Tally-Ho Stud

Tally-Ho Stud took the unprecedented decision earlier this month to announce that Starman, the runaway winner of the first-season sires' championship in Britain and Ireland, was fully subscribed at a fee of €40,000 - up from €10,000 this year - for 2026.  So, did the O'Callaghans make a boo-boo by setting the fee too low given they have effectively had to turn breeders away? How fully booked correlates to paying customers remains to be seen but you can bet your bottom dollar that Starman will cover in excess of 200...

Bloodstock agent Jason Kelly reflects on a memorable year highlighted by Group 1 scorer Maranoa Charlie There will be people who won't want 2025 to end. Bloodstock agent Jason Kelly is one of those people. The highlight among a slew of big-race successes was that of Maranoa Charlie (Wootton Bassett), an inspired mid-summer buy who delivered a breakthrough Group 1 victory for Bond Thoroughbreds in the Prix de la Foret before being snapped up by Tally-Ho Stud, where he will stand for an opening fee of €20,000 next year. There...

David Ward's year of celebration with Starman has continued into the run-up to Christmas as his filly Sound And Vision provided the breakthrough first-season sire with his 42nd winner at Southwell on Friday. After watching the Ed Walker trainee collect the five-furlong novice, he was keen to reflect on the season of all seasons. "You go into the year with hopes and dreams, don't you? But in life, hopes and dreams get dashed, never mind in horse racing," he said. "To come out the other end with those hopes and...

The aptly-named Easy has been billed as one of the star attractions to Monday's Sceptre Sessions at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale and Brian Slattery says that the Listed-winning daughter of Kodiac boasts "international appeal" and a successful sale would put the cherry on top of what has been a dream year for his brother and trainer, Andy.  The landscape of Irish racing has changed even in the past few years alone. The bigger trainers have become behemoths and it has become harder and harder for the middle to lower...

If Tuesday's opening session of the December Foal Sale at Tattersalls was all about Dragon Symbol, then Wednesday was the day that the young upstart received a sharp warning should he wish to assume the throne as Whitsbury Manor Stud kingpin, with the present incumbent, Havana Grey, taking his turn to play the starring role on a day of fierce trade at Park Paddocks. By the close of play, Havana Grey accounted for five of the day's top 18 lots, headlined by lot 650 from the Whitsbury Manor draft. The...

Tally-Ho Stud's new recruit Maranoa Charlie, a Group 1-winning son of Wootton Bassett, has been introduced at a fee of €20,000 for the 2026 breeding season. Trained in France by Christopher Head, the three-year-old is a four-time Group winner, those victories including the Prix de la Foret on Arc weekend.  This year's champion first-season sire-elect Starman has received a significant boost in fee, which rises from €10,000 to €40,000, while his stud-mate Mehmas, who was himself champion freshman sire in 2020, has been held at his 2025 fee of €70,000....

The Goffs November Foal Sale is considered by many to be the jewel in the crown for Goffs - certainly from an Irish perspective - and Tuesday's trade, which followed on from a strong curtain-raiser on Monday, went some way to confirming that opinion.  Despite some of the best foals not being due into the ring until Wednesday, trade at the Kildare venue this week has been robust at every level. It's not exactly a secret at this stage that the foal sales at Goffs are popular among buyers but,...

Pinhookers have their say on the market ahead of the November Foal Sale at Goffs Philipp Stauffenberg, Fearghal Hogan, Roger O'Callaghan and more have weighed in on what many pinhookers have described as being one of the trickiest yearling sale seasons in recent times and outlined how they will be approaching next week's Goffs November Foal Sale.  Pinhookers definitely didn't have it easy at the yearling sales this year, yet the first chapters of some of the most spinetingling stories of life-changing profits were written at a sale that has...

This year's G1 Prix de la Foret winner Maranoa Charlie has been retired from racing and will stand at Tally-Ho Stud in 2026. Trained by Christopher Head, Maranoa Charlie was beaten just once in four starts as a two-year-old, notably winning the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud by eight lengths. "I don't think I've ever trained a horse like Maranoa Charlie, one with his desire to run and who can take the others on like that," said Head in the aftermath of that impressive victory. "He gets better with...

Last term's G2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Powerful Glory (Cotai Glory) was the lowest-rated and least experienced contender lining up for Saturday's G1 Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot and, having beaten just one rival in two starts this season, came home with a career high after posting a 200-1 shock in the straight six-furlong dash. His odds are the longest for the winner of a European Group 1 contest, surpassing Qirat's 150-1 in this term's G1 Sussex Stakes. "We always thought he was a nice horse, but at 200-1...

KILDARE, IRELAND - Classic winners Jim Bolger and Joe Joyce shared the spoils for top lot status on the final day of a red-hot Book 2 session of the Goffs Orby Sale on Thursday when their respective fillies by Teofilo and Mehmas sold for €135,000 apiece.  Bolger's fingerprints were all over Joyce's Mehmas filly, who the breeder consigned himself under his own Cahermorris Stables banner. It was Tally-Ho Stud who landed the filly whose dam, Smart Flies, won and reached a rating of 86 when in training with Bolger.  As...

Tally-Ho Stud put in a dominant display at this year's Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale by selling 24 yearlings for a combined £1,743,000, which included the £150,000 day two session-topping colt by Mehmas, who went the way of Jason Kelly on behalf of Bond Thoroughbreds just minutes before the final whistle was blown on Thursday.  To illustrate how strong Tally-Ho's performance was this week, the Westmeath-based outfit finished the sale over £1 million clear of their nearest pursuer in the consigning ranks which was Baroda Stud, who sold 13 horses...