The seven year old son of Giant’s Causeway, Await the Dawn is dead. The R30 000 a cover stallion, in only his second season, succumbed while covering a mare on Sunday. It was a freak accident which cost him his life. The immensity of this loss is obviously impossible to gauge, but what we have on the ground is an outstanding first crop of foals, very much in his own mould.

What we do know is Await The Dawn was a world-class racehorse, described by racing’s top rating agency, Timeform, as a Group One winner in waiting. As a 4 year old, he was regarded by Europe’s most powerful racing stable, Coolmore, as their best horse of that season. Those are credentials enough on their own yet, like Frankel, in his year, he was the pick of a foal share between Coolmore and Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, a product of the best blood of two of the best breeding establishments in the world. 

Greig Muir, stallion master at Summerhill for the past 27 years, was distraught at the loss: “You spend your life looking for a horse like Await The Dawn, who pulverised top class opposition with uncommon ease. He was booked to capacity on the strength of both his own great appeal and a fantastic first crop of foals. He was as fertile a horse as I worked with, and I guess his unusually large heart was a contributing factor to a stellar career. There’s no replacing an Await The Dawn, but at least we’ll have some terrific foals to remember him by.”