NIGHT Of Thunder made a flying start to his stallion career, with the days of his £15,000 fee soon to become a distant memory. He stands for a second year at a high of €100,000, and his reputation grows year on year.

He made the breakthrough at Group 1 level in 2021, and did so twice. Kukeracha won the Group 1 Queensland Derby over 12 furlongs in Australia a month before his daughter Thundering Nights took the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes over two furlongs less at the Curragh. Both were foaled in 2017, from the sire’s first crop in each hemisphere, but the star of that European crop was yet to appear.

Highfield Princess understandably built up a huge fan base, and she heads to stud this year having won four Group 1 races, the Nunthorpe Stakes in England, the Flying Five Stakes in Ireland and a pair in France, the Prix Maurice de Gheest and the Pris de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. It will not be long until that Group 1 tally is added to, and I suggest significantly.

Highfield Princess, the progressive milers Flight Plan and Isaac Shelby, and a pair of Group 1 juvenile fillies were among his stars in 2023. He also had more two-year-olds rated 80 or more with a Timeform ‘p’ than any other stallion, and his yearlings made up to €660,000 and were hugely profitable. Night Of Thunder gets winners over a range of distances, and in all age groups.

Night Of Thunder, aside from an Indian classic winner, is the only stakes winner in his family’s first three generations. However, the combination of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) with stakes-placed Forest Storm (Galileo) clicked, and he became the best racehorse in this branch since his fourth dam, Forest Flower (Green Forest).

She won the Queen Mary, Cherry Hinton and Mill Reef Stakes at two and was runner-up in the Phoenix Stakes, and despite concerns some had about her short stature, Forest Flower trained on to become an Irish 1000 Guineas heroine. She was 1986’s juvenile filly champion.

Night Of Thunder, a juvenile stakes winner who won a vintage edition of the Group 1 2000 Guineas before going on to add the Group 1 Lockinge, is certainly proving his worth at stud, and the years ahead look bright.

Race record

NIGHT OF THUNDER (IRE), Chesnut horse, 2011, by Dubawi (IRE), out of Forest Storm (GB), by Galileo (IRE). Won 4 races, value £872,363, at 2 to 4, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, 2000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1, Lockinge Stakes, Newbury, Gr.1, Doncaster Stakes, Doncaster, L., also placed second in Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, St James’s Palace Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Greenham Stakes, Newbury, Gr.3 and third in Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, ParisLongchamp, Gr.1.

At stud

Retired to stud in 2016, and sire of 278 winners, of 763 races, and £20,474,438, including HIGHFIELD PRINCESS (FR), THUNDERING NIGHTS (IRE), KUKERACHA (NZ), FLIGHT PLAN (GB), VESPERTILIO (FR), GLOBAL STORM (IRE), ISAAC SHELBY (GB), SOPRAN BASILEA (IRE), SUESA (IRE), CHERRY TORTONI (AUS), THUNDEROUS (IRE), AUYANTEPUI (GB), NIGHT COLOURS (IRE), RUMBLES OF THUNDER (IRE), LOLA SHOWGIRL (IRE), POCKET SQUARE (GB), THUNDER KISS (IRE), MOLATHAM (GB), NO LIMIT CREDIT (GER), A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT (AUS), UNDER THE STARS (IRE), ACQUITTED (IRE), TACARIB BAY (GB), ROMANTIC STYLE (IRE), THUNDER ROLL (IRE), AL MUSMAK (IRE), ARABIAN LEGEND (IRE), FIX YOU (GB), MAUIEWOWIE (GB), THUNDER BEAUTY (IRE), MEDIA STORM (GB), STORM DAMAGE (GB), GARDEN PARADISE (IRE), NIGHT TORNADO (GB), KEEP BUSY (IRE), HELA (AUS), STORMY GIRL (IRE), LADY PENELOPE (IRE), RIVER NIGHT (AUS), DUBAI LOVE (GB), and CACCIANTE (IRE).

Information

Stands at: Kildangan Stud, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare W34 HR98, Ireland

Contact: Eamon Moloney, Anthony O’Donnell or Tom Fogarty

Telephone: +353 45 527600

Email: hello@darleystallions.com

Web: www.darleyeurope.com

Fee: €100,000