Left out of most equations following his fourth in the Champagne, Yuesheng Zhang’s Gewan (Night Of Thunder) bounced back in style on unseasonably quick ground to cause a 25-1 upset in Saturday’s Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes. Always in the front line under James Doyle, the Andrew Balding-trained grey, who had earlier won the Acomb at York drifted over to the stand’s rail but maintained his momentum to deny Ballydoyle’s well-backed 7-4 favourite Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) by 3/4 of a length. Godolphin’s Distant Storm (Night Of Thunder) was 1 1/2 lengths away in third.
“The Champagne was on slow ground and he moved beautifully on the way to post–he has a nice, flowing action so I can see why soft ground at Doncaster didn’t suit him,” James Doyle said. “He is very straightforward to deal with, and he found an early rhythm, which is so important on this track.”
“He really whooshed down into the dip and I let him flow down into it as Kieren Fallon says he used to like doing,” he added. “Track is fine and a mile will be fine, so the Guineas is there for him–he’s very uncomplicated and has ticks in all the boxes. There was no fluke whatsoever about that, he felt like a good horse”.
Intriguingly, Gewan had won the same Newbury novice as Andrew Balding’s 2022 Dewhurst winner Chaldean and followed the same path as that subsequent 2000 Guineas hero when winning the Acomb. Disappointing behind Puerto Rico (Wootton Bassett) in the Champagne, which the Frankel colt had also garnered three years ago, he was back on track here.
This race was won either side of halfway, as the winner began to turn it on from a more advantageous position than the runner-up. Gewan was fractionally slower over each of the last three furlongs than Gstaad, who was restrained early by Christophe Soumillon after showing keenness. Distant Storm was a shade too far out of his ground to get involved, while the unbeaten July Stakes, Vintage Stakes and National Stakes winner Zavateri (Without Parole) looked all at sea coming down into the dip and appeared to run out of steam late as he finished fourth.
“We were saying before the race that he was overpriced, because his York performance was very good and we thought you had to forgive him Doncaster,” Balding said. “He was given a brilliant ride by James and he’s a very good horse. The soft ground didn’t help at Doncaster, but I don’t think it was just that, for whatever reason he wasn’t at his best.”
“He’s very similar to Chaldean–the only thing he hasn’t done is win at Doncaster,” he added. “If you could forgive that Doncaster run he came here with every chance as the Acomb form was rock-solid. It’s a relief, but his work at home suggested he would play a part today.”
Gewan is the second foal out of the Listed-placed Grey Mystere (Lethal Force), who is kin to another Listed-placed filly in Ginalyah (Chachnak). The third dam Cracovie (Caerleon) produced the Gr.1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Coquerelle (Zamindar) and the Gr.3 Prix du Lys winner Spring Master (Mastercraftsman) and is the third dam of the recent Gr.3 Sceptre Stakes scorer Fair Angellica (Harry Angel).
Adapted from an article written for TDN Europe
