One of the feature events of the afternoon at York on Saturday is the Group Three Silver Cup Stakes and it sees three strong runners head to post to battle it out over a staying trip.
We have sided with the Charlie and Mark Johnston trained Thunderous and we believe the gelding has been granted a big opportunity to get back to winning ways in what looks to be a tactical affair.
A highly talented two year old for the Scottish team, Thunderous won all three of his juvenile outings. Scoring over seven furlongs each time and rounding out the season with a convincing Listed success.
He was only seen twice during his classic campaign but looked a hot prospect when scoring a narrow success in the Dante stakes to beat Highest Ground by a neck.
Unfortunately his form took a major dip off last season and he failed to win in any of his four runs.Being brushed aside by Waldkonig over 10 furlongs before stepping up in trip. His best run came in a Group Three to be second behind the impressive Al Aasy.
A good showing at Royal Ascot rounded out his season as he came a respectable fifth in the Hardwicke Stakes behind Wonderful Tonight, with the form of that race looking exceptional.
Gelded ready for this season he’s again failed to put his best foot forward. He’s slowly been moving up in trip and has run well over 13.5-14 furlongs albeit not winning, but being an unlucky loser in some big races.
Coming second to the impressive Hamish at Chester in the Ormonde Stakes, before a valiant second to Stradivarius in the Yorkshire Cup.
He was last seen trying two miles for the first time it looked like he was outclassed as he only managed to come home in fourth.
More is needed here but he might be able to bully this small field from the front and the drop back to this trip is a positive.