It is all go at the 
Irish National Stud

How pleased have you been with the results on the track of your stallions with first runners, Nando Parrado and Lucky Vega? 

Retiring two horses in the same season isn’t something we are used to here, so it’s been busy keeping track of both their runners throughout the year. 

Both have produced a good output of winners so far and we’re pleased heading into the tail end of the season.

 You must be delighted that the number of winners both have accrued (18 and 17 in the northern hemisphere at the time of writing). Are you getting a feeling about the runners they are producing?

In terms of individual winners, they sit second and third in the leading first-crop sires’ tables in Europe. 

Nando Parrado has produced the Listed-winning Chairmanfourtimes, who has already ran eight times this season winning or placing in seven of his starts. The Ballyhane Stakes winner Howd’yadoit is also a fine advertisement for the sire. 

The progeny seem to take their racing well and improve with each run. 

Lucky Vega would have covered a different quality and class of mare, and he seems to be really coming into himself this autumn with two Group horses in the past four weeks, as well as a couple of nice debut maiden winners. 

Lam Yai was just touched off in the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes at Ayr in late September, and you would hope she could add a stakes victory to her CV before the season closes.

 What sort of book sizes have they had over the last couple of years?

Both stallions have a completely different ownership structure. 

Lucky Vega is owned by Yulong Investments, who has gone above and beyond in terms of supporting the stallion with a large quantity of mares and by also buying nice stock by the sire in the sales ring. 

He has also been well supported by the breeders of Europe and covered books of over 100 mares in each of the four seasons he has stood here. 

Nando Parrado was purchased by the Irish National Stud and as usual he was well syndicated quite soon after we announced we had purchased the horse. 

He covered 130 mares in year one and has covered over 70 mares per season since.

Phoenix Of Spain has been building an impressive portfolio and you must have been thrilled with his Group 1 breakthrough on Arc weekend with both a winner and the fourth-placed Lady Of Spain. 

Phoenix Of Spain has really had somewhat of a breakout year, and he is leading third crop sire in Britain and Ireland by individual Group winners with Group 1 winner Caballo De Mar leading the charge. 

He covered a big book of 220 mares in 2024 so we were delighted to see breeders’ faith in him rewarded with his run of good results this season. 

He is a big horse with lots of scope, and he has seemed to work well with Green Desert line mares (Haatem, Lady Of Spain, Spanish Phoenix, Silver Ghost) as they are typically that bit smaller and neater. 

His first crop yearlings didn’t hit the lights out in the sales ring, but we were delighted to see so many good British-based trainers get their hands on them. 

Good trainers produce good racehorses, so they have a hand in his success.

They are all well-priced stallions, have you had in-house discussions regarding nomination fees as yet?
We usually sit down after the Tattersalls October Book 3 Yearling Sale and have a rough idea of what we’re going to do before announcing the roster/fees after the Breeders’ Cup.

You have an exciting addition to your stallion roster for 2026...
Yes, we are lucky to have the opportunity to stand Arizona Blaze in partnership with Amo Racing 

A high-class two-year-old who excelled at three by winning the
Group 1 Flying Five at The Curragh, he’s available at €12,500. 

A physically imposing colt with a remarkable turn of foot, he has size and strength, combined with superb action. 

He broke the 5f track record at Chantilly when winning the Group 3 Prix Sigy, a stallion-making race previously won by Sands Of Mali.

Arizona Blaze is sure to appeal to breeders, his 17 runs and 14 wins and places at the highest level speaks for itself, while his win in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes and Group 1 Flying Five is a double that was also completed by super sire Havana Grey.

Arizona Blaze retires to stud as a winner at Group 1, Group 2 and
Group 3 level, with a Timeform rating of 119 and prize-money earnings close to €1 million.

“Arizona Blaze has always demonstrated exceptional strength, speed and mental toughness and we have complete confidence in his ability to pass on his class, power and temperament,” said Amo’s Kia Joorabchian.

“We are delighted to partner with the Irish National Stud for this next chapter which we believe is the perfect home for him. Amo Racing is committed to fully supporting Arizona Blaze throughout his stud career.”

Cathal Beale, CEO commented:“We are delighted to stand Arizona Blaze, new for 2026, at the Irish National Stud. He was teak tough and remarkably consistent at the very highest level over 5f and 6f. 

“He is a horse with great quality, strength and a terrific action.”

You can look forward to Shouldvebeenaring’s first foals next spring. How well was he supported?

Shouldvebeenaring is the first son of Havana Grey to stand in Ireland, and we were delighted to have the opportunity.

He covered 125 mares this spring and we were delighted with the shareholders we got into the horse. 

Seeing how Havana Grey has gone from strength to strength on the track and in the sales ring, we think it’s the sire line people are really going to latch onto in the coming years.

What qualities does Shouldvebeenaring possess to give him every chance of following in sire sensation Havana Grey’s footsteps? 

Shouldvebeenaring was a hard-knocking consistent sprinter, who ran 30 times, a quality we think breeders really appreciate. 

He is a similar shape and size to his own sire and has a loose athletic walk. Although our broodmare band isn’t as strong numerically as other stallion farms, we have been busy improving the quality of mare in the band over the last three or four years. 

We sent Shouldvebeenaring 12 mares, eight of which are black-type producers, and they include Zawiyah, dam of the Group 1-placed Twilight Calls, and Big Break, dam of this year’s Group 2-placed, two-year-old Pacific Mission. 

On our last count he covered over 35 black-type producers, which is a good number for a sire at his price point.

For very many years Invincible Spirit was the marquee stallion and lynch pin of  the Irish National Stud’s roster, his influence now as a broodmare sire?

Invincible Spirit headed the roster for 22 seasons here and we are unlikely to see the likes of him again. 

In recent seasons he has come into his own as an influence on the dam side with 2,000 Guineas winner Notable Speech in 2024, and this season with the Group 1 winner Sajir and the exciting two-year-old Bow Echo.

Any foals from your draft you can pinpoint ahead of the foal sale season? 

We have actively made the decision to offer some of our nicer stock as foals over the past couple of years and have been well rewarded for that approach. 

We were delighted with the results at Goffs this year, highlighted by the Night Of Thunder filly out of Oceanie (Lot 672) selling for €500,000 and the Wootton Bassett filly (Lot 646) out of Loyale, who made €340,000. 

We ended up as second top consignor by aggregate, which is really pleasing