Dewhurst win fires Classic dream for Gewan team

Connections of Gewan will spend the winter dreaming of 2000 Guineas glory after he stormed to Dewhurst Stakes success at Newmarket.

Trained by Andrew Balding, he defied outsider status to shoot towards the head of the betting for next season’s opening Classic when readily striking in the Group One contest, leaving behind the sole blip in his career to date in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster.

That outing on Town Moor was the Night Of Thunder colt’s first in the colours of owner Yuesheng Zhang, but he did not have to wait long to be rewarded for his investment.

The owner-breeder is no stranger to success on the global racing scene via his Yulong Investments operation and tasted Irish Oaks glory with Magical Lagoon in 2022, but Gewan’s success represented a first Group One in Britain.

Zhang’s bloodstock and racing manager Paul Curran said: “We can’t wait to see what he will be like next season as a three-year-old. We’ll let him have the winter and time off he deserves, but while he’s away we’ll be dreaming.

“Seeing his rating go up to 121 was an added bonus, not that we needed much of one after the weekend, but it was a really special day.

“The Dewhurst is the most prestigious two-year-old race of the season so for us as a breeding entity, to have a two-year-old colt win that really means a lot, and he now has the chance to have a stab at the Guineas next year which is what we want and puts us in the right position.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing him again next season.”