BUYERS at Goffs next week can bid confidently on any of the six mares being offered in foal to Sands Of Mali following a High Court order this week.

Covering certificates for mares covered by the stallion in 2025 have been withheld by Weatherbys on foot of a complaint by racehorse owner Steve Parkin who is in a legal dispute with Joe Foley of Ballyhane Stud over the ownership and management of the stallion.

But this week the High Court ordered Weatherbys and Parkin to release the covering certs for mares where proof has been supplied that the breeder has paid for their nomination and that money has been lodged to an escrow account.

Foley told The Irish Field: “This was what we set out to achieve. I’m very relieved for the owners of the mares who were sold at the November Sale. Those sales can now proceed. And the certificates for the six mares in at Goffs next week should also be released before they are in the ring.”

Sands Of Mali is standing at Yeomanstown Stud this year, having been purchased outright by Yeomanstown in a silent auction run by Tattersalls Ireland late last year.

How the proceeds of that sale will be divided between Foley and Parkin has yet to be decided and is likely to be at the centre of their ongoing court case later this year.