Emma Berry

NEWMARKET, UK — The Wednesday of the December Mares Sale may have become a quieter session than was once the case but there are still plenty of enticing broodmare prospects, not least from the Godolphin draft. It provided five of the day's top ten lots, including the session-topper Bridestones (Ire), a listed-placed filly by Teofilo (Ire) out of the G1 Fillies' Mile winner White Moonstone (Dynaformer).

Day 3 at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale was quieter now the Sceptre Sessions have concluded. However, trade was still strong across the board with all metrics showing impressive gains on 2023.

NEWMARKET, UK — Records, records, records. It didn't feel particularly blockbusting on the final half-session of mares at Tattersalls, but that is the nature of any sale. Big days, quieter days. The days they all come for – Monday and Tuesday – certainly didn't fail to deliver some showstopping moments. It could have been predicted

There is no little poignancy in the timing of Acclamation (GB) making his permanent exit from the stage just as his most celebrated offspring, Dark Angel (Ire), stands on the cusp of being crowned champion sire in Britain and Ireland.

Thirty-five years after setting up in the stallion business, Gay and Annette O'Callaghan's Yeomanstown Stud can look forward to an extra special Christmas celebration as the family toasts its homegrown hero Dark Angel (Ire), the 2024 champion sire of Britain and Ireland.

Yeomanstown Stud's Dark Angel (Ire) is the 2024 Champion Sire of Britain and Ireland. For the first time in 33 years, a farm who isn't Coolmore, Darley, or Juddmonte have stood the Champion Sire.

On a morning which only the Scottish word dreich could properly describe, it would be easy to opt for the indoor life, a nine-to-five salaried job in a centrally-heated office. But where's the fun in that, eh?

It's time to revisit our annual series to assess the sires of 2025 with the aim of working out where the value lies. We'll reissue the usual caveat that value means different things to different people. For the benefit of this series, we are using the euro as our currency for bracketing, and will deal with stallions in the following four tiers:

ASCOT, UK — Six months ago David Howden was in the winner's enclosure celebrating success at Royal Ascot with his G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes winner Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion). On Friday the owner-breeder was back at the racecourse to espouse his passion for sport horses, and more specifically how racehorses can be retrained for other disciplines.

For this second instalment of our value sires series we are looking at stallions standing in the €20,000 to €49,999 fee range.