Nightime to Shine Bright at Goffs

When a Classic-winning filly retires to stud great things are naturally expected of her subsequent progeny, but often a top-class race mare struggles to produce a horse as good as herself. This is certainly not the case with G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Nightime (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is the dam of two Group/Grade 1 winners in Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Zhukova (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who both achieved a higher rating than their top-class dam did. In fact, Ghaiyyath's 14-length romp in this year's G1 Grosser Preis Von Baden pushed the Charlie Appleby trained colt's rating up to 126, which is top five in the world territory.

The latest chapter in the Nightime story will be played out next week at Goffs when the 16-year-old mare's Dubawi colt foal–the only one by the sire in the sale and a full-brother to Ghaiyyath, who himself was a €1.1-million Goffs foal in 2015– will be offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as lot 745 on Wednesday.

It is a pedigree synonymous with the Weld family with master trainer Dermot the current custodian having taken over the breeding career of Nightime upon the death of his mother Marguerite in 2014. Weld of course trained not only Nightime to win the Irish 1000 Guineas in his mother's colours at The Curragh in 2006, but also the granddam Caumshinaun (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) who was champion older mare in Ireland in 2001, as well as the GI Man O'War S. winner Zhukova. Since retiring to be a broodmare, Nightime has bred five winners, headed by the aforementioned top-level winners in addition to the stakes-placed Sleeping Beauty (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and her progeny have grossed almost €4 million in the sales ring when offered as foals or yearlings; add another 3.7 million gns to that figure when one takes into account the sale of Zhukova to Godolphin as a broodmare prospect at Tattersalls two years ago. Bill Dwan of The Castlebridge Consignment knows the pedigree inside-out, having been entrusted by the Weld family to sell pretty much all of Nightime's offspring that have been offered at public auction and he is naturally looking forward to offering the mare's third son of Dubawi.

“He is quite similar physically to Ghaiyyath,” Dwan said of the March-born chestnut. “He is a strong, well-made colt with great bone. Both Ghaiyyath and this foal have wonderful temperaments and take everything in their stride. This colt has had a very straightforward preparation. He is hand walked daily and spends the rest of the day out in a grass paddock.”

Following the seven-figure sale of Ghaiyyath and the sale of another Dubawi foal last year to Godolphin for 700,000gns, one could assume that the Nightime/Dubawi alliance would be a perennial one, bolstered by Ghaiyyath's subsequent success on the track. However, the emergence of an exciting young buck this spring lead to a change in routine for Nightime in 2019 and the result will be eagerly awaited in 2020.

“I actually saw Nightime the other day, she looks great, is very happy and is heavily in foal to Kingman (GB),” Dwan revealed. “Her plans for 2020 have not been decided yet but obviously with Kingman developing into such a brilliant stallion you'd have to be excited about what arrives in a few months' time. While so much has happened already in the family there is so much more to come as well. I spoke to Jimmy Hyland earlier in the year and he told me the yearling is delighting him, he has really done well physically so fingers crossed he turns out as good as his older full-brother.”

Not only has Dwan played a pivotal role as consignor for Nightime's progeny, but he also played a part in the racing career of Zhukova, in his position as advisor to the mare's former owner Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez. Thus, he is well qualified to give his thoughts on what makes the pedigree tick so successfully.

“I have to say a lot of the credit must go to Galileo as he is a wonderful sire and broodmare sire and when you match that with super sire Dubawi it's quite simply breeding the best to the best,” he said. “This family has been nurtured by the late Mrs. Weld who was a wonderful breeder and it was quite an achievement by her to win the Irish Guineas with a filly she owned and bred and was trained by her son. All Nightime's progeny have great temperaments, which makes them easy to handle and train and they are tough and enjoy racing, which is so important.

“Class rises to the top and Nightime's progeny have class in abundance. Ghaiyyath was a magnificent foal who sold at Goffs for €1.1 million to Godolphin, he won his Group 1 this year by a staggering 14 lengths and his half-sister Zhukova won the Man O'War by an impressive six lengths. Let's not forget Nightime herself also won her Classic by six lengths.”

While Zhukova went unsold in the ring as a yearling she ultimately ended up in the ownership of Regalado-Gonzalez and her partner John Murrell. She was a relatively late developer, making her debut as a 3-year-old but the patience shown by Dermot Weld would ultimately pay dividends for connections.

“Zhukova was a beautiful yearling and we loved her at home,” Dwan recalled. “She turned into a fabulous race filly who gave her owners some great days winning group races in Leopardstown and The Curragh before heading to America to win the Grade I in Belmont Park. She went on to sell for 3.7  million gns at Tattersalls December sale which proves how well this pedigree is received and I believe she foaled a colt by Dubawi earlier this year. Nightime's Dubawi foal has all the family attributes both physically and mentally to allow us to dream of him being as successful as, or even better than, his illustrious siblings.”