Runaway first-season sire Starman has had his covering fee upped to €40,000 for the 2026 breeding season. Tally-Ho Stud's latest rising star stood the most recent campaign at €10,000. The four-fold increase has been well earned, with David Ward's homebred son of Dutch Art siring 35 European winners at a strike rate of 34%.
His burgeoning roll of honor is headed by 11 black-type performers, most notably Prix Morny (G1) heroine Venetian Sun. He has also been represented by Prix Robert Papin (G2) scorer Green Sense, along with the group 3-winning pair Lady Iman and North Coast, the latter of whom was also third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
Starman leads the first-season sire standing by virtually every metric, including winners, black-type winners, stakes performers, and prize money. Those exploits have resulted in some big returns in the ring, with his latest yearlings achieving a high of 525,000 guineas and an average of £90,770.
The latest addition to the O'Callaghan family's stallion operation is Maranoa Charlie. The group 1-winning son of Wootton Bassett, who earned his top-level laurels in the Prix de la Foret (G1), is being introduced at €20,000.
Maranoa Charlie won six of his 10 starts for Christopher Head, with his group 1 score coming after three group 3 victories and placed efforts in the Prix Jean Prat (G1) and City of York Stakes (G1).
The most expensive member of the Tally-Ho roster is the record-breaking 2-year-old sire Mehmas, who remains unchanged at €70,000.
No stallion has sired more European winners in 2025, while Believing and Wise Approach have taken his tally of group 1 scorers to nine. The former won the Al Quoz Sprint (G1) at Meydan while the latter took out the Middle Park Stakes (G1).
The highest-achieving member of the line-up is Kodiac. The rising 25-year-old son of Danehill has sired 215 stakes performers since he joined the Mullingar farm in 2007, and will stand his 20th term at a reduced fee of €20,000.
Big Evs, the 2023 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) winner, will stand his second season at €15,000, down fractionally from €17,500, while fellow second-season sire King of Steel has had his fee trimmed from €20,000 to €15,000.
Good Guess, the group 1-winning son of Kodiac whose debut foals realized as much as €150,000 at Goffs this week, had his fee held firm at €12,500.
The eight-strong roster is completed by Persian Force, whose first crop of yearlings averaged £42,720 and sold for up to 200,000 guineas. The son of Mehmas has had his fee bumped up to €10,000, having stood the past two seasons at €8,000.
