Night Of Thunder to serve mares to southern hemisphere time
Dubawi’s heir apparent available from Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland
Antipodean breeders are to be granted sought-after access to Darley’s rising star sire Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) this year, with a limited number of mares due to be covered to southern hemisphere time at Kildangan Stud.
The 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) -winning son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) has already produced 14 stakes winners worldwide, with his debut northern hemisphere three-year-old crop including seven stakes winners, such as Royal Ascot’s Jersey Stakes (Gr 3, 7f) scorer Molatham and No Limit Credit, who landed the Karin Baronin von Ullmann Schwarzgold-Rennen (Gr 3, 1800m) in Germany.
His debut northern hemisphere crop representatives have recorded an impressive winners-to-runners ratio of 55 per cent, with his second crop of two-year-olds – which include Qaader, runner-up in the Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) at Royal Ascot – currently operating at a strike-rate of 57 per cent.
Night Of Thunder previously shuttled to Darley’s Northwood Park in Victoria, and his first Australian-bred juveniles have also made a notably strong start despite his crop numbering just 58 foals.
From 16 runners, he has sired eight individual winners for a strike-rate of 50 per cent, with two of those having struck in stakes company, making him the only first-season sire in Australia to supply more than one stakes winner.
His southern hemisphere-bred runners include the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained A Beautiful Night, winner of the Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies) (Gr 3, 1000m) at Caulfield in January, and River Night, who took out the Redoute’s Choice Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at the same track for Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra in March. He has also been represented by unbeaten Cherry Tortoni, a recent winner at Flemington and Blue Diamond Prelude (Gr 2, 1100m) fourth Riverina Storm.
Eamon Moloney, nominations manager at Kildangan, said: “The standards that Night Of Thunder’s progeny have achieved in both hemispheres to date is propelling him to an elite stallion status with global appeal.
“He has just finished covering an exceptional book of mares and is now receiving a lot of interest for a limited number of southern hemisphere nominations, which will be covered from his base in Kildangan Stud.”