Darley sets Night Of Thunder’s 2027 fee at €450,000
Darley will stand champion sire Night Of Thunder at €450,000 ($A731,000) at Kildangan Stud in 2027.
That gives him the highest-fee ever publicly advertised for a stallion in Europe, and the fee is up from the €200,000 ($A325,000) he commanded in 2026, which was itself an increase from €150,000 ($A244,000) the year before.
Night Of Thunder has sired six Group 1 winners and 32 black-type winners this year, and he reached 100 individual stakes winners in October. His runners included a Group 1 treble at Royal Ascot, and Godolphin paid a European yearling colt record of 4.6 million guineas ($A9.18 million) for his colt out of My Astra at Tattersalls Book 1. Ace Stud later paid 2.2 million guineas ($A4.39 million) for another of his colts at the same sale.
He shuttled to Australia once, standing at Northwood Park in 2016 for $16,500 including GST. That crop has produced five stakes winners from 46 runners, including Group 1 winner Kukeracha.
Two of his sons join the roster for 2027. Ombudsman, a five-time Group 1 winner and Europe’s highest-rated horse, will stand alongside his sire at Kildangan for €45,000 ($A73,000). Unbeaten 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes winner Bow Echo goes to Dalham Hall at £65,000 ($A126,000). Notable Speech, the seven-time Group 1-winning son of Dubawi, joins Kildangan at €40,000 ($A65,000).
Dubawi is unchanged at £350,000 ($A681,000), while Too Darn Hot drops from £100,000 ($A194,000) to £75,000 ($A146,000). Blue Point, sire of VRC Champions Sprint winner Point Barrow, moves from €100,000 ($A162,000) to €130,000 ($A211,000), and Ghaiyyath goes from €20,000 ($A32,000) to €40,000 ($A65,000). As with Night Of Thunder, both Irish-based stallions’ 2027 fees include VAT.
