Tally Ho

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...

Whether you're a trainer, a pre-trainer, a breeder or just a general racing nut, it seems as though the Irish Stallion Trail was the place to be on Friday and Saturday. But how much can be gleaned from two days of stallion parades? Quite a lot, actually.  Relationships have been forged and business has been done on the Trail and luminaries of the industry Johnny Murtagh, Dick Brabazon, Guillaume Vitse and Craig McCracken were left singing the praises of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing [ITM] for what proved to be another stellar...

Blue Point (Ire) has been installed as the 2-1 favourite to be crowned leading first-season Flat sire in Britain and Ireland by Paddy Power. Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) has been inserted at 5-2 next best in the betting while Coolmore's Ten Sovereigns (Ire) has been quoted at odds of 3-1. Tally-Ho Stud, responsible for two of the past three champion first-season sires Mehmas (Ire) and Cotai Glory (GB), are represented by 4-1 chance Inns Of Court (Ire). It's 10-1 the field. Blue Point stands at Kildangan Stud for €35,000...

The spotlight was cast on the burgeoning breeze-up operation of jockeys Gary Halpin and Sean Davis, best known for riding winners rather than producing them, when their graduate Song For Whoever (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) ran out an impressive winner of the opening six-furlong maiden at Dundalk on Friday evening.  Song For Whoever, who Halpin and Davis bought for €28,000 at the Goffs Sportsman's Sale last year before selling to Howson & Holdsworth Bloodstock for £42,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale, was getting off the mark at the third...

If Tuesday's remarkable Sceptre Session was dominated by the high-end buyers, the commercial breeders took over on a lower- key Wednesday where Tally-Ho headlined the action when signing for Gifted Master (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})'s sister Miska (Ire) for 125,000gns. Miska was bred by Tally-Ho and was consigned by the leading stud at Book 2 here last year when knocked down to Gainsborough Thoroughbreds for 210,000gns. A winner of a Nottingham maiden in June for Simon and Ed Crisford, Miska failed to build on that and, just over a year after...

Group 2 winner and Breeders' Cup runner-up Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) has been confirmed for the Vente d'Elevage, an auction that will take place from Dec. 3-6 at Arqana in Deauville.  The Tally-Ho Stud-bred filly, who chased home Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year, was a £29,000 purchase by Star Bloodstock at the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale in 2020. She was then sold to a partnership that includes David Redvers, Everest Racing and Barbara Keller for £120,000 at Arqana's Breeze-Up Sale...

Hollie Doyle will maintain the partnership with The Platinum Queen (Ire) as the pair bid to follow up on their brilliant Prix de l'Abbaye success with victory at the Breeders' Cup. Oisin Orr, who joined The Platinum Queen's trainer Richard Fahey earlier this year, does most of the work with the speedster. However, Orr was unable to do the weight about the daughter of Cotai Glory (GB) in France. With the Middleham Park Racing-owned youngster set to carry just 8st 7lb in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland, the Irishman...

NEWMARKET, UK-It is going to require a Herculean effort to plunder the best of what is on offer at Tattersalls, according to leading bloodstock agent Alex Elliott who, on the eve of the eagerly-anticipated Book 1 session, described the stock on offer as being "the cream of the crop".  With Sheikh Mohommad, Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, Aidan O'Brien, John Gosden, Yoshito Tahagi, Chad Brown and a host of American and foreign buyers in attendance at Newmarket on Monday, Elliott is expecting more mayhem in the sales ring this week. ...

RATOATH, Ireland--Well, Highflyer certainly soared at Fairyhouse this week with Anthony Bromley signing for 16 yearlings, including two for €100,000 on Wednesday. However, it was Alex Elliott who was responsible for the top lot (243) at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, a €115,000 Tradewinds-drafted New Bay (GB) colt that was purchased on the same afternoon. No buyer had a busier two days than Bromley, though. Much like a man rushing to get his Christmas shopping done, he admitted to setting his stall out to fill the lion's share of...

RATOATH, Ireland--John and Jess Dance continued their recruitment drive on day one of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, signing for three colts, including the €110,000 session-topper by Tally-Ho Stud's first-season sire Inns Of Court (Ire). Having struck for colts by Mehmas (Ire) and Invincible Army (Ire)--lots 33 and 34--early in the afternoon, the husband-and-wife team added the Mountain View Stud-drafted colt (lot 187) to their team, signed for by Ed Sackville on behalf of Manor House Farm. Sackville said, "He is a lovely stamp of a horse and a...

The first major yearling sale of the autumn in Britain or Ireland, the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale provided entertainment from the beginning to the end, but most importantly, boasted impressive figures. Brian Sheerin was in attendance and discusses the major talking points from the sale. Figures on the up The team at Goffs UK could hardly have wished for a better start to the Premier Yearling Sale. The day one figures were off the charts. Of the 218 lots offered on Tuesday, 199 were sold, representing a clearance rate...

With another 60 yearlings standing out in the field at home in Westmeath, it was important for the team at Tally-Ho to begin the domestic sales season with a bang, and that's exactly what they did in sending out the top lot at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale--the Blandford Bloodstock-bought lot 278, a filly by Night Of Thunder (Ire).  Mark McStay went to £230,000 to secure a colt by the stallion [170] on Tuesday but it was Tally-Ho's first foal out of the five-time winner and listed-placed Thiswaycadeaux (Ire)...