Night Of Thunder lights up Royal Ascot and No Nay Never builds on record haul

Two former shuttle stallions to Australia emerged as the dominant sires of Royal Ascot, with No Nay Never continuing his remarkable record at the famous carnival and Night Of Thunder producing a Group 1 treble.

It was Darley’s star Night Of Thunder who proved the dominant Group 1 producer of the week, thanks to his star son Ombudsman, who won the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, Bow Echo, winner of the St James’s Palace, and Ten Bob Tony, who produced an upset in the Queen Anne Stakes.

The son of Dubawi dominated the Queen Anne Stakes, also siring the second-placed More Thunder and fourth-placed Zeus Olympios.

Night Of Thunder, who spent one season shuttling to Australia in 2016 and ran second in his only Royal Ascot appearance in the St James’s Palace in 2014, also had Lost Boys claim the Golden Gates Stakes on the final day at Ascot.

In the space of five days he doubled his progeny earnings for the season, taking over the lead from Frankel in the race to be crowned British champion stallion for the second straight year.

Coolmore’s No Nay Never, who shuttled to Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Valley from 2016 until 2019, had three winners across the carnival, including Mission Central, winner of the King Charles III Stakes.

On the 13-year anniversary of his own Royal Ascot win in track record time in the Norfolk Stakes, No Nay Never continued his strong influence in the two-year-old ranks with Great Barrier Reef winning the Group 2 Coventry Stakes and Libertango successful in the Group 3 Albany Stakes.

The son of Scat Daddy now has seven individual two-year-old winners at the famous meeting, more than any other sire in the 21^st century. He also had True Love run third in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes.

Starspangledbanner, the Australian-bred Coolmore stallion who no longer shuttles back to Australia, went close to a Group 1 double with Gstaad unlucky not to win the St James’s Palace, while Precise won the Coronation Stakes.  

It was also a successful week for Justify, who spent five seasons at Coolmore Australia. Just a week after Spicy Martini gave him his first Australian Group 1 win in the Stradbroke, Scandinavia secured Justify’s first Royal Ascot Group 1 in the Gold Cup. His son Nola Soul also won the Listed Chesham Stakes.

The other Group 1-producing stallions during the week were Dark Angel, whose son Almeraq won the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, and Starman, represented by Commonwealth Cup winner Venetian Sun.

St Mark’s Basilica, who stands at Coolmore Australia at $38,500 this year, had two stakes winners, with Thesecretadversary in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes and King Of Cloughan in the Windsor Castle (Listed).

Late Coolmore resident Wootton Bassett also had two Royal Ascot stakes winners, Causeway in the Group 2 King Edward Stakes and Victorious in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes.

Darley’s Blue Point, who won’t return to Australia this season, had two winners across the week, including Blue Bolt in the Group 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes.