FEW farms have a record of standing successful sires as good as that complied over many years by Tony O’Callaghan at Tally-Ho Stud. He has a golden touch when it comes to acquiring stallions who will appeal to commercial breeders, and many are indebted to him, alongside his sons Roger and Henry, for giving them paydays at the sales.

The farm is also a huge supporter of their customers when stock by their sires is offered for sale, but this is no philanthropic action, and the O’Callaghan team has an eye for value. Take the case of the smart debut winner Powerful Glory as an example. Trainer Richard Fahey was not pulling any punches when he offered the opinion that this might be his best two-year-old, and he will likely be seen next in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes.

Fahey first enjoyed big race success for owner Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum with Perfect Power, a Tally-Ho Stud-bred, and that colt won both the Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at two, as well as the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, and he was back to enjoy top flight success at three at Royal Ascot when he won the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

Powerful Glory is a son of Tally-Ho Stud’s Cotai Glory (Exceed And Excel). Not only that, but Tally-Ho pinhooked the colt, paying his breeder Con Marnane 37,000gns for him as a foal, and then selling him at this year’s Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale to Blandford Bloodstock for a very tasty £190,000. The colt was never catalogued as a yearling.

Pleased

Mind you, Con Marnane would have been pleased to get 37,000gns for Powerful Glory as a foal. He was the result of a €5,000 covering, and from a mare who cost the Bansha House man just 4,000gns as a two-year-old when he purchased her from Norman Williamson.

That mare is Wouldntitbelovely, a twice-raced daughter of Kodiac (Danehill), and she comes from a family of speedsters. Powerful Glory is just her second produce, and she has a colt foal by Minzaal (Mehmas).

Powerful Glory’s unraced grandam Geht Fasteur (Chineur) had four foals, three runners and one winner. He was Enzo’s Lad (Society Rock), an 80,000gns breezer who won once. The family gets really serious from the third dam back.

Powerful Glory’s third dam is Geht Schnell (Fairy King), and she placed a couple of times. She proved to be a much better broodmare, getting nine winners from 10 runners, and is the grandam of a Group 1-winning sprinter, and a smart young stallion. Three of Geht Schnell’s nine winners were successful at listed level, so I will award pride of place to the one who won twice in listed company, Ruby Rocket (Indian Rocket).

Biggest success

A dual stakes winner, including the Firth of Clyde Stakes at two, Ruby Rocket was sold for 340,000gns at the end of her racing career. She made her mark at stud, with her winning offspring led by 14-time winner Maarek (Pivotal), and his biggest success was in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. His seven other wins at stakes level included the Group 2 British Champions Sprint Stakes and Group 2 Duke of York Stakes.

The other stakes winners out of Geht Schnell were Inzar’s Best (Inzar) in Germany, and the juvenile Listed Flame Of Tara Stakes winner Alexander Alliance (Danetime). The latter’s son Mystery Smiles (Mehmas) was placed in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, and her grandson, the two-year-old Powerful Nation (Sioux Nation), was beaten a neck on his most recent start in the Listed Coolmore Ten Sovereigns Stakes at Tipperary.

The Tally-Ho connection with this family continues through a daughter of Geht Schnell who raced three times without being in the frame.

Good Clodora (Red Clubs) cost them 7,000gns, but she clicked when mated with Kodiac and bred Ardad. He won both the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes and the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at two, and is the sire of Perfect Power. The latter was mentioned earlier as one of the best winners owned by Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum.

Skip back two more generations, and under the fifth dam you will find Anita’s Prince (Stravinsky). While his three victories included just the Group 3 King George Stakes and a listed race, he was placed at the highest level in both the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes and the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. He was moderately successful later at stud.

Cotai Glory

Cotai Glory has covered the past two seasons at a career high fee of €12,500. Powerful Glory is from his fourth crop, and he is out of a mare by Kodiac, just as his sire’s best runner to date, The Platinum Queen. She won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp at two, trained by Richard Fahey, and sold that December for 1,200,000gns. Cotai Glory is also sire of the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin winner Atomic Force, a trio of Group 3 winners, and a dozen stakes winners in all.

Quickly into his stride as a two-year-old, Cotai Glory numbered success in the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Glorious Goodwood among his wins, and at three he was too speedy for Kingsgate Native in the Listed Scarborough Stakes at Doncaster. Moving up a gear as a four-year-old, he defeated Group 1 star Alpha Delphini in the Group 3 Dubai World Trophy at Newbury, again over five furlongs, and was beaten a neck by Profitable in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. At five, Cotai Glory was again placed in the Nunthorpe in 2017, when he was third to Marsha and Lady Aurelia.