'The word is definitely out about him' – meet the new stallion whose good looks have set tongues wagging

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On this occasion, Martin Stevens chats to Eoin Fives about a Classic winner set for a strong start to his stallion career and who wasn't last in the good-looks queue – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Every year, there are one or two new stallions who show themselves so well during inspections that they quickly become the talk of the industry. Attend a sale or any other industry gathering in January and February and you’ll hear breeders speaking in hushed tones about the magnificent physique, swinging walk and commanding presence of those select few horses. 

Chaldean was the chosen one in 2024, with Good Guess and Little Big Bear also earning rave reviews, while it was the Stradivarius swagger that set tongues wagging in 2023. Nando Parrado seemed to be the subject of near-universal admiration in 2022, and Mohaather’s movement got broodmare owners babbling about him in 2021. 

Going by messages I’ve been receiving on Whatsapp and whispers I’ve heard in person, Look De Vega is the newcomer who’s got people purring this year.  

The son of Lope De Vega, who has joined his brilliant sire at Ballylinch Stud in County Kilkenny after winning the Prix du Jockey Club by two lengths for Carlos and Yann Lerner last June, is an absolute beaut by all accounts.  

“Yeah, the word is definitely out about him,” says the operation’s bloodstock and nominations manager Eoin Fives. “We’ve never been so busy showing stallions. We’ve been inundated with requests from people to inspect him. The rumour mill started going into overdrive around Christmas time, after he’d done his first shows. 

“I was speaking to [managing director] John O’Connor about it and he says he doesn’t think he’s ever stood a horse that’s been so well received at this early stage, and has had so many mares booked in so quickly.” 

So what is it about Look De Vega that’s got people ranting and raving? 

“I think part of it is seeing him and his sire in the same place,” says Fives. “He has the same great action, with a huge, athletic walk while pointing the toe. Breeders can't miss the similarities between them. It makes it easy to imagine that the son might be as successful as his father. 

“He also has an unbelievably good temperament, which allowed him to settle in well, and that in turn has meant that he looks close to the finished article. Sometimes it can take a while for them to lose the look of a racehorse, but he already looks like a stallion, and he doesn’t even turn four until April.” 

Ballylinch Stud chose a good photograph to demonstrate Look De Vega’s powerful physique in the Weatherbys Stallion Book (pictured). He is at full stretch, with his head down, ears pinned back and muscles rippling as he passes the winning post at Chantilly in splendid isolation. His stride length looks enormous. 

“That’s true,” agrees Fives. “It would be very interesting to find out exactly what his stride length is. Lope De Vega’s progeny are well known for having a huge stride length, it’s something the data experts have written about a lot over the years. Look De Vega has a huge stretch; you can even see that in his walk.” 

Eoin Fives (left) and John O'Connor of Ballylinch StudCredit: Tattersalls

Look De Vega differs from Lope De Vega in one obvious respect, in that he is a bay with a star on his head whereas his sire is chestnut with a long white blaze, but he has inherited a little of his dad’s famous Roman nose. 

“He’s probably got a bit of that,” acknowledges Fives. “But a lot of breeders who have seen him have said that he’s handsome. He definitely has a nicer head and arguably a bit more quality about him than Lope De Vega.  

“There are lots of classically good-looking horses on his dam’s side – she’s by High Chaparral and out of a Cape Cross half-sister to Lawman – and I’d say he’s more the shape and size of some of those maternal relatives.” 

Describing how this equine Adonis came to beautify the barns at Ballylinch Stud, Fives says: “He came onto our radar after his very first start. He won by seven lengths and the Racing Post gave him a rating of 99 for the effort, which is something you don’t see very often for a debut performance. 

“He won his trial for the Prix du Jockey Club at short odds in good style and went into the big race itself as the only unbeaten horse in the field, and he was very impressive on the day. We’re big fans of the French Derby, of course, as both Lope De Vega and New Bay have won it, but I think anyone involved in the breeding industry knows by now that it’s the best stallion-making race this century. 

“We were in two minds whether to race on with him at four this year, and we didn’t take the decision to retire him lightly, but everyone involved in the horse felt on balance that it was the right thing to do.  

“What probably swung it for us was Lope De Vega proving himself to be the best stallion in the world last year by so many metrics, including number of Group 1 winners and stakes horses, and so it felt like the right time to launch a son who also won the Prix du Jockey Club, while his success in the race was still fresh in the memory.” 

