Supersonic Starman Sets First-Season Sires’ Championship Ablaze

[Wandering Eyes]

Tally-Ho Stud took the unprecedented decision earlier this month to announce that Starman, the runaway winner of the first-season sires' championship in Britain and Ireland, was fully subscribed at a fee of €40,000 – up from €10,000 this year – for 2026. 

So, did the O'Callaghans make a boo-boo by setting the fee too low given they have effectively had to turn breeders away?

How fully booked correlates to paying customers remains to be seen but you can bet your bottom dollar that Starman will cover in excess of 200 mares next season. And it's easy to see why. He didn't just win the first-season sires' championship, he annihilated his rivals by amassing 41 individual winners and 52 wins from 103 runners in Britain and Ireland. Across Europe, he has had 45 winners in total.

Given the demand, it's hard to argue that many, if any, of those lucky breeders booked to visit Starman with a mare next year would have baulked at a fee of €50,000 or even more. But maybe the O'Callaghans haven't got the fee wrong at all. 

We can all agree that stallions like Starman don't come along very often and, when they do, commercial operations like Tally-Ho need to make hay when the sun shines.

Yes, the stud has been blessed with Kodiac and Mehmas in the past but the anticipation appears to be even stronger for what Starman might be able to achieve off the back of siring four Group winners – Group 1 scorer Venetian Sun, Group 2 winner Green Sense and Group 3 winners North Coast and Lady Iman – in his debut crop. 

Having a sire as hot as him on the roster can only be good news for every other stallion within the ranks at Tally-Ho given potential breeders are likely to support younger guns like Good Guess, Big Evs, Maranoa Charlie and King Of Steel in order to secure a slot to Starman. 

A win-win for everyone, if you like, and nobody can see the bigger picture better than the O'Callaghans can. But the trickle-down effect doesn't end there. 

One of the fascinating subplots to Starman's supersonic performance has been the number of smaller breeders who got a touch out of the stallion in the sales ring. Again, this is more good news.

Venetian Sun: provided Starman with a Group 1 success | Scoop Dyga

Tally-Ho boss Tony O'Callaghan summed it up brilliantly at the November Foal Sale at Goffs when he revealed one breeder, who had described himself as “disillusioned” with the game earlier in the year and didn't cover any mares as a result, had regained his appetite for breeding following the sale of his Starman foal for €125,000. 

Such price tags were made possible after a memorable season on the track that just didn't let up; from Lady Iman delivering on all of the hype to win one of the opening maidens of the season at Dundalk in March before going on to land the G3 Molecomb Stakes right through to Venetian Sun's defeat of Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) in the G1 Prix Morny Stakes at Deaville, there didn't appear to be a week or big festival that went by without Starman making an impact.

And while it must be noted that a large portion of Starman's highest-rated runners are fillies, Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf-placed North Coast and Mill Reef runner-up Into The Sky illustrates that the young stallion is more than capable of coming up with a high-class colt.

Not only did Starman win the first-season sires' championship in a canter, but his 41 individual juvenile winners were only bettered by Wootton Bassett on 45. Furthermore, only elite stallions Wootton Bassett, Starspangledbanner and Night Of Thunder managed to amass more prize-money with their juveniles in Britain and Ireland than Starman managed to achieve (€1,402,212).

Starman finished the year with no fewer than 11 black-type horses. A remarkable performance from a stallion who has all the capabilities of going on to bigger and better things. He looks the real deal so there's no surprise to see a queue out the door at Tally-Ho. 

Big Things Expected From Classy St Mark's Basilica 

St Mark's Basilica was a pretty outstanding racehorse and the early evidence suggests that he will not disappoint at stud. 

The exceptionally-bred Diamond Necklace, who is out of Ecurie des Monceaux's Blue Hen Prudenzia, has provided an early indication of what St Mark's Basilica might be capable of. Trained by Aidan O'Brien, Diamond Necklace signed off on her unbeaten juvenile campaign with victory in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and is as short as 7-1 for the 1,000 Guineas. 

She is one of two Group winners the stallion was represented by in 2025, with the second being the Karl Burke-trained Aylin, who landed the G2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster. 

All told, St Mark's Basilica sired 22 individual winners – who achieved 26 wins – from 53 runners in Britain and Ireland. That haul included six black-type performers and St Mark's Basilica can call upon a host of high-class entries for next year which would suggest that much better things can be expected from those runners at three. 

Fair to say the future is extremely exciting for the young Coolmore stallion who was left unchanged at €40,000 for 2026.

