Roger O’Callaghan: ‘Maranoa Charlie Is A Class Horse – He Could Be A Bit Different’

[Wandering Eyes]

Roger and Tony O'Callaghan talk about Tally-Ho Stud's new addition Maranoa Charlie, buying into Group 1 winner Zavateri and more

“We prefer not to say too much, we rather row in behind the horses and let them do the talking,” says Tony O'Callaghan from his kitchen table at Tally-Ho Stud. 

Both he and his son Roger don't bother to conceal the fact that this is their least favourite part of the job. There is, of course, a silver lining to the fact a journalist with an expectant face and a microphone is sitting across from the deadly duo; it means there is a new stallion to talk about.

“We're always looking for the next good one – keep at it,” Tony responds to being asked how he'd sum up the appeal of Maranoa Charlie.

Tony could have gone with the fact that Maranoa Charlie was a mightily impressive winner of the G1 Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp. That he is a gorgeous-looking son of the much-missed Wootton Bassett and from the family of lightning-quick Tiggy Wiggy. That he won his first three starts as a juvenile, which included an eight length romp in a Group 3. Or maybe the fact that he is just about the classiest stallion to have ever retired to the County Westmeath-based stud. But no, that wouldn't be Tony's style. 

“We try to buy one every year,” Roger adds, in that unmistakably wry tone. “Why does a trainer buy yearlings every year? You can't rest.”

The O'Callaghans may say little, but they offer a lot. They wear exhausted expressions when stupid question after stupid question is levelled their way. But perhaps it's not that stupid to think that, when the stallion roster is already filled by the reigning first-season sire champion Starman, multiple Group 1 producer Mehmas, exciting youngsters Big Evs, Good Guess, King Of Steel, Persian Force and the Daddy of them all, Kodiac, then thou shall in fact rest. Not when you are serial workaholics whose lifelong obsession revolves around one thing and one thing alone: producing quality racehorses. 

Speaking about when Maranoa Charlie first came onto the radar at Tally-Ho, Roger said, “He was always on the radar but I met Laurent Benoit [bloodstock agent] coming out of Ascot last summer and he said, 'watch, there will be something to be done.' Shortly after that, they sold him to Jason [Kelly, bloodstock agent] on behalf of Charlie Bond and we all know what happened next. We actually met Charlie at York the day Lady Iman ran. We were both out walking the track. He's a pleasant fella and he wants to win.”

Tony O'Callaghan | Goffs

Stallion deals are not like soccer signings in that the sum that changes hands is rarely made public but Maranoa Charlie joining the ranks at Tally-Ho was said to be the stud business's equivalent to Alexander Isak joining Liverpool for a Premier League record fee of £125m or even Florian Wirtz joining the same club for £108m. By no means were these world record figures, a la Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to PSG for a combined €422m, but it was an eye-watering transaction in its own right. In other words, just like the inflated figures that are being bandied about for the world's best soccer stars, stud farms are being forced to pay for stallions on the basis that they are going to be a success. 

“Every stallion is bought on that basis,” Tony says, chuckling at the ignorance of such a question. “That's what we're saying to you – we're trying to find the next good one. The good ones carry the bad ones. Look at Inns Of Court, Bushranger and Kessaar. They all went pewshhh,” he says, making the sound of a balloon deflating as he places the palm of his hand on the table. 

He continued, “We did okay [financially] with Bushranger because he covered so many mares but, when it came to his first runners….” 

Roger finishes the sentence, “it was like you turned the tap off. I came back one morning after working a bunch of two-year-olds and told Dad they didn't go great and he didn't believe me.”

“The breeze-up boys damned him,” Tony responds.

They were probably right?

“Not probably,” says Roger, “they were right.”

So that's what can happen when things go badly. When an independent stud farm like Tally-Ho happens upon a stallion who can't get a duck to swim, the losses incurred don't bear thinking about. But when they win, they win big. 

Even so, no farm, not even one as successful as Tally-Ho, can afford to sign the brightest young stallion prospect year after year, season after season. It just doesn't work that way. So, in order to stay ahead of the curve, a certain amount of outside-the-box thinking is applied every now and again. 