Look De Vega, whose introductory fee is €20,000, is in line to cover a book “as good as Lope De Vega’s in his first season, if not better”, reports Fives, and not just because there’s so much buzz about him. He is also in line for strong home support, and will benefit from his sire having had his fee increased to €175,000 and his book trimmed for the sake of preserving his longevity. 

Ronan Thomas and Look De Vega win the Prix du Jockey-Club by a comfortable two lengthsCredit: Geoffroy van der Hasselt/Getty Images

“Lope De Vega’s book became full very quickly, so I think a lot of people have decided to send the mare they had pencilled in for him to Look De Vega instead,” continues Fives. “It means that Look De Vega is going to get a standard of mare above and beyond the fee at which he’s covering. 

“He’ll certainly receive some very nice mares from all of the partners in the horse this year – ourselves, his co-owners Al Shaqab Racing, his breeders Lucien Urano of Ecurie des Charmes and Joelle Mestrallet of Haras de la Morsangliere, and the Lerners. 

“We have a successful and long-standing working relationship with Ecurie des Charmes and between us we’re going to send him some incredibly good mares. I think the idea will be to fill his book with as many dams of stakes performers by Lope De Vega as we can, to produce lots of three-parts siblings to talented horses.” 

One of the best mares owned by the two operations who will visit Look De Vega this season is Matauri Pearl, a Listed-placed daughter of Hurricane Run who clicked with Lope De Vega to produce Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Aunt Pearl and Solario Stakes runner-up Matauri Bay. She has a Frankel yearling colt and was covered by No Nay Never last year. 

Ballylinch Stud and Ecurie des Charmes are also supporting Look De Vega by sending him Llanita, a Rock Of Gibraltar mare whose first three foals are all black-type performers, including Poule d’Essai des Pouliches runner-up Lindy, and who was bought for €600,000 at Arqana in December; and Venetias Dream, a daughter of Librettist who is the dam of Pouliches winner Dream And Do and was a €135,000 purchase from the same sale in Deauville. 

In its own right, Ecurie des Charmes is lending Look De Vega its two-year-old Listed winner Opera Mundi, a daughter of Kingman and the high-class Galileo mare Solage from a black type-packed Wertheimer family. 

Ballylinch Stud’s own mares bound for the new sire include Majestic Dubawi, a Group 3-winning daughter of Dubawi who produced Rockfel Stakes victress Isabella Giles from a cover by another son of Lope De Vega in Belardo. Her filly by Lope De Vega sold to Sackville Donald for 500,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last autumn. 

Majestic Dubawi and Chris Catlin win the Firth of Clyde Stakes at Ayr - she is bound for Look De VegaCredit: John Grossick

Another home mare, who has also shown an affinity for this sire-line before, is Colonia – a Grade 3-winning daughter of Champs Elysees. Her first foal, the Lope De Vega gelding Going The Distance, won four of his five starts, culminating in victory in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot last year, before his untimely death. 

And not forgetting Against Rules, a multiple Listed-winning daughter of Aussie Rules whose first foal, the Lope De Vega gelding Crown Board, broke his maiden by six and a half lengths on his debut and finished a close fourth in the Fortune Stakes at Sandown last autumn. 

Among the other Ballylinch Stud mares on Look De Vega’s dance card this season are Entrancement (by Expert Eye), Princess Shabnam (Gregorian), Royal Grey (Havana Grey) and Spirit And Glory (Cotai Glory). All are stakes winners who were bought for meaty sums at the breeding-stock sales this winter and will be having their maiden covers. 

“That’s just a taste of the mares he’ll be receiving from shareholders,” says Fives. “Some outside breeders who have seen him and liked him are also supporting him with some seriously good mares, many who have produced high-class horses by Lope De Vega.

“Olivia Hoare is sending her excellent Teofilo mare Livia’s Dream, the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Dreamloper, for example. That’s a lovely compliment to the horse.” 

The Ballylinch Stud covering shed is surely going to be a hive of activity this season, as all of its roster is in strong demand. New Bay is making stealthy headway into the upper echelons of the European stallion ranks, with the son of Dubawi’s first five crops bred off fees of €15,000 or €20,000 having yielded Group 1 superstars Bay Bridge, Bayside Boy and Saffron Beach, as well as last season’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains third Alcantor and unbeaten Champagne Stakes winner Bay City Roller. 

