Tag Archive for: More Thunder

More Thunder keeps up winning momentum in Hungerford Stakes

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More Thunder continued his brilliant summer when powering home for an impressive victory in the Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes at Newbury.

Only an agonising Royal Ascot defeat in the Wokingham counts as a slight blot on the copybook of William Haggas’ four-year-old this season. He was scoring for the fourth time in a campaign which has seen him now successfully climb the ladder into Group company.

Sent off the 6-4 favourite after landing the spoils in the Bunbury Cup last month, Tom Marquand had More Thunder in his customary position away from the pace as Hackwood Stakes winner Rage Of Bamby and Lennox Stakes victor Witness Stand disputed the it and led the runners into the closing stages.

However, the complexion of the race changed once Marquand eased his mount into top gear, weaving his way to the front with half a furlong to run before darting clear in tremendous fashion late on.

More Thunder finished two and a quarter lengths clear of Witness Stand who kept on gamely for second and Marvelman a head further back in third.

Haggas said: “He’s progressing well and I was very pleased with him today, he won well.

“I still don’t really know what his best trip is, but he seems to be getting better anyway and he was strong at the finish today, he wasn’t stopping.

“I think he’s quite effective if not at his best on slower ground and he’s been fun. He’s done very well and beat a horse who won a good race last time, so hopefully the form is strong and he’s won comfortably so I’m delighted.”

Jockey Tom Marquand with More Thunder at Newbury
Jockey Tom Marquand with More Thunder at Newbury (Steven Paston/PA)

More Thunder holds a host of high-ranking entries at distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile later in the season and with Group Two honours secured, the Somerville Lodge handler raised the possibility of stepping up to the highest level before the year is out.

“I would say all options are open for him,” continued Haggas. “We’re in everything from six furlongs to a mile and he’s won a Group Two now so we’ve got to go for another Group Two or a Group One and it will just depend on how many more races we’re going to give him this season.

“He won at both the Craven and the Guineas meeting so he has been on the go for a while so we will have to see.

“We need to make plans, will he retire or race again as a five-year-old? So we’ve got lots to think about – but it’s nice thinking.”

More Thunder moving up in class at the weekend

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More Thunder is all set to have his first run in Pattern company in Saturday’s Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes.

William Haggas’ rapidly improving four-year-old won over 10 furlongs for Sir Michael Stoute last season, but his new trainer wasted no time in reverting to sprinting.

He won a six-furlong handicap at the Craven meeting off 87, followed up at the Guineas meeting off 92, was beaten a head off 98 in the Wokingham and won the Bunbury Cup over seven furlongs last time out off the same mark.

Now up to 103, connections feel it is time to test the water at a higher level, starting with this Group Two contest.

Bruce Raymond, racing manager to More Thunder’s owner Saeed Suhail, said: “I can’t see why he won’t be up to it, he’s unlucky not to be unbeaten this season.

“Because he’s only been running in handicaps his rating is still pretty low compared to some in the race, but I’d be very disappointed if he wasn’t up to this level.

“He’s very versatile regarding trip. For now I think seven suits him, but I know his jockey (Tom Marquand) thinks he’s at his best over a strong-run six, which is quite hard to believe given Sir Michael started off with him at 10 furlongs.”

With More Thunder in action this weekend, Never So Brave, in the same ownership and trained by Andrew Balding, has the Sky Bet City of York Stakes on his agenda.

“He’ll be going to the new Group One at York, he’s improving with every run and looked good at Ascot,” said Raymond.

Also in contention for the Newbury race are Lennox Stakes winner Witness Stand, the Charlie Appleby pair of Notable Speech and Shadow Of Light, Marco Botti’s Great Generation and Eve Johnson Houghton’s Rage Of Bamby.

More thought to be given to Thunder target

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Which race – or even which trip – More Thunder runs over next has still to be decided following his last-gasp win in the Bunbury Cup on Saturday.

The four-year-old, who  moved to William Haggas following the retirement of Sir Michael Stoute, has found a new niche for himself sprinting this season.

Narrowly denied in the Wokingham, Tom Marquand got there on the line on Saturday and he holds of host of entries throughout the summer.

“Tom got there just in time and I have to say I don’t think he’d have won if he hadn’t changed sides, it made a difference,” said owner Saeed Suhail’s racing manager Bruce Raymond.

More Thunder (left) just gets the better of Aalto
More Thunder (left) just gets the better of Aalto (Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

“Of course we were very happy and now we need to decide what the best next step will be.

“We’re all guessing about what his best trip will be. His owner told me he felt he’d have won the July Cup! I’m not so sure as it doesn’t work out like that. I just feel seven furlongs might be his trip but that might be the easier route.

“I’ve had a word with Tom who feels six might be best for him. You can guarantee if we run over six next and he gets beat everyone will say ‘why didn’t you run him over seven?’.

“He’s in all the right races and handicaps are out now – I just don’t know where we’ll run him.”

