THE untimely death of the champion juvenile Gewan robbed his sire Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) of a real opportunity to sire his first European classic-winning son, but that hope became a reality when Bow Echo stepped into the breach and was an outstanding replacement.

From a low of £15,000 during his two-year sojourn at Dalham Hall to his current high of €200,000 at Kildangan Stud this season, Night Of Thunder’s fee trajectory matches the success story of his time at stud. He has overcome obstacles in his life which began at Hamwood Stud where his breeder Frank Dunne operated, saw him sell for just 32,000gns as a yearling, and yet go on to win the 2014 2000 Guineas, a race now captured by his son Bow Echo.

It was a poignant victory for the George Boughey-trained three-year-old, given that it came in the colours of Bow Echo’s late owner-breeder, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose death in December was mourned by many in the racing world. How he would have enjoyed this victory, given that he bred and raced the Italian classic winner Zomaradah (Deploy).

Trained by Luca Cumani, Zomaradah is famously the dam of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), grandsire of Bow Echo, and she is also the weekend classic-winning colt’s third dam. Also carrying the colours of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid to a Group 1 win this year was Royal Champion (Shamardal). He won the Group 1 Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, and is a son of Dubawi’s Group 2 Lancashire Oaks-winning half-sister Emirates Queen (Street Cry).

The unbeaten Bow Echo, rated the best winner of the 2000 Guineas since Frankel by Timeform, looks set for a glittering career ahead, and it is a family trait that most of its best runners are at their peak at three and older. His own race record is an example; a maiden winner over a mile in mid-August at Newbury, landing the Listed Ascendant Stakes at Haydock three weeks later, and in the same time span capturing the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. Now he is a classic winner.

Aristocratic Lady

Bow Echo is the second foal out of Aristocratic Lady (Invincible Spirit), another Sheikh Mohammed Obaid homebred. She was runner-up on her second start at three for Simon Crisford, but spent more than a year on the sidelines before going on a winning run at four, successful on three occasions – a maiden and two handicaps.

One wonders what Bow Echo was showing at home as a two-year-old, given that a month before he made his winning debut, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid sold his year-older unraced half-sister Royal Wedding (Lope De Vega) for 16,000gns to Tom Blain’s Ickworth Stud. Five months later, the shrewd Blain cashed in on Bow Echo’s rapid rise, selling Royal Wedding on for 150,000gns to Ecurie des Monceaux under his Barton Sales banner.

This is a family that has been in the headlines a lot in recent years, and continues to improve. Royal Rhyme (Lope De Vega), a half-brother to Aristocratic Lady (who died after producing her third foal), won the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes two years ago and since then ran third in both the Group 1 Champion Stakes to Anmaat and the Group 1 Prix Ganay to Sosie.

Dubai Queen

Royal Thyme’s half-sister Victoria Harbour (Frankel) raced three times last year, won twice, including the Listed Height Of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood. They are among six winners from the Royal Ascot Listed Sandringham Handicap runner-up Dubai Queen (Kingmambo). She died at the age of just 15, Victoria Harbour being the last of her nine offspring.

Night Of Thunder also sired the 2000 Guineas-third, Distant Storm, the Group 1 1000 Guineas runner-up Evolutionist, while his 10 blacktype winners in 2026 alone is jointly-headed by the Group 1 Dubai Turf winner Ombudsman. He had an astonishing 32 Stakes winners last season, and could well be on his way to match or better that this year.

WITH double the number of starts made by Bow Echo, and doubling her Group 1 haul, True Love gave the Coolmore and Ballydoyle teams another classic win in the 1000 Guineas, and reminded us yet again of the enormous influence on the thoroughbred breed exerted by Urban Sea (Miswaki).

The Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner bequeathed the great sires Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) among her four top-level winners, while there are four others descending from her, including the Derby hero Masar (New Approach) and Irish Oaks heroine Bracelet (Montjeu).

An unplaced run at Del Mar last year in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint is the only ‘blot on the copybook’ for the Coolmore-bred True Love, a race that Aidan O’Brien admits was the wrong choice for the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner. Apart from that, True Love’s record is five wins and three seconds in eight runs, and on the occasions when she was beaten she was behind Lady Iman on her debut, Gstaad next time out, and Power Blue in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes.

Alluringly

True Love is the fourth foal and third pattern winner for Alluringly (Fastnet Rock). Her full-sister Truly Enchanting (No Nay Never) won the Group 2 Balanchine Stakes as a two-year-old at the Curragh, while their half-sister Lily Pond (Galileo) was a Group 2 Curragh winner in the Kilboy Estate Stakes.

Alluringly was a stakes winner, at Gowran Park, runner-up to Enable in the Listed Cheshire Oaks, but a distant third behind that great racemare and fellow Ballydoyle runner Rhododendron in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom. True Love’s third dam was All Too Beautiful (Sadler’s Wells), the Group 1 Oaks second and Group 3 winner whose siblings include Galileo, Sea The Stars, My Typhoon (Giant’s Causeway) and Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells) – all Group or Grade 1 winners.

All Too Beautiful, bought for 1,100,000gns by Demi O’Byrne as a foal in 2001, bred three winners, all of whom earned blacktype. Her daughter Wonder Of Wonders (Kingmambo) won the Listed Cheshire Oaks and placed in three Group 1 races with Oaks in the title, the one at Epsom, its Irish equivalent, and the Yorkshire version. Wonder Of Wonders’ half-sister Sparrow (Oasis Dream) was group-placed and is dam of the Group 1 Cox Plate and Tancred Stakes hero Sir Dragonet (Camelot).

Ten Group 1 winners

When True Love gave Aidan O’Brien his first win in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes last year, she became the 40th group winning son or daughter of No Nay Never (Scat Daddy). That figure now stands at 47, with another 31 blacktype winners. The Group 1 Prix Morny winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint second has his ninth European crop of racing age, and 10 Group 1 winners.

Seven of these won a Group 1 at two – the odd ones out being last year’s City Of York Stakes winner Never So Brave, and his top-level winners in Australia and Chile. What a collection of juvenile stars he has produced – True Love, Whistlejacket, Alcohol Free (who added three more Group 1s), Little Big Bear, Meditate, Blackbeard and Ten Sovereigns.