I HAD the pleasure of the company of Sybille Gibson at dinner in Chantilly before the Arc weekend, and she told me she would have some stallion news soon. It came too late for publication last weekend but she will be introducing a new stallion to the roster at Haras de Montaigu, where she is the fifth generation of her family to run the Normandy farm.

Already home to Champion Stakes winner Literato (sire of Grade 1 winner Alterite), Group 2 winner Martaline (a multiple stakes sire), No Risk At All (whose first progeny are two-year-olds and whose stock have been bought by Highflyer Bloodstock, Aiden Murphy and Trickledown Stud) and the new sire for 2016, Prince Of Gibraltar who won Group 1 races at two and four, the busy stud will welcome Night Wish in 2017.

Winner of the Group 3 Grand Prix de Vichy this year and four other races, Night Wish has also been placed many times, including third to Our Ivanhowe and Sea Moon in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden, and to Empoli and Earl Of Tinsdal in the Group 1 Preis von Europa. He was also multiple group-placed in both France and Italy.

Night Wish has a pedigree that will appeal beyond France, and Irish breeders could well be attracted to use him.

He is a son of Sholokov, sire of the champion Night Magic on the flat (and she is Night Wish’s own-sister), while over jumps his best known son here is the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Don Cossack. Sholokov, a Group 1 winning juvenile and runner-up in the Irish Derby, is a son of Sadler’s Wells.

Sold as a yearling in Germany for €200,000, Night Wish is understandably a very good looking horse, just a shade under 16.2 hands. Dark bay in colour, he will undoubtedly prove very popular at his introductory fee of €3,000 (live foal).