John Ingles looks at the career of the son of Dubawi and his breakthrough year featuring the likes of Ombudsman, Desert Flower and Gewan.
It’s unlikely there’s been a better race in recent times than the 2000 Guineas of 2014 in terms of producing future stallions among its first three finishers (replay below). The principals involved, Night of Thunder, Kingman and Australia, have all gone on to be leading producers at stud and each of them has had an excellent year in particular in 2025.
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Kingman’s three-year-olds included Field of Gold who emulated his sire by winning the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes, while Australia’s classic crop featured Lambourn, he too matching his sire’s achievement of winning the Derby and Irish Derby. Kingman and Australia therefore look set to finish in the top ten in the British and Irish sires’ championship behind Night of Thunder who is due to take the title for the first time.
As a 40/1-shot, Night of Thunder had rather gate-crashed the dramatic finish of that 2000 Guineas where Kingman and Australia headed the betting. In a race where the field split into two groups, Night of Thunder raced in the far-side group, along with Kingman, for most of the way. But when making his challenge in the closing stages, he swerved markedly left towards the stand side where Australia had come to the fore. Night of Thunder got up by half a length from Kingman with Australia just a head back in third.
That turned out to be Night of Thunder’s only win at three, though he contributed to Richard Hannon becoming champion trainer in his first season since taking over the licence from his father. Both placed horses went on to better things, making into top-class colts that season. Kingman, who had already beaten Night of Thunder beforehand in the Greenham Stakes, did so again in the St James’s Palace Stakes and excelled at a mile, while Australia came into his own over middle distances.
As well as in the St James’s Palace, Night of Thunder went on to be placed in the Prix du Moulin and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, both those races won by French colt Charm Spirit who had finished fifth behind him at Newmarket. But Night of Thunder was a Group 1 winner again when kept in training at four by which time he had changed owners from Saeed Manana to Godolphin. However, after winning the Lockinge Stakes on his reappearance, he disappointed in his two subsequent outings in the Queen Anne Stakes and Sussex Stakes and his retirement to stud was announced before the summer was out.
He started off at Darley’s Kildangan Stud in 2016 at a fee of €30,000. By way of comparison with his contemporaries, Kingman had started at Banstead Manor for Juddmonte a year earlier at 55,000 guineas, while Australia, also retired at the end of his three-year-old season, began his stallion career at Coolmore at €50,000.
After two seasons at Kildangan, Night of Thunder was switched to stand alongside his sire Dubawi at Dalham Hall in Newmarket for a couple of years, though with his fee there only £15,000 guineas, that was a fraction of the £250,000 being asked for Dubawi’s services at the time.
But much like Wootton Bassett who has been Night of Thunder’s closest pursuer in this year’s sires’ championship, Night of Thunder’s results began to speak for themselves, and his fee has risen accordingly. Switched back to Kildangan in 2020, Night of Thunder has remained there ever since and was standing for a new high fee of €150,000 this spring, though expect that to take a significant jump on the back of much his best season yet.
Night of Thunder made only 32,000 guineas at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Timeform speculating in his essay that that may have been explained by the fact that he isn’t the best of walkers and turns his fore feet out. He was the only foal produced by his dam Forest Storm, a useful filly trained by Jim Bolger who had cost a lot more herself (€240,000 as a foal). Her best efforts came at the Curragh on her first two starts as a two-year-old, winning over seven furlongs on her debut before finishing second in a listed race over a mile. Forest Storm was by Galileo, and she became the first of Galileo’s daughters to produce a classic winner.
Night of Thunder’s first Group 1 winner came in Australia where his New Zealand-bred son Kukeracha won the Queensland Derby in 2021, and he was off the mark at the top level in Europe soon afterwards too when his daughter Thundering Nights landed the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
The following year, it was high-class sprinter Highfield Princess who proved a fine advertisement for her sire, notching a quick hat-trick of Group 1 wins in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, Nunthorpe and Flying Five and adding another big sprint in 2023 in the Prix de l’Abbaye.
His top winners have come at a variety of trips, and in 2024 Night of Thunder’s stand-out performer was Economics, more stoutly bred on his dam’s side, whose career peaked with a win in the Irish Champion Stakes but perhaps didn’t fully realise his potential due to training issues thereafter. 2024 was also the year when Night of Thunder broke into the top ten in the sires’ championship for the first time, but was still only eighth, so his championship-winning season this year marks quite a leap forward.
But with a leading two-year-old, a classic-winning filly and a top-class older colt to represent him this year, all the generations have contributed to Night of Thunder’s breakthrough season. According to the betting, Somerville Tattersall Stakes winner Distant Storm was Night of Thunder’s most likely winner of the Dewhurst, but he was left back in third as Gewan produced a smart performance to add to his earlier win in the Acomb Stakes, where he had also beaten Distant Storm, putting him on course to perhaps emulate his sire in the 2000 Guineas.
Night of Thunder had a leading two-year-old in 2024 as well, with Fillies’ Mile winner Desert Flower, and she didn’t need to improve to win the 1000 Guineas on her return before finishing third in the Oaks. But with earnings not far short of £1.9m this year, four-year-old Ombudsman proved Night of Thunder’s most important winner in 2025 and developed into his highest-rated performer to date with a Timeform rating of 130.
Already the winner of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and narrowly beaten in the Eclipse, Ombudsman essentially clinched the sires’ championship for Night of Thunder by winning the Juddmonte International. News that Ombudsman stays in training is clearly a big boost to his sire’s chances of retaining his title, while the likes of unbeaten Joel Stakes winner Zeus Olympios, Hungerford Stakes winner More Thunder and Gladius, a 950,000 guineas purchase by Wathnan at the Autumn Horses In Training Sale, could all make their mark in good company next year. Besides Gewan and Distant Storm, unbeaten Royal Lodge Stakes winner Bow Echo and Autumn Stakes winner Hankelow are other promising three-year-olds for next season.
Night of Thunder’s success on the track inevitably heightened interest in his offspring at the sales. Distant Storm had fetched €1.9m at the breeze-ups earlier in the year, while the €3m Amo Racing paid for a daughter of Night of Thunder at the Arqana August Yearling Sale at Deauville smashed the sale record. No fewer than five yearlings by Night of Thunder fetched a million guineas or more at Tattersalls October Book 1, two of those going to Juddmonte and the most expensive of them, at 1.7m guineas, another Amo purchase.
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