Good Guess

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...

Nobody wants to be late to the party. That statement applies to just about every aspect in business and is especially pertinent with a view towards breeding.  Everyone would love to send mares to Mehmas and Starman but, the reality of the situation is that many breeders' mating plans are dictated just as much by their pockets as it is by their head. The trick is cottoning on to the next Mehmas and the next Starman before they go north - and that can be easier said than done.  Luckily...

Bear with me now, but parallels could be drawn between the Irish football team's World Cup qualification campaign and the Goffs November Foal Sale. Last year's sale was akin to the boys in green thumping Portugal 2-0 in the Aviva Stadium. Nobody saw it coming.  One swallow doesn't make a summer, though, and it would all have been forgotten had Ireland come up short in Hungary. Well, Troy Parrott didn't read the script, and neither did Henry Beeby. A last-minute winner in Budapest gives Ireland a fighting chance of making...

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....

For the third time in four years, Sioux Nation was the busiest Flat stallion at stud in Britain and Ireland in 2025, according to the Return of Mares, which has been published by Weatherbys. The son of Scat Daddy, who stands at Coolmore's Castlehyde Stud in County Cork, was usurped last year by his ill-fated stud-mate, Calyx, but he returned to the top of the charts during the latest breeding season, having covered 282 mares. The busiest stallion of any description was Whytemount Stud's Affinisea on 314, ahead of Boardsmill...

When Michelangelo sculpted David, you'd imagine he took the time to stand back, blow the dust off of his brow and marvel at his masterpiece, wouldn't you? Like David, Tally-Ho Stud has taken years of hard chiseling but you must be living in Lalaland if you think Tony O'Callaghan is a man for slowing down and taking in all that has been achieved.  If there's one thing O'Callaghan hates more than arrogance it's idleness. With 200 mares on the farm, considerably more yearlings and foals coming through the system, a...

There is an undertone of negativity surrounding horseracing these days, almost all of which is generated by its participants and followers, and greatly exacerbated by the increasingly unpleasant arena that is social media. Where once Twitter was fun and we all gained excellent insight into trainers' yards and, for some, their sense of humour, now X marks the spot at which we should perhaps consciously uncouple from twits and trolls. Let's get out more. And where better to start than by hitching a ride on the stallion trails? This Friday...

It has been a basic tenet of bloodstock since the early days that Classic form is to be respected when a colt or a filly retires to stud. Some Classic results stand out, with the 1984 Prix du Jockey-Club often cited thanks to Darshaan (GB) leading home Sadler's Wells and Rainbow Quest in a trifecta of future superstar sires. As regards fillies, the 1990 Prix de Diane takes some beating, with Rafha (GB) coming home ahead of Moon Cactus (GB) and Colour Chart. All three ended up breeding at least...

Tally-Ho Stud has announced that new recruit Good Guess will stand at €17,500 in 2024 while Mehmas has ben dropped €10,000 to a fee of €50,000. The stud's flagbearer Kodiac, the sire of Good Guess, has also had his fee relaxed from €40,000 to €35,000 for 2024. A statement published on Monday read, "We are delighted to announce that G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Good Guess will stand his first season in 2024 at a fee of €17,500. "A 420,000gns yearling from the family of Classic-winning miler Russian Rhythm, Good...

Tally-Ho Stud has snapped up G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Good Guess (GB) to join its stallion roster for 2024.  Trained by Fabrice Chappet in France, Good Guess had the 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and other high-class horses such as subsequent G1 Prix du Moulin winner Sauterne (Fr) (Kingman {GB}) behind him when landing his Group 1 at Deauville.  He will stand alongside his sire Kodiac (GB), who has served Tally-Ho proud since joining the roster in 2007, at the stud next year.  "We are delighted to...

Fabrice Chappet has already bagged one Classic trial this season and, weather permitting, has another two chances of group-race success this weekend with Fortune (Fr) (De Treville {GB}) entered in Sunday's G3 Prix Noailles and Paz (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the G3 Prix de la Grotte. On April 6, Good Guess (GB) (Kodiac {Fr}) became the trainer's second winner of the G3 Prix Djebel. The first, Dice Roll (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), went on to run third in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains, with that race now the target for...

Thank goodness for France. While Britain and Ireland mostly pause the serious Flat action in Grand National week, the French Classic trials rolled on with the return of racing at Longchamp on Sunday, which will be backed up by another strong card this coming Sunday. It was hard not to be impressed by the seasonal debut of Jannah Rose (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who has raced only twice for two wins, and looked a proper Classic prospect for Al Shira'aa Farms and Carlos Laffon-Parias when winning the G3 Prix Vanteaux. When...