Gewan

There can be few crueller blows than Classic dreams being dashed after a winter fuelled by expectation and excitement.  This was sadly the case for all those connected with last year's champion two-year-old Gewan (Night Of Thunder), who suffered a fatal injury in April while being prepared for the 2,000 Guineas. Trained by Andrew Balding for Forz Europe, the colt would have been an obvious prospect for that same owner's fledgling stallion operation at Ace Stud. Gewan's breeders, Charlie Wyatt of Dukes Stud and Simon Sweeting of Overbury Stud, were...

Champion two-year-old Gewan (Night Of Thunder), winner of last year's G1 Dewhurst Stakes and a leading contender for next month's 2,000 Guineas, has been fatally injured in a racecourse gallop at Kempton on Thursday morning. The colt, trained by Andrew Balding for Harrison Li's  Forz Europe Ltd, won three of his four starts last year, including the G3 Acomb Stakes at York. A post on social media from Balding's Park House Stables confirmed the news. It read, "It is with extreme sadness that we report that Gewan, champion two-year-old of...

Andrew Balding will bid to chart a familiar path to Classic glory as connections of Gewan (Night Of Thunder) outlined plans for the Dewhurst Stakes winner to take in the Greenham Stakes prior to a tilt at the 2,000 Guineas - meanwhile, 4.8 million gns purchase Barnavara (Calyx) is nearing her debut Down Under for the same Ace Stud-backed ownership group. It was in the Greenham Stakes where Balding unleashed subsequent 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean in 2023. However, disaster struck in the early-season Group 3 when Frankie Dettori was unshipped...

Breeders' Cup hero Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) is as short as 8-1 in the betting, as the entries for the G1 Betfred 2000 Guineas and G1 Betfred 1000 Guineas were released on Tuesday. There are 52 colts entered and 57 fillies at this entry stage. Sharing those odds with George Boughey's G2 Royal Lodge Stakes hero Bow Echo (Night Of Thunder), the G2 Coventry Stakes winner is one of nine in the race for Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore partners. Also narrowly second in a trio of Group 1 races last year--the...

Dewhurst Stakes winner Gewan has been crowned European Champion Juvenile for 2025 with a rating of 121. Trained by Andrew Balding, the son of Night Of Thunder was recruited from the Arqana May Breeze-Up Sale for €80,000 having been purchased originally from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. He followed up a debut win at Newbury in July with an impressive defeat of Italy (Wootton Bassett) (112) in the G3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes at York. His defeat of Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) at Newmarket to end the season followed a...

As updates go, being a half-sister to the Cartier Horse of the Year is not a bad one, especially when the mare in question is carrying to Calandagan's sire, Gleneagles. Caliyza has plenty more in her favour to boot. She's a dual winner by the late Le Havre and, only five, she is in foal for the first time. Offered as lot 1452 by Overbury Stud on Monday during the first of two Sceptre Sessions, the Aga Khan Studs-bred mare is returning to Tattersalls just 12 months after being bought...

Night Of Thunder colt Gewan ignited another Classic dream for his owner Yuesheng Zhang, who has already won the Irish Oaks with Magical Lagoon (Galileo) and came close to 2,000 Guineas glory with Lucky Vega (Lope De Vega), who is now a stallion under his dual-hemisphere Yulong operation. Zhang already has a significant racing and breeding operation in Australia, where his runners include the multiple Group 1 winner Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) - bought from Tattersalls for 2.7 million gns two years ago - and where he has an 11-strong...

The first two from last month's G1 National Stakes at the Curragh, Zavateri (Without Parole) and Gstaad (Starspangledbanner), feature among 14 confirmations for Saturday's G1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes, along with Distant Storm, one of three potential runners for Charlie Appleby as he seeks a fourth win in the race since 2019. Last seen winning the G3 Tattersalls Stakes over Saturday's course and distance, Distant Storm heads the betting for the Dewhurst at a general 2/1, although his trainer will be keeping an eye on the weather in the coming days,...

Impressive Acomb Stakes winner Gewan will line out for the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on September 13 in the colours of Yuesheng Zhang after the Yulong boss struck a deal for the unbeaten son of Night Of Thunder who could one day end up at the powerful outfit's Ace Stud. Trained by Andrew Balding, Gewan was bought by bloodstock agent Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of Al Rabban Racing from Mick Murphy of Longways Stables for €80,000 at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. He created a massive impression on debut at Newbury,...

YORK, UK -- What a day, or perhaps that should be, oh, what a Night. Fresh from providing the €3m top lot at Arqana on Monday, Night Of Thunder was by Wednesday ruling the Knavesmire, courtesy of his sons Ombudsman and Gewan. In Ombudsman, Godolphin and the Gosdens have the classic late improver, who set about his racing in the middle of last season and burst onto the Group 1 scene in impressive fashion at Royal Ascot. The narrowest of defeats in the Eclipse next time out did little to...