Kildangan/ Darley 2026

Kildangan sires had a good year on the track highlighted by Night of Thunder’s first UK/Ireland sires championship. There are 9 stallions based in Kildangan, numerically the same as last year. Shadow of Light is a new arrival replacing his underwhelming three-parts brother Earthlight. The stallions are collectively covering over 900 mares each year as shown below.

2025 mares covered	fee 2026	2025 mares covered	2024 mares covered
Night of Thunder	€200,000	169	120
Blue Point	€100,000	172	106
Teofilo	€30,000	42	60
Ghaiyyath	€20,000	192	148
Shadow of Light	€17,500	na	na
Native Trail	€16,000	107	162
Space Blues	€16,000	165	159
Naval Crown	€9,000	59	110
Raven’s Pass	private	11	21
Earthlight	na	17	77
Totals		934	963

It’s a roster that is heavy on sons of Dubawi but that seems to be working in their favour. Below is my assessment of the roster and I have included a Donald Trump like verdict on the sires:

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1. Night Of Thunder €200,000 (€150,000) 16.0 1/2 hh (2011 Dubawi ex Forest Storm by Galileo)

Donald Tump Verdict: Night of Thunder — tremendous stallion, really tremendous— people are saying the stud fee sounds high, they say “Wow, that’s a lot,” but believe me, when you see the results, suddenly nobody’s complaining anymore.”

Last year, I wrote that to justify his increased fee of €150,000 Night of Thunder needed to sire two or three Group 1 winners each year. It’s fair to say he justified the increase and then some. In 2025, he sired his first Classic winner in Desert Flower, the Dewhurst winner Gewan and Prince of Wales and Juddmonte International winner Ombudsman. For good measure Choisya and Dynamic Pricing added US Grade 1’s. He had an impressive tally of 30 Northern hemisphere stakes winners from 294 runners ( 10.2%) and his progeny amassed over €8 million in the UK and Ireland to give him his maiden sires championship. His yearling median jumped to €380,000 and his best bred crops are still coming through the ranks. His book rose to 169 last year and some of the quibbles people may have had about his own imperfect conformation are now long forgotten. He is unquestionably an elite sire and oddly despite a €200,000 stud fee, he is good value.

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2. Blue Point €100,000 (€100,000) 16.1 hh (2014 Shamardal ex Scarlett Rose by Royal Applause)

Donald Tump Verdict: Blue Point was a little quiet last year. Not terrible, nobody’s saying terrible, but when you pay big money, you want big noise, and maybe they wanted a little more noise..

He failed to add to his tally of Group 1 winners in 2025 but still finished 10th in the UK/Irish list. Rosallion had a frustrating season of near misses and his highest level winner was the French Group 2 winner Samangan. He proved attractive in the marketplace with 100 yearlings sold for a median of €131k. These were bred at a fee of €35,000 so it was a good return for the breeders involved. He attracted a quality book of 172 mares last year but in my view he is now expensive for a sire of sprinters/miler. There is no room for error at his current fee and I would be cautious.

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3. Teofilo €30,000 (€30,000) 16.2 hh (2004 Galileo ex Speirbhean by Danehill)

Donald Trump Verdict: He was great but I like new attractions not museums

Teofilo has compiled a very credible overall record as a sire with 24 career Group 1 winners. His progeny tend to be durable, they stay well and he has compiled a very good record as a broodmare sire. His yearling median was €53k last year so he still has admirers and he will have 39 two year olds this season and 34 yearlings to remind people of his merit. What he doesn’t have is youth and he will be 22 in the coming season. He is very likeable but not at that price point.

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4. Ghaiyyath €20,000 (€20,000) 16.2 hh (2015 Dubawi ex Nightime by Galileo)

Donald Trump Verdict: People want to believe, they really do. There’s something there — but whether it’s enough, that’s a very big question.

Opera Ballo gave him his first Northern Hemisphere Group 1 winner when successful at Meydan in January 2026. He had four other stakes winners in the Northern Hemisphere in 2025 including a pair of Group/Grade 2 winners in The Padre and the two year old My Highness. Stanhope Gardens also ran respectably to finish 5th in the Derby. The market has kept the faith for now with a yearling median of €70,000 from 97 sold. The fact that he improved with age (like so many by Dubawi)means it is reasonable to expect the same with his progeny. He has shown he can sire quality performers but what he hasn’t done is convince that he will be the next breakthrough son of Dubawi. He covered 192 mares in 2025 so a lot of breeders will be hoping he succeeds but I’m sitting on the fence on this one..

