‘We’ll never forget his brilliance’ – Andrew Balding pays tribute after death of Dewhurst winner and Classic hope Gewan
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Andrew Balding has announced the death of Dewhurst winner and Classic hope Gewan after the colt sustained a fatal injury during a racecourse gallop at Kempton on Thursday.
The three-year-old son of Night Of Thunder was 6-1 third-favourite for next month’s Betfred 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket after winning three of his four starts as a juvenile and being crowned European champion juvenile for 2025.
Balding said: “It’s with extreme sadness we report that Gewan, champion two-year-old of 2025, has suffered a fatal injury while having a racecourse gallop at Kempton this morning. The vets were on site and attended to the horse immediately, but sadly, he could not be saved.
“Our thoughts are with Harris Li and his family, who owned Gewan, James Doyle, who was riding the horse and is luckily uninjured, and Marie Perrault, who has looked after Gewan since he arrived at Kingsclere and rides him every day.”
After making an impressive winning debut at Newbury in July, Gewan took a huge step forward when winning the Group 3 Acomb Stakes at York. He was then a beaten favourite when fourth of five in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, but secured his biggest success next time when defeating Gstaad by three-quarters of a length in the Group 1 Dewhurst at Newmarket.
He had been on course for a prep run in next week’s Greenham Stakes at Newbury before next month’s Classic bid, and Balding was full of praise for the colt.
Balding added: “We will never forget his brilliance when taking the Dewhurst in such impressive style, and we were so looking forward to seeing what he could achieve during his three-year-old career.
“Racing is full of high days and low days, and unfortunately, this is very much one of the latter.”
Published on 9 April 2026inBritain
Last updated 13:24, 9 April 2026
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