Sands Of Mali

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...

We're not quite halfway through the Flat season but Royal Ascot feels like a pivotal point. It's not just the fact that it coincides with the summer solstice (even though summer has really only just arrived in these parts) but it includes the first properly meaningful two-year-old contests along with a set of races for the Classic generation which start to underline the really serious prospects. While the yearling sales may tell one story of the popularity of stallions, one only needs to peruse the stakes race results on a...

There was no shortage of talking points to unpick from Wednesday. From Sands Of Mali bagging a breakthrough winner at the royal meeting to Karl Burke and Wathnan racing enjoying a change of fortune and even Ryan Moore coming out of his shell to defend Auguste Rodin, the action on and off the track did not disappoint.  Sands Of Mali Puts His Name In Lights It proved to be a big day for Ballyhane Stud's Sands Of Mali (Fr), who became the first of the freshman sires to get off...

Humility goes by the household name of humble and you will be hard pressed to find a more humble couple than Donna Cowens and Nicky Souza de Oliveira of DNA Equine. The pair burst onto the scene at the Goffs Breeze-Up Sale at Doncaster last year when selling Mantra (Ire) to Jake Warren on behalf of Highclere for a life-changing £160,000. The Tamayuz (Ire) filly had been bought for a song the previous winter. Identified by Cowens as a potentially nice type to go breezing and get the DNA consignment...

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...

Never has the demand to get horses into the breeze-up sales in Europe been higher. It begs the question; how do the big sales companies limit their catalogues?  Inspectors from Tattersalls, Arqana and Goffs have been out in force in recent weeks trawling through the breeze-up consignors' barns to come up with their shortlists.  According to Harry Fowler, one of the main inspectors at Goffs, entries for the company's only breeze-up sale have sky-rocketed this year. With most of the viewing done at this stage, the Goffs inspectors will meet...

Having started with the new stallions for 2024, we are continuing the series with those in the lower price tier beneath the fee of 10,000, whether in euros or sterling. For the benefit of this piece we are treating them as one and the same, despite the current exchange rate of £1 = €1.16. This is the territory inhabited by many small breeders, and in plenty of cases the margins between operating at a profit and a loss are very tight indeed.  I am reminded here of a particularly interesting...

Osarus has released the catalogue for its September Yearling Sale, which is to be held at La Teste de Buch racecourse on September 11 and 12. The 236 yearlings catalogued across the two days include one from the first crop of Sands Of Mali (Fr), who is arguably the most celebrated graduate of the sale, having been bought at Osarus in 2016 by Con Marnane. The winner of the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint among his four group wins, Sands Of Mali is now at Ballyhane Stud in Ireland. His...

For this final part of the series, we are looking at stallions who have retired to stud since 2021 and will thus have either first foals or yearlings at the sales this year or are about to cover their first book of mares. There is plenty to digest from three years' intake and of course prices can often drop after a stallion's first year at stud, so there could be some value to be found for breeders willing to roll the dice on a stallion about to embark on his...

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry   After a hectic few months perusing this year's foal and yearling crops, we asked the buyers to share their thoughts on the young stallions with first foals and yearlings.  Dermot Farrington, agent: "If you look at the list of people who have bought yearlings and foals by Advertise, it's a long time since a young stallion has attracted the who's who of the bloodstock world, and that's exactly what he has done. Whether it be yearlings to breeze, yearlings to race or foals...

With just 150 horses catalogued, the Osarus Yearling Sale, which takes place on Tuesday, is reduced to the size of catalogue last offered at September in La Teste de Buch a decade ago.  Osarus had made some inroads in the French market to the extent that Tattersalls took a majority stake in the business in 2014. But its sales never really took off in the way that they had at one time suggested they might and the pandemic only exacerbated the problem, with the its September fixture not taking place...