Night Of Thunder raised to €200,000 as Darley announces power-packed 2026 roster

The breed-shaping Dubawi and his champion sire son Night Of Thunder headline Darley's 2026 roster at fees of £350,000 and €200,000 respectively. 

It has been another excellent year for the Darley stallions as between them they have sired the winners of 19 Group/Grade 1s, 66 Group races and 125 stakes contests including the Prince of Wales’s, Juddmonte, Irish Champion Stakes, Eclipse, Lockinge, Dewhurst, 1,000 Guineas and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Four of the sires in Night Of Thunder, Dubawi, Blue Point and Too Darn Hot have also had a yearling sell for over £1 million in 2025, with Night Of Thunder’s €3 million filly breaking the record at the Arqana August Sale.

The roster is again topped by Dalham Hall-based Dubawi, who reached two new milestones in 2025 when siring his 300th stakes winner and 200th Group winner, while Notable Speech became his fourth Breeders’ Cup Mile winner in just five years last weekend. His fee is unchanged for the fourth consecutive year.

Dubawi's son Night Of Thunder will be crowned champion sire in Britain and Ireland after a season that saw him sire five individual top-level winners including Europe’s leading older horse Ombudsman, 1,000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower and Dewhurst winner Gewan. He is also the only stallion this year to have seven-figure yearlings sell in Britain, Ireland and France and rises from his €150,000 mark at Kildangan in 2025 to a career-high figure.

The newcomers to Darley's roster are triple Group 1 winner Rosallion (£40,000), European champion two-year-old Shadow Of Light (€17,500), champion sprinter Inisherin (£12,500) and Group 1-winning miler Tribalist (€6,000).

Another of Dubawi's outstanding sire sons is Too Darn Hot, responsible for the top-class Fallen Angel and German Group 1 winner Tornado Alert this year. His fee has increased to £100,000 (from £90,000).

Blue Point’s fee remains at €100,000 having sired 29 stakes performers worldwide in 2025, headed by Group winners Samangan and Sky Majesty, plus the Group 1-placed Blue Bolt, Rayevka and Rosallion. 

Exciting first-season sires Palace Pier and Space Blues have made a fine start with their first two-year-olds and the former will remain at £32,000, while Space Blues, responsible for Group 1 winner Power Blue, has had a slight trim to €15,000 (from €16,000). Ghiayyath, recently sire of Victoria Derby winner Observer, remains at €20,000. His progeny also include impressive Prix du Calvados scorer My Highness. 

Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions said: “It has been another outstanding year for our European roster and we couldn’t be prouder of our new champion sire Night Of Thunder and are as ever, extremely grateful to the breeders, without whom such success would not be possible.

"The 2026 roster offers breeders a range of opportunities to tap into two of the best sirelines in the world plus a superb group of both young and proven stallions, and to have three champions to retire this year in Rosallion, Shadow Of Light and Inisherin is hugely exciting.

"We look forward to discussing mating plans in the coming weeks and of course, welcoming breeders to both Dalham Hall Stud and Kildangan Stud to see the stallions for themselves."

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