Zavateri: Tally-Ho Stud has bought into the Group 1-winning stallion prospect | Racingfotos.com

There is the odd occasion when Tally-Ho will try to get in early on a stallion prospect and they have done exactly that with the Group 1 National Stakes-winning Zavateri, whose career they will be following with heightened interest this season having partnered up with the Without Parole colt's owners Mick and Janice Mariscotti.

Roger explained, “Maybe we got in too early? Like, we bought G Force early and he fell out the back of the telly every week. D'ya know?”

“High risk,” Tony adds. 

Roger continues, “You have Haras d'Etreham, Rathbarry, Yeomanstown, the National Stud, Haras de Beaumont, Yulong – there are an awful lot of people who are brave in their own right when it comes to buying a stallion. It's competitive.”

We can probably surmise from that how Tally-Ho were not the only show in town when it came to securing the signature of Maranoa Charlie. Cards on the table, Roger agrees that he is one of the classiest horses to have ever set foot in Tally-Ho, but reminds that Starman was in fact champion sprinter and wasn't exactly a shrinking violet either. Tony, rather typically, takes this particular discussion in before simply adding, 'I hope you are right' about Maranoa Charlie being just about the most exciting stallion prospect, certainly on paper, to have joined Tally-Ho in its long and storied history. 

There's something rather refreshing about the, 'maybe he makes it, maybe he doesn't' attitude to the whole thing, though. One thing that's not in doubt, however, is the fact he will be given the best possible chance to fulfill his potential as a top-class stallion here. 

“Maranoa is a class horse – he has a class pedigree,” Roger says. “Hopefully he's luckier than the last one [son of Wootton Bassett] to retire here! Bucanero Fuerte didn't get one mare in foal so that's what can happen. We'll give our fella as good a chance as anyone, though.”

He added, “Sons of Wootton Bassett would want to step up. It's a bit of a risk. Everyone sees Wootton Bassett as the real thing, but his few sons that have gone to stud haven't quite put their heads above water yet, have they?”

Once again illustrating his canny ability to say an awful lot without saying much at all, Tony adds, with the benefit of a lifetime's experience, “They're all individuals. Only some of them will do it.”

Roger knows exactly what he's saying, and agrees, “Yea, because everyone slagged the sons of Dutch Art for a long time. A lot of people pooh-poohed Starman for being a son of Dutch Art.”

Conversation turns to how Starman, and some of his contemporaries who have hogged headlines and got breeders giddy with the prospects of sending mares, share one thing in common; that they are all by relatively unfashionable stallions. 

With Starman there was the Dutch Art factor, then there is Havana Grey, who is by Havana Gold, Sands Of Mali, who's by Panis, and of course, the late Wootton Bassett, who was by Iffraaj. All of the breakout stallions of the current era have drastically out-performed their own sires. They've done it the hard way.

“That's the beauty of the game,” Roger says with a smile, before adding, “so maybe Zavateri is the one.”

He added, “I just loved the way that he did it at Goodwood [winning the Vintage Stakes] and at the Curragh [out-battling Gstaad in the G1 National Stakes]. He showed a great attitude.”

We can talk about all of that in time. Perhaps back here at the kitchen table next January. What happens in between is anyone's guess but there are a few likelihoods. For starters, you can expect that Starman and Mehmas will continue to churn out big-race winners while the not-to-be underestimated Persian Force could throw his hat in the ring for first-season sire honours. 

Maranoa Charlie: will stand for €20,000 | Alice Fitzgerald

And what about Maranoa Charlie? The horse that Tony describes as having “the whole package” is understood to be receiving rave reviews from breeders. He's becoming an easy horse to row in behind. 

“Maranoa Charlie is going well,” Roger says. “He'd be popular. He'd be well-liked. We were here from nine o'clock in the morning until five in the evening on Monday with people coming to see him. And we'll do the same all week. There are plenty of breeders, the majority of them from England, who are doing the tours. He is kind of exciting to be honest. Here, I'll show you this.”

And with that, Roger takes out his phone and scrolls up to one of the most recent What'sApp messages he sent to Charlie Bond. It reads, 'If he's good, Charlie, he'll take us to places we have never been to before.' 

Roger concluded, “I'd agree that he's a little bit different. If he works out, he could be very good. That's the big if.”

And that says it all, really.

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