Tally-Ho Stud

When the affable David Ward bought a Montjeu (Ire) yearling filly at Goffs Orby through SackvilleDonald for €50,000 in 2011, he could not have envisaged the journey she would take he and his family on over the next 10 years. Named Northern Star (Ire), she was no world-beater on the track, winning a maiden at Bath as a 3-year-old; however, her record as a broodmare was impeccable before her untimely death after delivering just three foals. Her second foal was Starman (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), who carried Ward's colours to...

The European breeze-up sector prides itself as a source of quality, a notion that held particular weight in 2021 as graduates Native Trail (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) signed off their juvenile campaigns with victories in the G1 Dewhurst S. and G1 Middle Park S. Added to that, various graduates are currently more than holding their own at stud. This isn't a new development--older representatives such as Society Rock (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) and Paco Boy (Ire) (Desert Style {Ire}) each sired Group 1...

KILDARE, Ireland--The fourth and final day of the Goffs Foal Sale saw prices return to a more affordable level for the average working man or woman, and while there were no dizzying highs there was a decent level of trade for those present. With an extra day of foals compared to last year, Thursday was always going to test the resilience of the market and not surprisingly the clearance rate dropped a couple of points from the day before to 79% while the session topper, a Mehmas (Ire) colt, fetched...

Kodiac (GB) (Danehill) leads the seven-strong roster at Tally-Ho Stud at an unchanged fee of €65,000 in 2022. Responsible for 13 black-type winners in 2021, the 20-year-old's progeny enjoyed Group 1 success with G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero El Bodegon (Ire) and G1 Commonwealth Cup heroine Campanelle (Ire). Also among his group winners this term are Cloudy Dawn (Ire), American Bridge (GB), Bear Story (Ire), Glounthaune (Ire) and Fast Attack (Ire). Priced at €50,000, Mehmas (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), who was the Champion First-Season Sire in Europe in 2022, celebrated 11...

Purciaretta landed her first black-type win in the Listed Premio Divino Amore Livermore and became her first-season sire's second stakes scorer at Campannelle. A winner at first asking back in May, she won a Rome affair four starts later going 1000 metres on Sept. 24. She then took a conditions race there on Oct. 15 and was narrowly favoured on Sunday. Breaking from the rail, the filly raced one off the fence and just behind a rival in second. Purciaretta spent the middle part of the race with her head...

Starman (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}--Northern Star {Ire}, by Montjeu {Ire}), who was favourite for Saturday's G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S., has been retired from racing after suffering a minor injury. He will stand next season at Tally-Ho Stud in Ireland. "It's a huge shame as we were really looking forward to Saturday and confirming him to be the champion that he is," said Starman's trainer Ed Walker. "I've always thought he was the best around and he's certainly the best I've ever trained." Bred and raced by David Ward,...

Everest Racing, David Redvers and Barbara Keller's 2-year-old filly Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) encountered promising sorts when hitting the board over six furlongs in both August starts at Deauville and graduated in a six-furlong Chantilly maiden last month. Returning over the same course and distance of that breakthrough score for Saturday's G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte, the Francis Graffard trainee exhibited late dash to claim a first black-type success with aplomb. The 15-2 chance was swiftly away and tracked the leading duo in third through halfway. Nudged along passing the quarter-mile...

KILDARE, Ireland--There's no denying that bloodstock sales are an important part of the business but it is what happens on the racecourse that truly counts and recent events have put an extra spring in the step of a number of breeders at Kildare Paddocks ahead of the start of the Goffs Orby Sale. Standing outside her draft of six from Staffordstown on Monday morning was Kirsten Rausing, chatting happily with her staff and brand new director of the stud John Oxx. Rausing broke off every now and then to accept...

Saeed bin Mohammed Al Qassimi's 2-year-old colt Caturra (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) rebounded off a runner-up finish in last month's Listed Roses S. at York to swoop late for a career high in Friday's G2 Wainwright Flying Childers S at Doncaster. The April-foaled bay, who had earlier finished a close-up seventh in Royal Ascot's June 15 G2 Coventry S., made a stakes breakthrough with victory in Newbury's July 16 Listed Rose Bowl S. next time and posted a last-of-seven contesting Goodwood's July 29 G2 Richmond S. in his penultimate start. Caturra,...

DONCASTER, UK--Any fears that a reduced catalogue and lack of high-end Maktoum participation could lead to a soft market at the Goffs UK Premier Sale were firmly quashed as the auction came to a close on Wednesday in Doncaster with a set of results that compared favourably with the pre-Covid era. At 366 lots, Goffs UK compiled a catalogue that was 8.5% smaller than last year. Yet in a testament to the quality of horse on offer, not to mention the appetite of buyers on the ground, the sale returned...

There are banners along the High Street of my home town of Newmarket saying 'Welcome back to racing'. Though we've been fortunate in England to have been able to allow crowds gradually to return to racecourses earlier than some other countries, it has only really been in the last few weeks that it has felt like the proper pre-pandemic experience. And where better to have the people back in force than at York, widely regarded by many to be the best racecourse in the country? Any amount of time spent...

Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's 2-year-old colt Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) became the first stakes winner for his freshman sire (by Kodiac {GB}) when plundering Royal Ascot's June 17 G2 Norfolk S. and, despite a blip when fifth in last month's July 29 G2 Richmond S. at Goodwood, notched another first for the Overbury Stud incumbent with a decisive victory in Sunday's G1 Darley Prix Morny at Deauville, a "Win And You're In" for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November. The January-foaled bay...