The Night Of Thunder bandwagon continued to roll on Tuesday, 8 July when Royal Dress became her sire’s third individual Black Type winner in just four days, running out the easy winner of the Pipalong Stakes at Pontefract.
James Tate’s charge was settled towards the rear of the field under Clifford Lee, before being switched out once the field began to quicken from home. Responding impressively, Royal Dress took the lead inside the final furlong and eased into the clear, eventually winning by three and a quarter lengths.
This was her third victory at Stakes level, having previously landed the G3 Meadow Court Stakes and the Listed Conqueror Fillies’ Stakes. She could return to Ireland to bid for a repeat victory in the Meadow Court, but also holds an entry in the G1 Nassau Stakes at glorious Goodwood.
Royal Dress was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock and is out of the winning Dynaformer mare Wadaa, dam of three individual winners to date. She is herself a daughter of G1 performer and Group producer Cloud Castle and is from the same family as Night Of Thunder’s G1-winning daughter Thundering Nights.
Night Of Thunder is now sire of 19 individual Black Type winners in 2025, including four who have been successful at G1 level – a figure that cannot be bettered by any stallion in Europe. They include 1,000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower and G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman, narrowly denied in last Saturday’s G1 Eclipse by Delacroix (Dubawi).
