'You have to listen to him' - Tally-Ho's Mehmas colt heads to Coolmore for 350,000gns at Tattersalls

Tally-Ho Stud resident Mehmas is firmly on course to break Kodiac’s world record for two-year-old winners in a single season. The high bar was set at 61 in 2017, but with plenty still to play for in the current campaign Mehmas sits on 57 juvenile scorers. There is quality as well as quantity as that monumental tally includes 17 black-type performers, most notably the Group 1 winners Scorthy Champ, who struck in the National Stakes, and Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Vertical Blue. 

These exploits have helped propel Mehmas’s yearlings on to the shortlist of some of the biggest buyers around, including Godolphin, who went to 1,000,000gns for the half-brother to Perfect Power during last week’s Book 1. 

Another superpower whose colours will be carried by a son of Mehmas next season is Coolmore after MV Magnier went to 350,000gns for the colt out of Utile from Tally-Ho Stud. 

“Roger O'Callaghan [of Tally-Ho] has been going on about the sire for long enough and you have to listen to him,” said Magnier. “To be fair, this is a nice horse and the O'Callaghans are very good breeders. He’s out of a Frankel mare so let’s hope he’s a good horse. He goes into training with Roger Varian.”

The dam is a winning half-sister to Straight Answer, a Listed-winning daughter of Kodiac. The presence of Straight Answer in the pedigree helped encourage Tally-Ho to go to 110,000gns for the dam at the December Mares Sale in 2021, albeit the mating they had in mind did not quite work out.

The Mehmas colt out of Utile takes his turn in the ring at Tattersalls Book 2 Credit: Laura Green

“We paid a fair price when we bought the mare but she’s by Frankel and was well rated as a racehorse,” said O’Callaghan. “We bought her because of Straight Answer. We bought her to go to Kodiac but he was out of action, so she went to Mehmas instead.” 

Mehmas stood the latest breeding season at a fee of €50,000, the same price as at which this year’s yearlings were conceived. Magnier was back in action later in the session when he signed alongside White Birch Farm at 380,000gns for the No Nay Never half-brother to Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner Hotazhell. 

The colt was bred and sold by Imad Al Sagar's Blue Diamond Stud Farm, whose chief executive Ted Voute said: “He looks fast, doesn't he? It was a timely update with the Group 2 Beresford Stakes win for Hotazhell, who has the Group 1 entry in the Futurity; it's all very timely.

“He’s by a great stallion and it’s a great price. Imad is delighted. He wants to sell a certain amount of horses each year as he wants the farm to be commercial. The colt is going to Aidan O'Brien, which is great. Gerry [Meehan, yearling manager] did a top job preparing them. They look in good order, their coats all look amazing.”

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