“NO Nay Never has already achieved a lot, and yet this is the year that his career could be on the verge of a leap forward.” This was the opening line of the sire review for the Coolmore stallion in 2022, and how prophetic those words were.

That year the son of Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) was represented by the Group 1 winners Little Big Bear (European champion juvenile and now Coolmore stallion), Blackbeard (French champion two-year-old and now Coolmore sire), and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf winner Meditate. Today, No Nay Never is among the very best stallions standing in Europe.

A Wesley Ward trainee, No Nay Never won a four-and-a-half-furlong Keeneland maiden before defeating 13 opponents to take the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, two months before he added Deauville’s Group 1 Prix Morny. He was runner-up in a seven-furlong Grade 2 contest on dirt at Gulfstream Park the following March and had another long gap before his second start at three, but he proved himself to be among the leading sprinters of that campaign.

Although off the track for seven months, he landed a Grade 3 contest over five and a half furlongs on turf at Keeneland one month before he beat all but Bobby’s Kitten in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint over a furlong farther at Santa Anita.

No Nay Never joined the Coolmore roster at an opportune time, when his sire’s star was in the ascendant, and he covered his first mares just under two months before Scat Daddy’s (Johannesburg) most celebrated son, US Triple Crown winner Justify, was born.

His first offspring to go through the sale ring did so months after their grandsire’s premature death, and when that first crop featured the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes winner Ten Sovereigns, No Nay Never’s fee soared from €25,000 to €100,000. It has risen again since, to a high of €175,000, but settled this year at €150,000. Four of his yearlings last year sold for 425,000gns or more, bought by Godolphin, Qatar Racing, M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant.

No Nay Never’s son Ten Sovereigns went on to add the Group 1 July Cup and retire to Coolmore, and he made a great start to his stud career with 11 stakes horses in his first crop last year. Brooke proved No Nay Never’s progeny can stay middle distances when winning the Grade 1 Premio Las Oaks in Chile, and Alcohol Free added the Group 1 July Cup, Group 1 Sussex Stakes and Group 1 Coronation Stakes to her Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes success.

Race record

NO NAY NEVER (USA), Bay or Brown horse, 2011. Champion 2yr old colt in France in 2013. Won 4 races, value £413,850, at 2 and 3, from 4½ furlongs to 6 furlongs, Prix Morny, Deauville, Gr.1, Norfolk Stakes, Ascot, Gr.2, Keeneland Woodford Stakes, Keeneland, Gr.3, also placed second in Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Santa Anita, Gr.1 and Swale Stakes, Gulfstream Park, Gr.2.

At stud

Retired to stud in 2015, and sire of 454 winners, of 1,153 races, and £31,003,288, including MEDITATE (IRE), MADAME POMMERY (AUS), BLACKBEARD (IRE), LITTLE BIG BEAR (IRE), ALCOHOL FREE (IRE), BROOKE (CHI), TEN SOVEREIGNS (IRE), ARRAY (IRE), LAKE FOREST (GB), LES PAVOTS (IRE), MATRIKA (IRE), VISUALISATION (IRE), TRILLIUM (GB), AESOP’S FABLES (IRE), MANA NUI (NZ), ZAIN CLAUDETTE (IRE), NEED I SAY MORE (AUS), WICHITA (IRE), NAY LADY NAY (IRE), SHADN (IRE), CHESTNUT HONEY (IRE), MYSTERY POWER (IRE), ARIZONA (IRE), and LAND FORCE (IRE).

Information

Stands at: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, E91 XK26, Ireland.

Contact: Christy Grassick, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne, Jason Walsh, Mark Byrne, Neil Magee and Tom Harris

Telephone: +353 52 6131298

Email: sales@coolmore.ie

Web: www.coolmore.com

Fee: €150,000