TATTERSALLS, ENGLAND – Mick Murphy has dedicated his lifetime's craft towards producing a horse good enough to win a Group 1 and, when his Longways Stables graduate Gewan (Night Of Thunder) crossed the line in front in Saturday's Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, he and his wife Sarah were nowhere near the hubbub and celebration that rang out around the racecourse.Instead, Murphy was back at Park Paddocks searching for his next big-name star ahead of the Book 2 session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.It is almost a year to the day since Murphy sourced Gewan at Book 2 and, to say his breakthrough at Group 1 level was a timely one would be a massive understatement. Far beyond the wild celebrations at Newmarket racecourse, Gewan provided the Longways team with a lift in their spirits after Sarah's well-documented health scare. Speaking from the Solario cafe at Tattersalls on the eve of Book 2, Murphy said, “I was back here inspecting the horses when Gewan won. Sarah was toying with the idea of coming over but Flora Of Bermuda, another graduate of ours, is her pride and joy, and she runs on Champions Day at Ascot next Saturday, so she decided that she would go to that instead. So our first Group 1 winner and neither of us were there! It's actually funny, I rang her straight away after the Dewhurst and she was watching the race on a delayed feed. She was about a minute behind but I don't think she minded me ruining the surprise to tell her that the horse had won. It was just an unbelievable buzz.”He added, “It was very special. Especially for Sarah, who has had a tough time of it for the past two years now, so Saturday provided her with a huge lift. The treatment has been going well but it has been a challenging 24 or 25 months now. That's why you could say Gewan was well-timed. It provided us with a major boost. It really is a massive thing for us. We've been lucky to have sold two Royal Ascot winners and have had multiple horses placed in Group 1s. We even had Le Brivido, who was beaten a short head in a French 2,000 Guineas. So to get that breakthrough Group 1, it means the world to us.”Not only was Gewan a hugely important winner for Longways Stables, but it was one that was collectively fist-pumped by the breeze-up community. Gewan provided that sphere with a one-three in the Dewhurst, given the third-placed Distant Storm was bought and sold by prominent breeze-up handler Cormac Farrell, and Murphy says the result will serve as a timely reminder of how strong that business has become. He said, “The past few years have been unbelievable. The quality of the horses that are being bought to go breezing now is frightening. I've said it several times before now but, when I first got into breezing, we were essentially second-hand car dealers. We trained what the trainers didn't want. Essentially, that was the role of the breeze-up men and women – to pick up the slack. Even in the past couple of years, the whole thing has gone to another level. It's gone so professional. But trying to buy horses to go breezing isn't easy, either. The market this year has been unbelievably strong. We were very lucky that we made a good living out of the chancier horses but, now, you need sire-power. I am a big believer in sire-power.”And Gewan has that all-important sire-power. By Night Of Thunder, who can seemingly do no wrong at present, the grey is out of a Stakes-placed mare in Grey Mystere (Lethal Force). Murphy went to 100,000gns to secure Gewan from Overbury Stud here 12 months ago. Recalling him as a yearling, he said, “I loved him physically, but thought he was quite raw. At the end of the day, though, he was by Night Of Thunder out of a Stakes mare. It is well-documented now that he had a small issue with one of his knees. My vet, Rob Dallas, was very happy with him and gave me the confidence to take a chance on him. Obviously, plenty of others didn't. Whether it is breeze-up horses or horses-in-training, a comment on knees or stifles will frighten a lot of people. I can remember when I was only starting out in this game, [vet] John Halley told me that. But I loved the horse and I took the chance on him. It wasn't anything majorly clever given his pedigree. Unfortunately, the buyers weren't as forgiving of him at the breeze-ups and we didn't make any money on him. Okay, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I knew he was a Group 1 horse, but I knew he was well above standard. Thankfully, Billy Jackson-Stops listened.”Gewan was led out of the ring unsold initially at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. However, Jackson-Stops saw something that a lot of buyers didn't in the colt. And, crucially, he took Murphy at his word that this was a promising colt in the making. A deal was done and Jackson-Stops bought Gewan on behalf of Rabban Racing for what now looks to be a snip at €80,000.“He didn't blow the clock off but his stride analysis and his biometrics were off the charts,” Murphy explained. “The track at Deauville, it suits a really fast horse – you are only off the bend and you are into the straight and then there is a relatively quick pull-up. The Craven at Newmarket would have suited him better, as it proved yesterday, but because he was so raw, we gave him the time and waited for France. We did right by the horse. We probably didn't do right by ourselves with regards to getting well-paid for him, but we did right by the horse, and the horse is always number one. Billy was using the Pythia system last year at the breeze-ups and it was he who told me that Gewan scored unbelievably well on that. In fairness to Billy, he took a chance on the horse and it has worked out for him so I am absolutely delighted for him.”Gewan was sold privately by Rabban Racing to Chinese billionaire Yuesheng Zhang after the colt landed the G3 Acomb Stakes at York. Murphy wouldn't be human if he didn't wish his eye and judgement was better rewarded at the breeze-up sales but admitted to feeling overwhelming joy at Gewan fulfilling his potential.He said, “Obviously, we buy these horses for resale but our ultimate goal is to produce good horses. Whether you are a yearling or breeze-up consignor, I think that is the main aim. A Group 1-producing consignor, that's where you want to get to. It has taken us a while to get there but it was worth the wait.”Attention now turns to Book 2 where the goal is a simple one. Unearth the next Gewan. “My shortlist is a longlist,” Murphy joked. “There are a lot of nice horses here. But then again, there are a lot of people here so I am expecting trade to be strong. It's a sale I have been very lucky at before and we'll be trying hard again. I always try to buy two or three horses at Book 1 but we managed to buy five here last week – including two Night Of Thunder fillies – so it was definitely workable. So I bought five and I probably underbid six or seven as well. The pedigrees may not be as strong at Book 2 but, having got around to see the majority of the horses, the physicals are extremely strong. There are some very smart-looking horses here.”The post ‘My Shortlist Is A Longlist’ – Longways On The Hunt For Next Gewan At Book 2 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.