By Tom Frary
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 dreams exceeded is amazing. You have to remind yourself the journey we have enjoyed with this horse ever since Lady Iman won first time out at Dundalk earlier in the year. To where we are now, it has been a white-knuckle ride. Unbelievable.”
To illustrate how in vogue Starman is in right now, Tally-Ho Stud made something of an unprecedented move earlier this week to issue a statement saying that the stallion was full at €40,000. Two races after Sound And Vision on the Friday card, the filly Florida Suite made it 43 in the nursery.
“They've never had to do that before,” Ward added. “He filled up pretty quickly last year as well, but he has been pretty close to full for the past number of weeks and obviously got over the line the other day. Every day has been Christmas for me for a long time this year. What more can you say? He's remarkable in his temperament and he's remarkable in what he has achieved at stud. Hopefully he will continue to be remarkable.”
🇬🇧Restricted Novice Stakes @Southwell_Races
Southwell – Classe 5 – 2 ans – 1000m – 8 Pts – 6 197 £🏆Sound And Vision (f) (Ire) 🏇Kieran Shoemark
📖(Starman (Gb) @HoStud – Commodus (Ire) par Australia (Gb))🕶️E Walker @edwalkerracing
🎩David Ward pic.twitter.com/pb7ukjDCc9— French and International Horse Racing (@Vincenzo0612) December 19, 2025
1st-Southwell, £6,300, Novice, 12-19, 2yo, 4f 215y (AWT), :58.71, st.
SOUND AND VISION (IRE) (f, 2, Starman {GB}–Commodus {Ire}, by Australia {GB}) Sales history: €21,000 Wlg '23 GOFNOF. Lifetime Record: 4-1-0-1, $6,707. O-David Ward; B-Michael & Martin Butler; T-Ed Walker.
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