A choice selection

Tally-Ho’s Mehmas is riding the crest of a wave at the moment and there are plenty of other studs wishing him well as they now offer some of his first sons to the breeding public. His Middle Park-winning son Supremacy, who has his first two-year-olds running this season, is first out of the blocks. Several more Mehmas sons are just a year behind Supremacy, including his fellow first-crop star Minzaal. This 140,000-guinea yearling purchase by Shadwell ran to a very high level at two winning the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, earning a Timeform mark of 112, before running below that form when third to Supremacy in the Group 1 Middle Park. 

A year off with a leg injury didn’t prevent Minzaal from making up into the fine sprinter he showed himself to be when winning the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock by almost four lengths as a four-year-old, for which he earned a Timeform rating of 127. That makes him the most accomplished of Mehmas’s 39 Stakes winners to date and comfortably ahead of his sire’s own best effort of 115. The Sprint Cup performance also made him the highest rated sprinter of 2022. 

The most accomplished of Mehmas’s progeny to date, Sprint Cup winner Minzaal was the highest rated sprinter of 2022

Unsurprisingly, the Derrinstown stallion covered a healthy book in his first year which saw him with the biggest representation among first-season sires at the foal sales in 2024. His 45 sold at the three major European foal sales averaged £48,030, with 36 showing a hypothetical profit after a £10,000 charge for upkeep. No doubt we will be seeing many more Minzaals at the yearling sales later this year.

Another stallion with a £40k-plus foal average was Perfect Power, who won both the Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 1 Middle Park, just like Vandeek, Earthlight and Dutch Art in recent years. Just as appealing is the fact that this son of Ardad won the Group 2 Norfolk – just eight days after breaking his maiden at two – and repeated his Royal Ascot success in the following year’s Group 1 Commonwealth Cup. Just like his sire and grandsire, he could scarcely be better qualified to strike early with his two-year-olds in 2026 and at £7,500, half of his original asking price, he could prove a real bargain.

Ballylinch’s Bayside Boy is an obvious potential successor to the stud’s New Bay, widely regarded, along with Night of Thunder, Zarak and Too Darn Hot as one of the more successful sons of Dubawi. Bayside Boy had plenty of zip about him for a son of a French Derby winner, taking the Group 2 Champagne Stakes and running third to Luxembourg in the Group 1 Futurity Trophy at two, and annexing the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes from multiple Group 1 winner Modern Games as a three-year-old. Rated 123 by Timeform, Bayside Boy, who is out of a Listed-winning mare who’d already produced Group 2 scorer Forest Ranger, has plenty of ammunition to go to war with having attracted 236 mares in his first two seasons at Ballylinch, and there is plenty of quality there too. Only Minzaal, who covered more mares, can top his number of Stakes performers and producers.

Ballylinch’s Bayside Boy looks an obvious potential successor to his sire, New Bay.

Another Darley stallion in this price bracket is Naval Crown, who has the unusual distinction for a Dubawi of being an accomplished sprinter who stayed a mile to defeat Master of the Seas and finish fourth in the 2,000 Guineas. His day in the sun as a sprinter came at Royal Ascot in 2022 when he beat most of the best speed horses of the day, including Artorius, Campanelle, Highfield Princess and Alcohol Free, to land the Group 1 Platinum Jubilee, a performance he backed up on his next start when second in the Group 1 July Cup. Winner of the Convivial Maiden and twice Group 3 placed at two, Naval Crown’s first two dams are both Stakes winners and his third dam is a winning daughter of the influential Truly Special. Again, both the quantity and quality of Naval Crown’s first two crops provide him with every opportunity to succeed and it is of particular merit that the quality held up so well in year two which shows that breeders certainly approved of his first foals.

If Minzaal is too pricey for you, then there are two further sons of Mehmas to consider. The first is Persian Force, the stud companion of his top-class sire. He was an out-and-out two-year-old and is from the family of champion sire Danehill Dancer. Winner of the Group 2 July Stakes and runner up in both the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes and Group 1 Prix Morny, as well as third in the Group 1 Middle Park, Persian Force covered 131 mares at a fee of €10,000 in his first year and followed up with another 100-plus book a year later, so if he does fire with his first juveniles, he has that all-important capacity to build momentum. 

Another Mehmas option is Caturra, who started out at a fee of £6,500 and is available this year at £5,000. Besides having Mehmas as his sire, the strength of Caturra’s profile is surely his bare form. Whereas Persian Force achieved a Timeform mark of 108 at two, Caturra ran to a rating of 114 in his juvenile races, just one pound shy of his own sire’s 115 rating. He did this by winning the Group 2 Flying Childers, a race that has a rich history in producing good stallions including the influential Green Desert back in the day. Caturra’s victory at Doncaster was also achieved in a faster time than that race’s two most recent winners, Big Evs and Aesterius. 

Caturra won the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes in a faster time than that race’s two most recent winners, Big Evs and Aesterius

Meanwhile, when standing at Ballyhane, Space Traveller covered the most mares (181) of any first-season sire in 2023, which in itself presents this son of Bated Breath with an opportunity to succeed in 2026. However, it was much harder work the following year at Starfield Stud when he attracted only 58 mares. Timeform rated 118, Space Traveller is the best of Bated Breath’s 60 Stakes horses and, like his sire, he was a Group 2 winner with several placings in Group 1 company. Wins in the Group 2 Boomerang Stakes at Leopardstown and the Group 3 Jersey at Royal Ascot were supplemented with second places in the Group 1 Woodbine Mile and the Group 1 Frank E Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and his third in the Group 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf.

By far the most talented and most durable and consistent stallion that retired in 2023 was The National Stud’s Stradivarius. This top-class son (Timeform 130) of the outstanding Sea the Stars won every year from two to eight and amassed seven Group 1 victories from a mile to the two-and-a-half miles of his three Ascot Gold Cup victories. He won at the highest level no fewer than seven times and was on the board in 30 of his 35 races with twenty victories. Wouldn’t it be just wonderful for thoroughbred breeding in Britain and Ireland if Stradivarius were to surprise us all? He has the numbers, with 220 mares covered in his first two years, but they lacked the quality normally bestowed on a racehorse of his calibre.

One of the best qualified French stallions in the sub-15k that retired in 2023 has to be Sealiway. This son of Galileo sire Galiway reached his zenith in the 2021 renewal of the Group 1 Champion Stakes that earned him a career-high Timeform rating of 127 as a three-year-old. That year he was also second in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club and fifth in the Arc. Remarkably, Sealiway ran as many as seven times as a two-year-old, winning on debut over 1,200m at Saint-Cloud as early as May 12th, and improving from run to run until he landed the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Little wonder that, standing for €12,000 at Haras de Beaumont, he has attracted 165 mares in his first year and 155 in his second.

FIRST-SEASON SIRES OF 2023 BY AVERAGE FOAL PRICE 2024
(Standing in 2025 for up to 15k. 10-plus sold)
Sales included: Tatts December, Goffs November, Arqana December.