By Peter Moore at Newbury
More Thunder made it four wins out of five runs after landing the Visit Malta Hungerford Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.
A winner of three out of his four starts for William Haggas, including a gutsy performance to land the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket a month ago, the son of Night of Thunder found room between Rage Of Bamby and Marvelman to power through to win by two and a quarter lengths from Lennox Stakes scorer Witness Stand.
The Saeed Suhail-owned four-year-old was cut to 8-1 (from 16) with Paddy Power for the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock next month.
Suhail’s racing manager Philip Robinson said: “When you have a nice horse like this you have to take your time. Maybe the Group 2 Park Stakes at Doncaster is next and then we might step him up to a Group 1 later in the year.
“It’s a great position to be in. He looks like a Group 1 horse, but in the back of my mind I knew he was progressive. How far we’re going to go, I don’t know, but I’m now 90 per cent sure he’s a Group 1 horse.”
He added, “He won over a mile and a quarter, but he’s a different horse now. He’s matured, he’s stocky, and I could see him winning over a mile. It’s not out of the equation because Tom [Marquand] keeps saying that’s his trip, and I wouldn’t say it’s beyond him in the right race.
“It’s great to have these options. To have a horse who can win a six-furlong sprint and then think they could be in the top-class category over a mile, you don’t get many of them that come along. The world’s his oyster and he could go on again next year and climb new heights.”
Furthur, bounced back to form with a commanding victory in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes. The 13-2 shot finished three lengths clear of the rallying Epic Poet along with opposition that included the well-fancied Nightime Dancer and Pinhole, who also hold entries for next month’s Group 1, and trainer Andrew Balding believes he is a genuine St Leger contender.
He said: “I’d hope he’d have a great chance [at Doncaster]. We made an entry and this is a trial as it were, so why not? We can put a line through his last run, and if you look at his Ascot performance and today, then he fully deserves his place in the line-up.”
It was a second course win for the Waldgeist colt, who ran a career best when finishing second in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot before trailing home last of five in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket last month.
Balding said: “If we hadn’t run him at Newmarket and had come here straight from Ascot then he’d have been the 6-4 favourite, I’d have thought. You always have concerns after he ran as poorly as he did at Newmarket, but I think there were legitimate excuses for that.
“We’ve got a nice break before the Leger and hopefully we can have him in the same form for that.”
It was the first leg of a treble for champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who also enjoyed victories on Balding’s Venetian Prince in the 7f novice and the Ed Walker-trained Fort George in the 1m2f handicap.
Venetain Prince, having had the advantage of a debut run unlike seven debutants scored by a length from the previously raced Wechaad.
Fort George brought up the treble for the Irishman in the finale on the card after Murphy steered the three-year-old to victory by three and a half lengths.
Youngster Billy Loughnan bagged a double on the card by riding Rhythm N Hooves and Al Wasl to victory.
In the Class 3 handicap, three horses were in line half a furlong out before Loughnane kicked for home to win by three quarters of a length.
Al Wasl Storm welcomed the big drop in grade after previously proving disappointing in the Derby at Epsom and Queens Vase at Royal Ascot, but the switch to handicaps proved decisive after the three-year-old forged clear of the field to score by one and three quarter lengths.