On the same afternoon another former Stoute inmate, Andrew Balding’s Never So Brave, took the step up to Group company in his stride at Ascot in the Summer Mile but his next step is also undecided.

“Never So Brave has taken that next step already but when Jamie (Spencer on Point Lynas) looked like he’d slipped the field, it was an awful feeling,” said Raymond.

“I thought David (Probert) was absolutely brilliant on him not to panic though. It’s about 100 years since I was riding and I remember that feeling but when I spoke to him, he said turning in he felt he had everything covered so he was confident.

“He’s another who’s versatile trip-wise and who is to say he wouldn’t get further in time, although there’s no need to try it yet. I think he’ll get a mile and a quarter but thee’s no need to rush it.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. He’s not in the Sussex but he is in the Lennox back over seven, so we’ll see.

“It was a good weekend, they’ve both come out of it well and now we need to start thinking about where they are going to go. The owner is a very patient man, he’s been well educated by Sir Michael.”

More Thunder holds on for Bunbury Cup glory

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William Haggas will test the water at Group-race level before the season is out with More Thunder following his narrow success in the bet365 Bunbury Cup at Newmarket.

The winner of two valuable six-furlong handicaps on the Rowley Mile in the spring, the four-year-old was beaten a head by Get It when bidding for his hat-trick in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot last month.

More Thunder was a 6-5 favourite to get back on the winning trail in this £100,000 contest and having been dropped out last by Tom Marquand early on, he was angled towards the stands’ rail to mount his challenge and quickened up smartly to challenge for the lead.

Last year’s winner Aalto, a 40-1 shot to successfully defend his crown, bounced back from an uninspiring run of form to make a real race of it inside the last of seven furlongs and the pair flashed by the post almost as one, but it was More Thunder who had his head down where it mattered, with the judge confirming him the winner by a nose.

Haggas said: “I need to watch it again, but for me they didn’t go fast at all and he struggled to get momentum. I think he’s better going fast and Tom came in and said ‘if you run him over this trip again, they need to go hard’. Six furlongs, he feels, is his best trip.”

More Thunder holds big-race entries in major handicaps and Pattern races and it is clear his trainer is keen to see him compete in Group One company at some stage.

William Haggas at Newmarket on Saturday
William Haggas at Newmarket on Saturday (Joe Giddens/PA)

When asked if he had thought about running in the July Cup later in the afternoon, Haggas added: “We considered it strongly, but we also wanted to go up to seven furlongs at some stage and this was an opportunity to do so.

“That is why he came here, but we will have a crack at a six-furlong stakes race. He just needs pace this horse, but in six-furlong Group races, you’ll see in the July Cup, they don’t go slow!

“He could run in another handicap, but I think he deserves a shot at a good race now.”

Thunder ready to roll in Bunbury Cup

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More Thunder will be given the chance to gain compensation for his Royal Ascot near-miss in Newmarket’s bet365 Bunbury Cup on Saturday.

Although campaigned at a mile and a quarter when trained by Sir Michael Stoute last season, the four-year-old has thrived back down in trip since joining William Haggas this term, winning his first two starts of the season over six furlongs.

He agonisingly missed out on a hat-trick of victories at the distance when a head away from Wokingham glory at the Royal meeting, with connections feeling now is the right time to gradually increase the colt’s yardage to seven furlongs.

“I think he will go for the handicap, the Bunbury Cup,” said owner Saeed Suhail’s racing manager Philip Robinson.

“I think the seven furlongs will help him and it looks to me like that will be his best trip. We will get to find out and then know where we go from there.

“He was flying at the finish at Ascot and in another stride would probably have got there.”

More Thunder is as short as 2-1 for Saturday’s £100,000 handicap on the July course, while he also holds an entry for Group events in the coming weeks including the Curragh’s Romanised Minstrel Stakes on July 19 and the HKJC World Pool Lennox Stakes during the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

Provisional plans outlined for Never So Brave and More Thunder

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Never So Brave and More Thunder, who encountered contrasting fortunes at Royal Ascot, could both skip the bet365 Bunbury Cup.

The pair are owned by Saeed Suhail, with the Andrew Balding-trained Never So Brave winning the Buckingham Palace Stakes in style, while More Thunder just failed to reel in Get It in the Wokingham for William Haggas.

They are currently 4-1 joint-favourites for the Bunbury Cup with the sponsors, but Philip Robinson, Suhail’s racing manager, indicated both are likely to step out of handicaps.

“It was nice to see Never So Brave win and he’ll probably go to Goodwood for the seven-furlong race, the Lennox,” said Robinson.

“We had to split him and More Thunder up and we very nearly got the double.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if More Thunder steps up to seven furlongs next time. He was unfortunate and with one more stride he’d have got there.

“He was running over 10 furlongs last season for Sir Michael (Stoute), so we know he’ll get further. He’d probably get a mile, but I think William is happy to go over seven for the time being.

“His next race, I would think, would be a Group or a Listed race somewhere, he’s very keen to do that if we can.

“We’ve two nice horses for the rest of the season anyway.”