First-season sire Mehmas making up for lost time with quick-fire double

First-season sire Mehmas kickstarted his stud career in earnest on Tuesday by supplying a brace of winners within the space of 30 minutes.

The first came in Italy, where the Irish-bred colt Bridge Dress Me struck for trainer Pierpaolo Sbariggia at Rome, before the seemingly unfancied Muker landed division one of the Betway/British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes over 5f at Newcastle.

The pair could well be the first of many winners for Mehmas, with the Tally-Ho Stud resident boasting the largest numerical representation of this year's first-crop sires with 146 two-year-olds.

Next on the list with 130 is Vadamos, who also stands at Tally-Ho.

Mehmas has all the attributes to prove a prolific source of two-year-old talent, as he is by a former leading freshman sire in Acclamation, he was a high-class juvenile himself, winning the July Stakes and Richmond Stakes and finishing placed in the Coventry, National and Middle Park Stakes, and he hails from a farm with a proven track record of getting its sires off to a fast start.

The O'Callaghan family's Tally-Ho Stud has launched the stallion careers of four recent leading first-season sires, namely the ill-fated Society Rock, Sir Prancealot, Zebedee and Red Clubs.

The strength of support Mehmas received at stud prompted RaceBets to install him as its 7-2 favourite to supply more individual winners than any other first-season sire in Britain and Ireland before the end of the turf Flat season in November.

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Bred by Joe and June Staunton, Muker joined the Phillip Makin stable after being purchased by owners SYPS at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale for £27,000. The March-born colt, who was pinhooked by Tom Burns at €32,000 as a foal, is a half-brother to three winners, including the useful Lady Mega.

Bridge Dress Me was bred by Michael Phelan of Pipe View Stud in County Kilkenny and is out of Prom Dress, a placed daughter of Mount Nelson. The colt was sold to current connections for just €6,200 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale.

It was so nearly a hat-trick of wins for Mehmas on Tuesday when the Adrian Nicholls-trained filly Mamba Wamba stayed for second in the second division of the Betway Heed Your Hunch/British Stallion Studs EBF Race Maiden Fillies' Stakes at Newcastle.

Early success for two of Mehmas's cheaper yearlings augurs well for those who fetched more eyecatching sums at last year's sales.

His most expensive offspring to date is the half-brother to Golden Horde and Exhort who was signed for by Oliver St Lawrence at £260,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Sale. The colt, who is owned by Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa and partner, has gone into training with Roger Varian.

In total Mehmas had 87 sons and daughters sell across all European auctions in 2019, with the group averaging £31,860 having been bred at a fee of €12,500.

There could be further success for Mehmas just around the corner, with his progeny holding a whole host of entries later this week. The sire is due to be doubly represented in the British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Auction Stakes at Yarmouth on Wednesday.

Mehmas becomes the sixth European first-crop sire to open his account at stud, with Adaay, Bow Creek, Dariyan, Goken and Twilight Son also off the mark.

With racing having resumed in France much earlier than in other European countries, Haras de Colleville's Goken has stolen a march on his rivals with five winners already on the board despite a crop numbering just 61 juveniles.

More news:

Dariyan makes flying start to stallion career after success of Princesse De Saba

New boys Adaay and Twilight Son off to the perfect start in Milan

Mehmas 7-2 favourite to be leading first-season sire by number of winners