Joe Foley

The Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes, the richest race at Naas, has attracted 209 entries ahead of its running on Bank Holiday Monday, August 3, with €200,000 in prize money on offer.  The Ballyhane Stakes is a six-furlong contest for EBF eligible two-year-olds by a sire with a median price of no more than €75,000. Last year's contest was won by the €38,000 purchase Howd'yadoit, trained by Ger Lyons and ridden by Colin Keane. His owner Sean Jones looks set to mount a strong defence of the title, with nine horses...

Ballyhane Stud has announced the two winners of its inaugural breeders' raffle, an initiative designed to reward the breeders supporting the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes.  Tina Dargan has been named the winning recipient of a free nomination to Breeders' Cup winner Magnum Force while Sandra Fox is the winning recipient of a free nomination to the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Sakheer. These nominations are available for immediate use during the current breeding season. Joe Foley, owner Ballyhane Stud said, "The Ballyhane Breeders' Raffle is our way of recognising...

Grade I winner Magnum Force has his first four mares scanned in foal at Ballyhane Stud. Standing for €7,500 in 2026, the son of Mehmas won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Stakes winner Asidious Alexander (Windsor Knot), Sunday Smart (Dandy Man), Gold Vision (Havana Gold), a sister to stakes winner Aqlaam Vision (Aqlaam), and Odessa On My Mind (Saxon Warrior), a half-sister to stakes scorer Most Beautiful (Canford Cliffs), have all tested in foal to the young stallion. "He's had a busy start and has settled into the...

Some clarity was provided to the supporters of Sands Of Mali on Thursday after the High Court ordered Steve Parkin's legal team to release covering certificates to the breeders that have sent mares to a stallion who was reported to have sold to Yeomanstown Stud for €8 million in a silent auction held by Tattersalls Ireland back in November.  The order was made by Mr Justice David Nolan as the long-running legal battle between owner-breeder Parkin and his former racing manager and Ballyhane Stud owner Joe Foley wrangled on.  Parkin's...

There are two types of people in life: those who are bowed by adversity and those who stare it in the face and dare it to try to bring them down.  For more than a year Joe Foley has been involved in an ongoing court battle with Steve Parkin. Prior to that the pair had a long and successful run on the track with Parkin's Clipper Logistics operation, which Foley managed. Recent highlights include the homebred Classic winner Fallen Angel, who is now in the ownership of Wathnan Racing. Whatever...

Being a leading broodmare sire is so often a posthumous honour. It is also one that tends to come on the back of a stallion either having been sent strong books of mares from the outset, or having earned that right through eye-catching early results in his stud career.  Of the top 20 broodmare sires in Europe in 2025, only half of them are still living, and of that 10, eight remain active. It is hardly earth-shattering news to reveal that Galileo's name was at the top of the list,...

As old-fashioned as it may now seem, in this small corner of the bloodstock world a strong personal preference it still held for the Derby above all races. And by that, of course, we are talking about the original version, at Epsom, with that piece of wood at the end of the unique mile-and-a-half challenge which was made famous in a quote from the revered breeder Federico Tesio.  We can't all agree on everything though, can we? That would just be dull. But beyond the stifling and shouty sphere of...

The 2026 Mark O'Hanlon Memorial Racing and Breeding Quiz is set to take place on Friday, January 16 and is returning to its regular haunt of the Lord Bagenal Hotel in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. It coincides with the ITM Irish Stalion Trail, which is running on the Friday and Saturday with more than 30 farms across Ireland opening their doors to visitors. Always fiercely, if not fairly, contested, the quiz was won last year by the team of Bobby and Mouse O'Ryan, Ryan McElligott and Gerald Connolly, who regularly feature...

One of the most exciting young stallions in Europe is on his way to Yeomanstown Stud after Gay O'Callaghan struck the winning bid for the sire of Group 1 winner Time For Sandals at a Tattersalls Ireland silent auction. Sands Of Mali has been at the centre of a legal dispute between Steve Parkin of Clipper Logistics and Ballyhane Stud boss Joe Foley, who has managed the career of the 10-year-old stallion since he joined the roster back in 2021.  In that time, the Group 1 winner has confirmed himself...

Breeders' Cup victor Magnum Force has been retired and will stand at Ballyhane Stud in Ireland from next year. A fee for the Grade I-winning son of Mehmas will be announced later. The Ger Lyons trainee won at second asking at Cork, before running second in the Listed Julia Graves Roses Stakes at York last August. Third in Doncaster's G2 Flying Childer's Stakes in September, he triumphed by a half-length in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar on November 1. The son of the Fastnet Rock mare Tropical Rock...

Former Tom Clover trainee and dual Listed winner Witness Stand (Expert Eye), now representing the training partnership of Jamie Insole and Richard Newland, was let go at 25-1 for Tuesday's G2 HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes at Goodwood and made a mockery of his extended odds with a stunning victory in a dramatic renewal of the seven-furlong contest. The well-supported dual winner Kinross (Kingman) was withdrawn at the start after receiving a kick from eventual third Audience (Iffraaj). "I have been involved in a lot of big winners and to...

This Saturday sees the inaugural running of the Irish EBF Pat Smullen Stakes at Naas, with the Listed contest having attracted eight runners from seven different stables.  Run over a mile, the race is part of the Smullen Series, launched this year by the Irish EBF and consisting of 18 middle-distance races for two- and three-year-olds. Daytona (Wootton Bassett), a winning debutant last month at Gowran Park, is among the field and his trainer Aidan O'Brien was keen to target the race which is named in honour of his late...