may be. Nobody understands this better than the County Tipperary native who swapped managing Naas racecourse for his current role...

Jim Bolger has provided the strongest indication yet that the stable jockey vacancy left by his retired son-in-law Kevin Manning at Coolcullen Stables will not be filled by an outside rider and that the legendary trainer will be staying loyal to Rory Cleary and Luke McAteer this season. Cleary has already tasted major success for his long-standing boss when partnering MacSwiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) to lead home a Bolger-trained one-two in the 2021 Irish 2,000 Guineas, outpointing Manning aboard the better-fancied Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}). It was...

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...

Tom Lacy received a heartwarming reception at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Awards last week. And rightly so. A legendary figure in Irish racing, Lacy rode 50 winners on the Flat and found only Arkle and Flyingbolt too good aboard Height Of Fashion in two Irish Grand Nationals.  As a trainer, Lacy sent out hundreds of winners from Rhode, County Offaly, including Ingabelle (GB), who later became a hugely important foundation mare at Ballylinch Stud. His sons Barry and Tony rode multiple winners for the stable down through the years....

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...

A large part of the fun that comes with following racing and the bloodstock game is predicting the future. Who will win the Derby? Who might top the Orby Sale? What freshman sires are here to stay and which ones will drift into the abyss? Well, we've looked deep into the TDN Europe crystal ball for 2023 to see if we can come up with the answers to the burning questions for the year ahead. Enjoy! January If you think he had a good Christmas, wait until you see how...