European Group 1-winning juvenile Gewan, a colt earmarked as a potential shuttle stallion for Yulong, has died following a trackwork incident while preparing for his three-year-old season.
The lightly raced grey, a son of Night Of Thunder and winner of the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes last October, suffered a fatal injury during a gallop at Kempton on Thursday under the supervision of trainer Andrew Balding.
Gewan had recorded three wins from four starts during his two-year-old season and was purchased by Yulong’s Zhang Yuesheng after his second outing, a Group 3 victory at York. He went on to validate that investment with a Group 1 success two starts later.
Following his rise, the colt was transferred into the ownership of Forz Europe, the newly established racing operation linked to Zhang’s Ace Stud.
Forz Europe and Ace Stud are managed by Zhang’s son-in-law, Harris Li.
“It is with extreme sadness that we report that Gewan, champion two-year-old of 2025, has suffered a fatal accident whilst 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,” a statement from Balding said.
“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 the horse since he arrived at Kingsclere and rides him every day.”