Space Blues Deserving Of More Respect

Space Blues | Marc Ruhl

A strong case can be made for Space Blues not being given the credit he deserves for coming up with a Group 1 winner in Power Blue in his first crop given Starman and St Mark's Basilica are the only other stallions to have managed to achieve such a feat this year. 

A winner of the opening two-year-old maiden of the year at the Curragh, which connections have managed with similarly classy horses Bucanero Fuerte and Arizona Blaze in previous years, Power Blue went from strength to strength in 2025 and his all-the-way win in the G1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh was by no means a fluke. 

The form of that race was provided with a significant boost when the second, True Love (No Nay Never), landed the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on her next start and Power Blue rates a pretty serious colt for Robson Aguiar and the Amo Racing team to look forward to in 2026. 

So, why has Space Blues been dropped ever-so-slightly from €16,000 to €15,000 at Kildangan Stud? Despite coming up with a Group 1 winner in his debut crop, the market didn't exactly flock towards Space Blues, which was evident with a 36% drop in his yearling average in Britain and Ireland to 34,629gns. 

That can only be described as one of the oddities of this breeding game as Power Blue was not the only classy runner that Space Blues came up with in 2025. 

Bourbon Blues and Polly Shelby have done well for the stallion in France, with the former hitting the frame in a Group 3 and the latter placing in at Listed level while the maiden, Do Or Do Not, chased home Gstaad in the Coventry Stakes, filled the runner-up spot behind Zavateri (Without Parole) in the July Stakes and also managed to fill the frame in pair of Group 2 contests for Ed Walker before being snapped up by Jamie Osborne, who is campaigning the colt in Dubai over the winter. 

Put simply, Space Blues is far from a one-hit wonder. He enjoyed 14 individual winners from 44 runners and his prize-money tally of €669,454 was only bettered by Starman. The case can be made that he represents value at €15,000 given what he achieved in 2025. 

Meanwhile, fellow Darley stallion Palace Pier made a massive impression with three Group winners to call upon in Europe, headed by G2 Lowther Stakes winner Royal Fixation and G3 Solario Stakes winner A Bit Of Spirit.

What's more impressive is that Palace Pier can call upon six different horses rated 98 or above in Britain and Ireland this year. 

Notable performers include Morris Dancer, beaten just a short head behind Zavateri in the G2 Champagne Stakes before landing the Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury at his leisure along with the Group 3-placed pair of Pacifica Pier and Sirius A. 

While Palace Pier didn't set the world alight in terms of winners -11 winners from 49 runners – he certainly came up trumps in terms of producing quality performers. With seven per cent black-type winners to runners, he rates a pretty serious stallion going forward and few will crib his unchanged £32,000 fee for 2026 at Dalham Hall Stud.

Lucky Vega Looks Up To The Task

Lucky Vega: has made a good impression | ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that there were some anxious moments for the supporters of Lucky Vega in Europe earlier in the year. 

This may well have been fueled by the fantastic start the stallion made in Australia, where he was represented by the Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Within The Law, coupled with his big first-season sire rival Starman blazing a trail and then, most likely, down to the fact Lucky Vega's progeny took a little longer to come to hand than they did in the southern hemisphere. 

The 15 individual wins that Lucky Vega posted in Britain and Ireland placed him fourth in the table on that metric but, more importantly, there was plenty of quality in there. 

Lam Yai flew the flag with distinction in Britain for the son of Lope De Vega, going down fighting in the G3 Firth Of Clyde before signing off on her campaign with a Listed win at Doncaster. The 97-rated Senorita Vega, who placed third in the G3 Oh So Sharp Stakes, along with the lightly-raced Poatan, Jungle Ruler, Lost Signal and more contributed to a highly respectable debut performance in the northern hemisphere for the stallion. 

As a result, the Irish National Stud have held firm on a stud fee of €12,500 – the same fee that he has been operating at since 2004 – which is more than fair for a stallion who appears to have a lot more to offer next year and beyond.

Fernandez Fires In Winners

Lope Y Fernandez, another son of Lope De Vega, performed creditably with 19 individual winners accounting for 21 wins in total. Isle Of Fernandez, placed in the G3 Firth Of Clyde, and the Listed-placed Spanish Waltz were Lope Y Fernandez's only black-type performers and plenty will crib the fact that they are among only three horses by the stallion to achieve an official rating of 90 or above in Britain and Ireland this year. 

However, 140,000gns yearling purchase Ray Mon Dough couldn't have won any more impressively than he did on debut in the Valmont silks at Lingfield last month and he could be a nice horse to follow by the stallion next year. Similar sentiment applies to the French-trained Chill Y Flama, who wasn't far off bagging black-type this year.

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