Night of Thunder

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This column is highlighted by the victory of Darya at Santa Anita. Persian King Filly Crowned In Arcadia Darya (Persian King) steamed home a 2 3/4-length winner at Santa Anita in late March (video). Raced by Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify, the three-year-old filly was bred Emir Alkas. A 40,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling, she failed to meet her reserve when passed in for 20,000 out of...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Monday's Observations features a seven-figure yearling. 2.48 Navan, Mdn, 3yo/up, c/g, 7f 180yT SHAFTESBURY AVENUE (Maxfield) may not have made much impact on his debut at The Curragh earlier this month, but Aidan O'Brien is renowned for improving his maidens exponentially and as a $1-million Keeneland September sensation is...

A model of consistency in Europe's premier middle-distance races throughout 2025, Godolphin's Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) teed himself up perfectly for another productive campaign when making light of a five-month absence to run out a smooth winner of Saturday's $5-million G1 Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World at Meydan. Bettered only by Calandagan (Gleneagles) when last seen filling the runner-up spot in a vintage edition of the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot back in October, Ombudsman faced nothing of that calibre in this 1,800-metre contest and duly proved himself a...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Observations features a likely Derby prospect. 4.50 The Curragh, Mdn, 3yo, 10fT GEORGE STUBBS (IRE) (Camelot {GB}) is the pick of Ryan Moore of the duo from Ballydoyle and as a half-brother to Galileo's Criterium International hero and Melbourne Cup runner-up Johannes Vermeer and dual Group 1-placed Wembley...

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...

Over 200 two-year-olds, one of them a St Mark's Basilica half-brother to G1 Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo), have been catalogued for the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. Breezes will take place over the Deauville turf on Thursday May 7 from midday, before the sale begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 9. Set to sell as lot 174, the bay is also a half-brother to G1 Railway Stakes heroine Bounding (Lonhro), while multiple group winner and sire Kuroshio is under the second dam. Other choice lots include lot 19, a...

Darley's Sam Bullard and Watership Down Stud manager Simon Marsh have paid Too Darn Hot the ultimate compliment by drawing parallels between the young stallion and last year's European champion sire Night Of Thunder. Both sons of Dubawi operate under the same Darley roof and Too Darn Hot, the sire of multiple Group 1 winners in both hemispheres, is charting a similar path towards elite stallion status, according to Bullard and Marsh. Bullard said, "Dubawi was what we set out to achieve in the early days of the Darley stallions...

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...

Since the death of Ian Balding, we have been reflecting on treasured memories not only of the highly respected trainer but also of one of Kingsclere's greatest patrons, Paul Mellon. It was fitting, therefore, that Andrew Balding should have won at Newcastle last Friday with Level Look, who was bred by Emma Balding at Kingsclere Stud and is raced by the Kingsclere Racing Club, whose horses keep the famous black and gold Mellon silks alive. On a much grander scale, another fitting recent result was that of the General Sires'...

Jimmy Hyland, the new CEO of Godolphin Ireland, speaks about champion sire Night Of Thunder, new addition Shadow Of Light and more Sweeping statements about the future are usually best left to Nostradamus and the like but Jimmy Hyland, the new man at the helm at Kildangan Stud, has more than one good reason to look out over the horizon and smile.  We say new, but Hyland put down 38 good years working for the Maktoum family before taking over as CEO from the outgoing Joe Osborne back in October....

Galileo and Dubawi, two titans of the sport whose fates have been so entwined for the past two decades that the marrying of their superior bloodlines to one day give us a champion sire was perhaps as inevitable as it is satisfying for us bloodstock nuts. On 12 occasions, in 2008 and then every year between 2010 and 2020, Galileo topped the end-of-year sires' table in Britain and Ireland. On four of those occasions Dubawi filled the runner-up spot, before the Darley stalwart finally enjoyed his day in the sun...

For this first of four parts of our annual Value Sires series in Europe, we will be dealing with the elite tier of stallions standing for a fee in excess of £50,000, which is approximately €57,000. The names in this bracket don't change that much, except for when a grandee retires or a young upstart bounces his way in. In 2025, we lost an increasingly prolific member of this cohort when Wootton Bassett died in Australia from pneumonia at the age of 17. The consequences of his passing will doubtless...