Roger O'Callaghan

Another manic sale season is upon us. Goffs kick-starts what promises to be an exciting few weeks with the November Foal Sale getting underway on Monday followed by the mares sessions on Friday and Saturday before the action rolls on to Tattersalls at Newmarket before concluding at Arqana next month.  So where does the value lie over what is usually a helter-skelter few weeks of trade? Gwen Monneraye of the La Motteraye Consignment, Mimi Wadham of WH Bloodstock and Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan weigh in on the big topics ahead...

Group 1-winning two-year-old Bucanero Fuerte (GB) has been retired to stand at Tally-Ho Stud next season, owners Amo Racing announced in partnership with the County Westmeath operation on Thursday. Bucanero Fuerte, who was bred by Gestut Zur Kuste AG from the Elusive City mare Frida La Blonde (Fr), was bought by Robson Aguiar for €165,000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale and subsequently won four of his nine career starts for trainer Adrian Murray. Following a successful debut at the Curragh when winning the first two-year-old race of the Irish Flat...

DONCASTER, England--Clive Cox might not have a degree in mechanical engineering, but it's fair to say that there have been few better trainers than him over the years when it comes to masterminding the career trajectory of a 'Donny Rocket'. Think Harry Angel (Ire), the July Cup and Sprint Cup scorer bought by Cox for just £44,000 at the 2015 edition of the Goffs UK Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale, or the Prix de l'Abbaye heroine Gilt Edge Girl (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}), his very first Group 1 winner who he'd...

The Gowran Park Breeze-Up Sale is set to make its return in 2025 with powerhouse consignors Willie Browne, Con Marnane and Roger O'Callaghan pledging to support what was formerly known as the Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale.  The Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale was relocated to Fairyhouse and run by Tattersalls Ireland back in 2019. However, this year marks the first time that Tattersalls Ireland will run the sale away from the banner of Goresbridge.  After a four-year hiatus, Goresbridge Horse Sales returned to the point-to-point and horses-in-training market last month under the leadership...

Out from the cloudy backdrop on a morning borrowed from winter comes a sight so good that it serves to remind that spring has in fact sprung and the Flat season is not as far away as it seems.  There is Group 1 winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) leading Derby entrants Mr Hampstead (Galileo {Ire}) and Padesha (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). And who's that lobbing along in behind? Potential Dubai World Cup runner Elegant Man (Arrogate) and Qipco Champion S. hero King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) add...

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...

It has been a big year for Whitsbury Manor Stud. From a landmark result with homebred Chaldean going on to win the 2,000 Guineas for Juddmonte, his half-sister Get Ahead selling for 2.5m gns at public auction and the continued rise of superstar stallion Havana Grey, 2023 has been the gift that keeps on giving for Ed Harper and his team. There is plenty, still, to look forward to next year, with fellow Whitsbury-based stallion Sergei Prokofiev set to be represented by his first crop of runners and Dragon Symbol...

Widely considered one of the shrewdest judges of equine talent on an international scale, Robson Aguiar has described Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB) as the best horse he has ever ridden and predicted the colt would be very hard to beat in Saturday's G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh. It was Aguiar who first spotted the potential in the Adrian Murray-trained Bucanero Fuerte as a yearling last year and went to €165,000 to secure the colt from Etreham at the August Sale at Arqana.  Victory in the first juvenile...

Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan has paid tribute to the record-breaking Harry Angel colt who sold for £500,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale on Tuesday but died less than two days later in a transport accident. The Harry Angel colt was sold to trainer Michael O'Callaghan, who held off the persistent challenge of Amo Racing's Kia Joorabchian as underbidder. Roger O'Callaghan told TDN Europe on Saturday morning, "It's a crying shame but accidents happen. We'll never know how good he really was." The horse was pinhooked by Tally-Ho Stud for...

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...

The spotlight was cast on the burgeoning breeze-up operation of jockeys Gary Halpin and Sean Davis, best known for riding winners rather than producing them, when their graduate Song For Whoever (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) ran out an impressive winner of the opening six-furlong maiden at Dundalk on Friday evening.  Song For Whoever, who Halpin and Davis bought for €28,000 at the Goffs Sportsman's Sale last year before selling to Howson & Holdsworth Bloodstock for £42,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale, was getting off the mark at the third...

Less than a week after his owner Kia Joorabchian announced that leading juvenile Persian Force (Ire) would be retired to stud, Roger O'Callaghan confirmed that the Group 2-winning speedster would be heading back home to Tally-Ho Stud, where he will stand alongside his father Mehmas (Ire) in 2023.  Tally-Ho snapped up Persian Force at the November Foal Sales at Goffs in 2020 for €75,000 from Ringfort Stud before selling the colt the following year at the Orby Sale to Peter and Ross Doyle for €225,000. Last seen finishing a gallant...