No Risk At All

Colin Bowe, who has blooded top-notchers like Samcro, Envoi Allen and more, topped the one-day Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale with Ballinaboola point-to-point winner Korkoran (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}) (lot 26) fetching £240,000 to Ed Bailey Bloodstock on behalf of trainer Harry Derham.  Korkoran's win came in the same maiden won by two-time Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 winner and Tattersalls Cheltenham February graduate Envoi Allen, who is aiming for a repeat victory in next month's Ryanair Chase. Now an eight-time Grade 1 winner, Envoi Allen was owned as a...

While all the clamour at last week's Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale was for the offspring of Walk In The Park (Ire) and Blue Bresil (Fr), at Arqana's Autumn Sale the dominant sire for young stores and National Hunt yearlings was Doctor Dino (Fr).  The Haras du Mesnil resident accounted for five of the nine six-figure lots, including the top lots on the last two days of the sale. Wednesday's concluding session saw Frederic Sauque bid €265,000 for Haras de l'Hotellerie's Doctor Dino yearling half-brother to Flat Listed winner...

Leading National Hunt sire No Risk At All (Fr) (My Risk {Fr}) will miss the remainder of the 2023 covering season after suffering an accident in a paddock at Haras de Montaigu in France. According to the farm, the 16-year-old stallion, whose produce include G1 Aintree Hurdle and two-time G1 Christmas Hurdle winner Epatante, will be on box rest for a month and the farm hopes to have him in full readiness to resume his career in 2024.

What is the most important thing needed to get a stallion farm off the ground? A lot of people would rightly guess money but, according to Tangi Saliou, hard work trumps all, and his thriving Haras de la Haie Neuve is living proof to that theory.  He may not have had a penny to his name when he embarked on a career in bloodstock a little over 20 years ago, but Saliou now stands nine stallions at Haras de la Haie Neuve, and is convinced that there is little that...

Is it just me or should France be known as the bloodstock land of opportunity? This is the country that saw Wootton Bassett (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire) pull themselves up by the bootstraps after entering the stud book at relatively modest sums. There are few serious racing nations that provide as much of a chance for a stallion to flourish than France does. Take Kauto Star (Fr), the greatest staying chaser of the modern era, as an example. He hailed from the largely unheralded Village Star (Fr)...

France was the forerunner of the stallion trail, its La Route des Etalons having been launched in 2010, catching the rising tide of increasingly sought-after stallions in the country following a spell in the doldrums.  This popular weekend feature of late January was, like almost everything else, interrupted for a few years by Covid restrictions, but there is none of that to worry about now as the two days of touring around some of Normandy's most exquisite stud farms gets underway this Saturday morning.  The bright young things of TDN...

Haras de Montaigu will stand five stallions in 2022, for which the fees were revealed on Wednesday. Montaigu announced earlier this week that the 2019 G1 Prix Royal-Oak winner Technician (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) would join its roster for his debut season, and the former Team Valor International runner will stand for €3,000. The G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin scorer Dschingis Secret (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) moves to Montaigu after three seasons at Haras de Saint Arnoult, and he will stand for €4,000 with a special rate for National Hunt mares....