Night Of Thunder still on a Roll

There is no question that Darley’s Night Of Thunder is on a roll this year with his three-year-olds. By the end of Goodwood’s July meeting, the Kildangan-based son of Dubawi has accumulated more classic-generation winners that any other European stallion. At the time of writing, his 48 winning three-year-old in Europe is one more than fellow Darley sire Blue Point and six more that his own sire Dubawi, another Darley incumbent. But anyone paying close attention to the ebbs and flows of stallions’ fortunes will not be too surprised by this as the 2,000 Guineas winner is in his sixth year with runners and given that he enjoyed such an auspicious start to his stallion career, he’s now reaping some well-earned rewards. But before I delve into the finer details of his achievements, it is worth reminding ourselves of some of his racing highlights.

Night Of Thunder was well bought as a yearling for 32,000 guineas at Tattersalls October Book 1. Part of the reason for such a low price must have been his immediate pedigree, which was very light under the first three dams. That said, his dam was a Timeform 99-rated two-year-old seven-furlong winner by Galileo, and he goes back to a fine two-year-old filly in Forest Flower, who won the Group 3 Queen Mary, the Group 3 Cherry Hinton and the Group 2 Mill Reef at two and then trained on to land the Group 1 Irish 1,000 Guineas. 

Night of Thunder was unbeaten in two races as a juvenile, starting out in a six-furlong maiden at Goodwood and following up with a victory in the Listed six-furlong Doncaster Stakes, both on soft ground. In the 2,000 Guineas itself, despite being sent off at 40/1, he revealed himself to be a very high-class miler. A strong pace throughout blunted contemporary Kingman’s turn-of-foot and Night Of Thunder came through late to account for his Juddmonte rival and the future Derby winner Australia, despite hanging across the course. He probably never had another race run to suit him as much again that year, but remained consistent nonetheless, running second and third in three more Group 1s. He returned to something like his best form on his seasonal reappearance at four, winning the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes in the blue of Godolphin. At his best, Timeform assessed him at 127 – one pound below New Bay, but the same rating as Too Darn Hot and three ahead of Zarak, among the small group of the current upwardly mobile sons of Dubawi. And at two they assessed him at a mark of 110p.

Night Of Thunder spent his first two years as a stallion at Kildangan Stud, standing at €30,000 for his first year and €25,000 in year two. He was then moved to stand for the next two seasons at Darley’s Dalham Hall in Newmarket at a fee of £15,000, before moving back to Ireland in 2020. His first crop proved to be phenomenal, producing a grand total of 22 Stakes winners, including 12 at Group level. So remarkable were his first two-year-olds that no sire this century has before or since sired more first-season Stakes winners than his tally of seven. And when we can list among those stallions the likes of No Nay Never, Frankel and Oasis Dream, all with six first-season Stakes winners, and Havana Grey, Blue Point, Mehmas and Kingman with five apiece, we can begin to understand the true measure of that achievement. Moreover, his first-year achievements are all the more impressive given he ranked only number 46 by Stakes mares covered and only 57th by Stakes producers covered among stallion that retired to stud in Britain and Ireland in the past ten years.

Remarkably, Night Of Thunder’s fee for 2020, the year after all his first-crop success only increased by €10,000 to €25,000, still shy of his first-season level. Unsurprisingly, breeders clamoured for nominations and the Darley stallion ended up covering 234 mares, which included 119 Stakes horses or producers of Stakes horses, a far cry from the 34 contained in his debut book. It is little wonder then that Night Of Thunder’s current three-year-olds have surged to the top of the class on the European winners table and just to put in context how well this crop is performing, it has already delivered 77 winners worldwide, already more that his first crop managed in all their years of racing.

Nevertheless, now that Night Of Thunder is one of an elite group of stallions standing for a six-figure fee, much more is expected of him. As things stand, he’s sired nine Stakes winners and four Group winners from his 2021 crop. His first, meanwhile, featured 13 Stakes winners, seven at Group level, at the same point in their three-year-old year. So, Night Of Thunder’s best-bred crop of runners still has some catching up to do. Among his peers, Night Of Thunder’s tally of 48 Stakes winners puts him behind only Frankel (69), Kingman (67), Dubawi (61), Galileo (56), and Oasis Dream (56) at the same point in their careers.

Economics is an impressive winner of the Group 2 Dante Stakes. He has since added the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano to his successes and is now set to contest the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

Night Of Thunder’s nine Stakes winners and four Group winners from his 2021 crop have yet to yield a Group 1 winner, while three have scored at Group 2 level, including the smart Vespertilio, winner of Debutante Stakes and placed in the Group 1 Moyglare and Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. But perhaps his best chance of a third career Group 1 winners lies with the progressive Willian Haggas-trained Economics who took the Dante Stakes in such impressive fashion that Timeform have him pegged at 121p which puts among the very best three-year-olds this season, just six pounds shy of top-rated City Of Troy. He improved again (123p) on his return to action in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville and, on this form alone, will go very close in the Irish Champion, his next intended target.

Breeders have certainly kept faith in Night Of Thunder in the intervening seasons and his next three crops, produced off fees of €75,000, €75,000 and €100,000, are just as good as his current classic generation. And we have already witnessed a very exciting prospect from among his initial eight juvenile winners this season in the shape of the impressive Group 3 Albany winner Fairy Godmother (112p), who has only her stablemate Bedtime Story (116p) rated ahead of her among all European two-year-olds this year.

Fairy Godmother’s success underlines yet again the disparity between Night Of Thunder’s colts and fillies. The Aidan O’Brien-trained filly is one of her sire’s 33 Stakes winners and 17 Group winners among his fillies, which produce incredible strike rates of 16.3 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively. His colts and geldings, meanwhile, are producing Stakes winners at a rate of seven per cent and three per cent. Economics would therefore be a very welcome next Group 1 winner for his sire.

EUROPEAN SIRES RETIRED 2000+ RANKED BY BTW
(To Aug 15th of their sixth year)

EUROPEAN FIRST-SEASON SIRES SINCE 2010 BY STAKES WINNERS