Mehmas Colt Tops Day 1 of Goffs February Sale

There was a distinct sense of deja vu about the top lot on Day 1 of the Goffs February Sale, as Tally-Ho Stud went to €220,000 (US$261,371, €1=US$1.19) for a son of Mehmas (IRE)(Lot 126) Feb. 11. Twelve months ago, the O'Callaghan family moved to secure a well-related Blue Point (IRE) colt who topped the sale at €250,000. He was subsequently traded to Amo Racing for 575,000 guineas, and Tally-Ho will no doubt look to repeat the feat with their latest six-figure acquisition come the yearling sales later this year. "The horse is right, the price is wrong," was Tony O'Callaghan's succinct assessment of the transaction. "We had to have him. We liked the horse, he's the full shilling. The trade is good for the good ones." Tony's son, Roger, added, "He's the best horse in the sale. Simple as." The colt was bred in partnership by Hanshen Tham's Pattern Bloodstock and Carol and Peter Henley, and consigned by Clare Manning's Boherguy Stud. Reacting to the session-topping transaction, Manning said: "That was unbelievable. He's a very nice colt and has been going down very well for the past couple of days, but I don't think we expected to get that much. There were plenty of lads there for him, and they were very strong, but Tally-Ho were very keen to have him, clearly. "I took him from the clients to prep him about a month ago, and he's improved massively; I think there's more improvement in him, too. The owners usually sell as yearlings, but they decided to take a chance selling him in February. I thought it was a good sale and that he'd stand out, and then he's shown all that improvement in the last month. Hopefully, he'll go on and improve even more for Tally-Ho." The colt is the second foal out of Russian River (IRE), a daughter of Dandy Man who won a Dundalk maiden at 2 and gained valuable black type when runner-up in the 2021 Polonia Stakes at 3. She is a half sister to the group 3-winning Miss Marjurie (IRE), in turn the dam of 2024 Montrose Fillies Stakes scorer Smoken (GB), while the page goes back to the prolific Elite Racing family of Soviet Song and her group 1-winning descendants Marsha and Ribbons. This is not the first time this family has found favor in the Goffs ring, as this colt's No Nay Never (IRE) half sister, Never The Same, sold to M.V. Magnier and Philip Antonacci at €330,000 during the 2024 edition of the Goffs Orby Sale. There should be more to come, too, as Manning added: "I foal all the mares for the owners so I actually foaled several of the mare's progeny, including him. I'll have the mare back in another few weeks as she's in foal to Night of Thunder." The Mehmas colt headed a market that showed significant year-on-year upticks across the range of indices. An increased weanling offering meant turnover was always liable to rise, but spending was up fully 199% as €3,898,500 (US$4,631,613) changed hands. The average price was up 75% compared to the corresponding session 12 months ago at €24,215 (US$28,769), while the median rose from €7,000 to €16,000 (US$19,009), a gain of 129%. The clearance rate was 67% as 161 youngsters sold (up from 94) from an offering of 239 (142 in 2025).