Ardad

And on we go, to a sector of the market that will have great appeal to the shrewd and smaller breeders (you can certainly be both), with the next part of our Value Sires series devoted to those standing in the bracket of £7,500 to £14,999 (approximately €8,500 to €17,000).  There are always deals to be struck in the stallion market, and perhaps that is especially true within the lower price tiers, where your bartering power may also depend on your previous support of a particular stallion or stud, and...

Golden Horn, the sire of this year's dual Group 1-winning stayer Trawlerman and Champion Hurdle heroine Golden Ace, will stand for the unchanged fee of £10,000 at Overbury Stud in 2026. "Golden Horn has had an impressive year under both codes. To sire winners of the Champion Hurdle, Triumph Hurdle and the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot within a few months is simply exceptional, and his 15% stakes horses to runners ratio on the Flat is outstanding," said the stallion's owner, Jayne McGivern. "Golden Horn has every right to command...

Yearling fillies by Rubaiyat and Ardad led the way during Saturday's Auctav Flat Yearling Sale. The duo each made €20,000 on the bids of Herald Bloodstock and Anna and Moa Sundstrom of Coulonces, respectively. Sold as lot 43, the daughter of Rubaiyat and Kaiserwiese (Sholokhov) was consigned by Haras du Long Champ. She is a half-sister to dual Group 3 winner Kronprinz (Lord Of England) and the group-placed King (Lord Of England. Later in the day, lot 72, a half-sister to the stakes-placed Love Interest (Time Test), went through the...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features the return of a Wootton Bassett 'TDN Rising Star'. 1.50 Doncaster, Cond, 2yo, 6f 111yT BRUSSELS (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) takes a class drop for this Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes in which stablemate Camille Pissarro managed to get beaten 12 months ago before going to...

The annual partial dispersal of Gigginstown House Stud features six lots during the upcoming Tattersalls Online August Sale. Set for Tuesday, August 12 at 11 a.m., the sale concludes beginning at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, August 13. Featuring 120 horses in- and out-of-training, 16 broodmares, four stores, two yearlings and a breeding right in Group 1 sire Ardad, the 143-strong sale has received widespread support from 90 individual consignors spread across Great Britain, Ireland and France. From Gigginstown is the winning hurdler and IHRB 129-rated chaser Harsh (Dark Angel) (lot...

For this third part in our series on value sires in Europe, we are approaching the level where the word value perhaps becomes more meaningful in that we are dealing with stallions in the €10,000 to €19,999 fee bracket.  In this mid range, some sires are passing through, either on their way up as popularity and commercial demand soars, or dropping in fee during the sometimes notoriously difficult years in a stallion's career. Notably that often comes in the third and fourth seasons at stud when they are no longer...

Ardad (Ire) will remain at a fee of £12,500 for the fourth consecutive season at Overbury Stud. The 10-year-old son of Kodiac (GB), whose first-crop son and treble Group 1 Perfect Power (Ire) is now on the Darley roster, has 153 two-year-olds to represent him in 2025. "They're by far his biggest and best-bred bunch so far, conceived on the back of that sensational start," said Simon Sweeting of Overbury Stud. 'Trainers and agents seem to really like them - they are such good-walking, good tempered horses - and Ardad had...

Stick or twist? That's the question faced by many breeders this year. Anecdotally, it appears that some will be pulling back and not covering certain mares, which is understandable after a tricky sales season, not to mention the constant reminders from racecourse managers regarding the "significant headwinds" faced by racing. Unlike America, the foal crop in Britain and Ireland has been gently on the rise in recent years, up to 13,438 in 2023, compared to 12,778 in 2020, though within that combined number for last year, the Irish crop rose...

The Tattersalls December Mares Sale marked the end of an era with Paul and Sara Thorman bringing the curtain down on their Trickledown Stud.  Trickledown made its first public offering back in 1990 and has seen a kaleidoscope of change in the industry ever since.  The Thormans will forever be associated for having back-to-back 2,000 Guineas winners--George Washington (Ire) and Cockney Rebel (Ire)--through their hands in the early noughties George Washington was sold by Trickledown on behalf of his breeder at Tattersalls in 2004, where he topped Book 1 when...

Overbury Stud has released the fees for its Flat roster, with Ardad (Ire) remaining at £12,500 in 2024 while the fee for Golden Horn (GB) has been increased to £10,000 (from £8,000) on the back of a season in which he was represented by the G2 Queen's Vase winner Gregory (GB) and G2 British Champions Long Distance Cup winner Trawlerman (GB). Golden Horn, who covered 173 mares this spring, stood his first season at Overbury Stud in 2023, having moved from Dalham Hall Stud after his purchase by Jayne McGivern....

NEWMARKET, UK--Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) may have been overturned in Wednesday's G3 Sagaro S. at Ascot, but the five-time group-winning stayer remains a great advertisement of the diversity of horses on offer across the range of breeze-up sales in Europe. We've seen plenty of those dubbed as 'Royal Ascot two-year-olds' over the last week or so, and as the British leg of the breeze-up action comes to a close at Tattersalls on Thursday, the focus generally adjusts slightly to more of a later-maturing specimen. It was at the Guineas Sale...

Top bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done his bit to alleviate any stresses vendors may have been feeling on the eve of the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale by explaining that he will be using a raft of metrics other than just times in an effort to find the next Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) at this year's sale.  Monday's breeze took place on testing ground, with some two-year-olds handling it better than most, which will all be taken into account by the buying bench, according to Blandford Bloodstock's ace scout. ...