Excitement Building For Cracking Night

The success of Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) across the globe has kept the team at Todd Blum Bloodstock on the edge of their seats as we await the debut of our very own two-year-old by the new sire-sensation.

The Shane Nichols-trained Cracking Night is just weeks away from a debut after a series of official trials and a spell before another set of 'jump-outs' at his home track, Mornington.

Night Of Thunder stood one season in Australia at Darley's Northwood Park, a farm Todd knows quite well having worked there in the past, where he only left 58 live foals.

Shane Nichols Racing purchased the Night Of Thunder x Red Pointes (Testa Rossa) colt at the 2019 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and TBB jumped at the opportunity to be involved.

"Shane purchased the horse for $30,000 and suggested he may be an excellent option as a trade horse if it worked out that way but also thought that he was the right sort of colt to have a crack at the track with as well," Todd Blum said.

"Shane doesn't normally buy first-season sires let alone European ones so his interest in this fella alerted me as I thought Night Of Thunder had the right credentials to make something of himself in the Southern Hemisphere.

"Although it didn't work out that way and he didn't return after his first and only season it certainly appears that in that one crop he has left some excellent racehorses.

"After encouraging signs north of the equator with his first two-year-olds excelling it still wasn't enough to get to excited as what happens in one Hemisphere doesn't always equate to the other but when they started to hit the track down here, he certainly started raising eyebrows."

Night Of Thunder's Australian progeny are led by A Beautiful Night who won the fillies edition of the Group 3 Blue Diamond Preview (1000m) and became the first Australian Stakes winner for the son of Dubawi.

His first runner 'down under' was River Night who was Listed placed in the Thoroughbred Club Merson Cooper Stakes and then backed that up with a Listed win in the Redoute's Choice Stakes.

Globally, Night Of Thunder has sired 12 individual stakes winners and TBB are well and truly hoping there are plenty more to come and their charge can add to the tally.

"Shane has been positive about our boy the whole way through and I am excited for myself and the other owners to see him at the races soon where we think he will be competitive over the 1400m mark," Blum added.

"It's great for the couple of people I put in the horse with me as well and the way it has worked out so far it has been an excellent vote of confidence for a stallion I really liked to have started like this and the cherry on top will be if we can get a great result with our one."