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5. Shadow of light €17,500 (na) 15.3 hh (2022 Lope De Vega ex Winters Moon by New Approach)

Donald Trump Verdict : Could be something… could be nothing.

An impressive winner of the Middle Park he stretched to win the Dewhurst albeit the horses behind him in the Dewhurst proved forgettable. He ran well in the Guineas to be beaten a length by Ruling Court and Fields of Gold but his form then tailed off.

Normally it would be a positive to be a three-parts brother to a winner of the Prix Morny and Middle Park. However in this instance his close relation Earthlight has disappointed and found himself shunted from the roster. Lope De Vega has had a few sire sons with runners such as Belardo, Phoenix of Spain, Lope Y Fernandez and Lucky Vega but none so far has proven a worthy successor. Shadow of Light brings a decent CV to the table. He is sensibly priced but at the same time he doesn’t excite.

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6. Native Trail €16,000 (16,000) 16.1 1/2 hh (2019 Oasis Dream ex Needleleaf by Observatory).

Donald Trump Verdict: “He was adored — totally adored. Now suddenly, not so much. The only thing that changed? The noise around him.”

With unproven sires, not a lot changes until their first runners arrive. What I wrote in 2025 about Native Trail being a typical risky unproven sire remains valid. As a dual Group 1 winner at two and a classic winning miler at three he ticks a lot of boxes for commercial breeders. Oasis Dream has had one good sire son in Showcasing but plenty of duds. Native Trail comes from a strong female family that delivered a lot of success for Juddmonte. Breeders flocked to him with 162 mares in 2024 but that eased off to 107 in 2025. I would have expected more of a haircut from his fee as he enters his third season and newer fashionable young sires are competing for attention.

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5. Space Blues €16,000 (15,000) 15.3 1/2 hh (2016 Dubawi ex Miss Lucifer by Noverre).
Donald Trump Verdict: Not Bad, Not Bad At All — Now He’s Got To Back It Up.

He had his first runners in 2025 and had an early Group 1 winner with the Phoenix Stakes winner Power Blue. Interestingly Power Blue was out of a Worthadd mare so has Dubawi 2X3. Overall he had 22 winners from 60 runners in Europe and finished joint 4th by winners and 3rd by prizemoney. It was a reasonable first season although Power Blue might have been fortunate that odds on favourite True Love underperformed on the day. His yearling median was €36,000 reflecting market affection but not true love (that name again). He had one other stakes winner (an Italian Listed winner) but he would need to add more depth to his record to silence the nagging doubts. He has attracted big books of mares so his pricing seems to be commercially attractive for now but he needs to build on his decent start. I’d be relatively sanguine on his prospects of finding himself a decent commercial niche.
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8. Naval Crown €9,000 (€10,000) 15.3 hh (2018 Dubawi ex Come Alive by Dansili)

Donald Trump Verdict: You never say never… but it’s not looking easy.”

He attracted 110 mares in his first season but this dipped to 59 in 2025. He was 33-1 when he won the Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and his overall record was four wins from 20 starts. His female line is unexceptional and his physique isn’t to everyone’s liking. Such quibbles explain why he is the cheapest of the Dubawis at €9,000. Despite Dubawi’s reputation as a sire of sires he has still had plenty of dud sire sons and this guy will have to outperform expectations to succeed.

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9. Raven’s Pass  Private (€7,500) 16.1 1/2 hh (2005 Elusive Quality ex Ascutney by Lord at War)

Donald Trump Verdict: “At a certain point, you’ve got to say, he’s earned some quiet time. Truth is, people have moved on.”

A ‘private’ stud fee is either for those sires who are so expensive that your eyes will water or more commonly those who are more in the ‘no reasonable offer refused’ category. It is also a mark of respect for older sires who don’t want to be shown with chicken feed fees after years of service. Raven’s Pass is unloved in the market place with a median of a derisory €3,755 and is now 21 years old. He attracted just 11 mares last year and 21 in 2024. Some of those figures are a little insulting to a sire who had respectable career percentages but I don’t envisage any demand to use him.

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Final Thoughts:

Coolmore flat sires account for the highest number of flat coverings in Ireland, with Tally-Ho now in second place. Kildangan’s sires rank third by number, but quality can outweigh quantity. In Night Of Thunder, they possess a genuine superstar. At 15, he is the youngest among the established elite European sires — Dubawi is 24, Sea The Stars 20, Lope De Vega 19, and Frankel 18. Arguably, he is more important than the rest of the Kildangan roster combined and much of their future success hinges on him remaining healthy and fertile over the coming years.