Waldgeist

Dietrich von Boetticher's famed Gestut Ammerland is undergoing a reduction in scale but is not, as reported this week in the German press, ceasing business completely. As part of that process, the owner/breeder's neighbouring farm on Lake Starnberg, Gestut Bernried, will close from the end of May. "It's very much an official reduction, he is not stopping breeding," said an Ammerland representative. "He's been selling more yearlings and reducing the stock over a number of years. The idea is to bring the operation down from around 50 to about a...

On a crisp, bright morning at Ballylinch Stud last week, there was just cause for enthusiasm from managing director John O'Connor, and not just for the tea and cake on the table in front of us.  Not much more than a hop, skip and a jump from the office, via a path right past the headstone of The Tetrarch, the stallion yard is about to crank into top gear as the mares start rolling in for the season. There may only be four stallions, but there will be plenty of...

KILDARE, Ireland--A dreich day may have tried its hardest to dampen the spirits, but there was an altogether warmer feel to proceedings in the ring as the sales season sparked into action in Ireland with a bumper mixed catalogue at Goffs. Extended to three days, with around 600 horses slated to sell, it is tricky to make direct comparisons with smaller and Covid-interrupted sales of previous years, but a healthy median of €10,000, average of €20,235, and turnover of €2,124,700 from 105 horses sold (64%) should be regarded as a...

DEAUVILLE, France--Culls from some of Europe's-and indeed, the world's-greatest breeders have played a sizable role in driving the market at this year's breeding stock sales. Over the past few weeks buyers have come out in force for the stock deemed excess to Juddmonte, Godolphin and Shadwell, but they had to wait until Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale for the offerings from Wertheimer et Frere, with that nursery selling exclusively in Deauville each December. It was a mare from that consignment that supplied the joint-highest price during Monday's second session of...

Lope De Vega (Ire) will stand at €125,000 in 2022, that figure being unchanged from his 2021 fee at Ballylinch Stud, where he has stood throughout his 11 covering seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. His popularity transcends Europe, however, and the 14-year-old son of Shamardal is now the sire of 13 Group/Grade 1 winners in America, Australia, Britain, Ireland, France, and Dubai. "This year Lope de Vega confirmed that he is one of the world's elite sires, with an exceptional 48 black-type horses in 2021 alone," said Ballylinch Stud managing...

Al Shira'aa Farms continued the spending spree on well-bred fillies it had begun last week at Goffs Orby when going to 1.25-million at Tattersalls on Thursday for the very first lot through the ring, the Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to Arc winner Waldgeist (Ire). Lot 336 was bred by Newsells Park Stud in partnership with Gestut Ammerland and sold by Newsells.   👑 the first lot into the ring today at #TattsOctober Book 1 sells for 1,250,000gns. Lot 336 is a filly by Dubawi (@DarleyEurope) half-sister to Arc winner Waldgeist. She...

Newsells Park Stud has become one of the most steadfast sights of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale-being, as it has, leading vendor at Book 1 for the past three years, and five of the past eight years--and while many of the familiar faces behind the stud remain the same, it has in fact undergone some significant changes this year, with entrepreneur Graham Smith-Bernal having purchased Newsells Park in June from the Jacobs family. Not that Newsells Park is new at all to Smith-Bernal-he had been a client of the stud...

The entrepreneur Victor Kiam once starred in his own commercials for Remington Products with the memorable catchphrase, "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company." Now an entrepreneur of a different kind, Graham Smith-Bernal, finds himself in a similar situation with Newsells Park Stud. Until last week, he was a relatively small owner/breeder with four broodmares and six horses in training. Now Smith-Bernal has gone from being a client to the new owner of Newsells Park Stud, along with all the farm's bloodstock formerly owned by the Jacobs...

Newsells Park Stud, which has been owned by the Jacobs family since 2000, has been sold to owner/breeder and tech entrepreneur Graham Smith-Bernal. The Hertfordshire farm is home to the stallions Nathaniel (Ire) and Without Parole (GB), and the sale agreed with Jacobs Holdings includes the stud's bloodstock and 1,200-acre property. The 63-year-old Smith-Bernal is described in a press release announcing the sale as "a leading figure in legal technology, [who] revolutionised the operation of law courts, tribunals and arbitrations around the world through the introduction by his company, Opus...

Although his first crop is just four this year, Make Believe (GB) has made an impressive start at stud with his flagbearer, Mishriff (Ire), backing up his Classic-winning year with a recent win in the Saudi Cup. With the flat season due to start in a few weeks, racing pundits are already guessing at what possible route the winner of the world's richest race might take this year. For Make Believe, the breeding season has started in a strong vein and the team at Ballylinch Stud, where the sire stands,...

We kicked off our annual Value Sires series earlier this week with a look at the new class of sires entering stud in 2021, and today we move on to the group with their first foals set to hit the ground in the coming months. While it is not always a straightforward task to pinpoint value in unproven sires, the ripple effects of the global pandemic make the exercise a little more interesting this year. While it has become the norm for some young sires to get fee cuts in...

A one-stop shop for stallion nominations? Well maybe it's not quite there yet but, having only launched last autumn during the yearling sales, the stallion nomination trading website buyanom.com has quickly gained a decent following. A browse through its listing pages this week showed nominations available to Dandy Man (Ire), Dark Angel (Ire), Kodiac (GB), Oasis Dream (GB) and Showcasing (GB) among the more established stallions, and these are just a fraction of the those for sale, with the first-season sires available including crack sprinter Soldier's Call (GB) and Arc...