Sam Bullard

The dual G1 Champion Stakes winner and young stallion Cracksman is on the move to Yorton Stud for the 2026 breeding season, having been purchased in a partnership with owner Dai Walters. The son of Frankel has been based at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud since 2019 and is perhaps best known in his second career as the sire of the unbeaten G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact. In total, he is the sire of 11 individual black-type winners, with the others...

Rosallion and Inisherin, both Group 1-winning grandsons of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's blue hen Reem Three (Mark Of Esteem), will join the Darley roster at Dalham Hall Stud for the 2026 breeding season. Trained by Richard Hannon, Rosallion retires as the winner of five of his 13 starts and over £1.6 million in career earnings. Beaten just once in four starts as a two-year-old, when his victories included the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp, he returned the following year with a runner-up finish in the G1 2,000 Guineas...

European champion two-year-old Shadow Of Light (Lope De Vega) has been retired from racing and will take up stud duties at Kildangan Stud in Ireland next year. A stud fee will be announced at a later date. Trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, Shadow Of Light joins the Darley roster as a dual Group 1 winner, having become only the third two-year-old since the Pattern began to win both the Middle Park Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes. Beaten just once in five starts that season, when filling the runner-up spot in...

The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) held its 108th Annual General Meeting on Monday, September 1, with chairman Philip Newton confirming the TBA's support for an independent Board at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). "Charles Allen has a big job in front of him," Newton said of the BHA's new chair. "The industry needs to recognise he doesn't have a silver bullet and cannot do this on his own. "The TBA will provide support, reasoned and considered counsel and give Charles Allen every opportunity to deliver the job he has been...

A breeding right in exciting young stallion Blue Point (Ire) is to be auctioned online on Darley winning bid, the bespoke online auction platform. The auction will take place between the hours of 9am on Tuesday, December 10 and 3pm on Wednesday, December 11. The leading first-season sire by number of winners in 2023, Blue Point covered 161 mares this season. First-crop son Rosallion (Ire) was his flagbearer on the racecourse with a pair of Group 1 wins in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes, with the...

With Dubawi as its lynchpin, there have of course been plenty of red-letter days for Darley in recent years, but the results from the Arc meeting at Longchamp on Sunday can nevertheless be deemed to be extra special. Best of all was the victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for the unbeaten Ace Impact (Ire), a member of the first crop of Cracksman (GB). That stellar performance was backed up by a first-crop Group 1 winner for Blue Point (Ire), who is leading the first-season sires' table and...

Godolphin's Eclipse Champion Male Turf Horse Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}--Modern Ideals {GB}, by New Approach {Ire}) will stand under the Darley banner at Dalham Hall Stud alongside his sire in Newmarket next season. A fee for the five-time top-level victor will be announced in due course. Trained by Charlie Appleby, he won both the G3 Somerville S. and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at two. Sent to France at three, Modern Games duly nabbed the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and was third in the G1 Prix du Jockey...

Classic winner and Group 1 sire Night Of Thunder (Ire) is one of seven European-based Darley stallions available on Southern Hemisphere time whose fees were revealed on Thursday. Set to stand for €50,000 at Kildangan Stud in Ireland, the son of Dubawi (Ire) sired his first international Group 1 winner with Kukeracha (NZ) from his only Australasian-bred crop. Former shuttler Palace Pier (GB) leads the way at Dalham Hall Stud at £25,000; and roster veteran and fellow former shuttle stallion Iffraaj (GB), who has accounted for 11 Group 1 winners...

The British EBF has allocated £1.9-million for total prizemoney contribution in 2022, with £1.7-million designated for over 700 flat races across Great Britain. A further £100,000 has been allocated for a new series for EBF-eligible 2-year-olds, with details to be announced in April. National Hunt prizemoney allocation remains unaltered and will support four series' including the EBF National Hunt Novice Hurdle. In other British EBF news, Ed Harper of Whitsbury Manor Stud joins the board of trustees while Chris Richardson of Cheveley Park Stud retires after two full terms. Shane...

Strip away the brass name plates, parade the Darley stallions in front of seasoned horsemen and ask them to pick the horse who last year sired three Breeders' Cup victors among 38 stakes winners and was the broodmare sire of the Derby winner. Of those who haven't seen him before, it is unlikely that many would choose Dubawi (Ire). Unlike his sire, the brilliant but ill-fated Dubai Millennium (GB), he is not a horse who 'fills the eye' with those long classic lines and fluent stride. On the short side...

Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal-Antiquities {GB}, by Kaldounevees {Fr}), an unbeaten Group 1-winning 2-year-old who trained on to be a Classic winner at three for Godolphin, has been retired from racing and will stand at Haras du Logis in Normandy next year. A fee will be announced at a later date. Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions, said, "Victor Ludorum was a great credit to the Godolphin team--a homebred Classic winner who was exceptional at two. We're delighted to be standing him in France, scene of all his races. He hails...

There are stallions with far bigger reputations who will never achieve what New Approach (Ire) has in his stud career. Yet somehow the horse who was champion 2-year-old, became the first Derby winner for Galileo (Ire), and was the joint-highest rated horse in the world in 2008 remains somewhat under-appreciated. It is all the more remarkable--and disappointing--given the hugely promising start made by New Approach early in his tenure at Dalham Hall Stud.  Sit through any breeze-up sale and you will regularly hear the auctioneer espousing the Royal Ascot potential...