“He’s on the verge of really taking off,” says Fives. “What I found particularly impressive was that, for a horse not really noted for precocity, he finished last season with 29 two-year-old winners, 21 of whom are already rated over 88 by Timeform. Most of them are lightly raced and with top trainers, and his stock tends to progress a lot from two to three, so they're very exciting. 

“That was his first crop that contained more than 100 foals, and was bred off a slightly higher fee. It should be onwards and upwards from now on as this season’s two-year-olds were bred off a €37,500 fee and his yearlings were his first €75,000 crop.” 

Ballylinch Stud managed to add a son of New Bay to its roster much sooner than it did with Lope De Vega, as it welcomed Champagne Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hero Bayside Boy into the fold two years ago. 

“His first foals sold very well at the end of last year,” says Fives. “Breeders got a good return on their investment, and they’ve been giving us good feedback on the stock. I look forward to seeing them at the yearling sales.” 

Bayside Boy: first yearling selling in 2025Credit: Ballylinch Stud

The Ballylinch Stud roster is completed by Make Believe, the Classic-winning son of Makfi who is the source of the sensational Mishriff. He has been a bit quieter in recent seasons, but he staged a comeback last year by supplying six black-type winners in Europe at a healthy strike-rate of 4.2 per cent to runners. 

“Make Believe sired two Group 2-winning two-year-olds in Klaynn and Lazio and two Group 3-winning three-year-olds in Making Dreams and Sajir,” says Fives. “In all, he had more stakes winners last year than any other stallion standing in Ireland at less than €20,000. He’s priced very competitively at €8,000 this season. It would be hard to find better value than him.” 

It’s a big week for Fives. The start of the breeding season coincides with him and teammates Declan Foy, Shane Power and Charles Weld defending their title at this year’s Mark O’Hanlon memorial breeding and racing quiz. The event, held by the ITBA and jointly supported by the Racing Post and the Irish Field, takes place at Gowran Park from 8pm on Tuesday.  

“Charles has been looking after the trophy – the rest of us haven’t been allowed much of a look at it since we won,” says Fives with a laugh. “We’ll be fielding the same team, and are all really looking forward to it.  

“We’ve already set up a Whatsapp group to share a few facts and figures to help us revise. We’re a bit nervous, as there’s a bit of pressure on us now, but we’ll give it a good go. 

“Win or lose, though, it’s always great fun. There are so many people from the racing and breeding industries in Ireland and Britain there having a laugh. Fair play to Joe Foley and the ITBA team for organising it.” 

Those sentiments are echoed by one of the Mark O’Hanlon memorial quiz champions of 2020. I’m well aware that the cut-off for boasting about that victory passed about three years ago, but I’m all out to stage the biggest comeback seen at Gowran Park since War Of Attrition won the Galmoy Hurdle four years after he’d landed the Cheltenham Gold Cup. 

Do come down to the racecourse – not the Lord Bagenal Inn this year, nota bene – on Tuesday evening if you’re at a loose end and join in. Even if you’re on your own, or are one half of a twosome, the ITBA staff will match you up with some friendly team mates to make up a table. 

With lots of breeders set to be in attendance, you’ll no doubt be able to hear some of that gossip about Look De Vega’s million-dollar looks for yourself.

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Pedigree pick

The seven-furlong three-year-old fillies’ novice stakes at Southwell on Friday (2.30) is a competitive affair, with Bintjan, Blazing Spirit, Left Over Love, The New Bay Pearl and Warm Glow all representing leading stables and having shown varying degrees of promise on their previous outings. 

Princess Amber might still be worth a small each-way investment on her first start for Richard Newland and Jamie Insole, though. She is well bred, being by top-notch sire Lope De Vega and out of Liquid Amber, a Group 3-winning daughter of Kitten’s Joy and US Grade 1 second Pachattack. Her full-brother Supercooled was multiple stakes-placed and a close sixth in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains for Andre Fabre and the Niarchos family last year. 

Princess Amber is far from the most expensive yearling by her sire, as she made just €47,000 at Fairyhouse, but the fact that she is owned by shrewd operators Ballylinch Stud with Michael Tudor suggests she is no cast-off.

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