More Thunder firmly on course for Champions Day challenge More Thunder has come out of his Park Stakes win “bubbling” and on course for a crack at the best milers in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Ascot’s Qatar Racing British Champions Day card. The William Haggas-trained five-year-old dropped back to seven furlongs to pick up Group Two honours on Town Moor, but will go back up to the straight mile at Ascot in search of a first success at the highest level. With Tom Marquand delivering at Doncaster with a brilliantly judged hold-up ride, connections are hopeful similarly patient tactics can pay dividends over Ascot’s straight mile on October 17. “More Thunder has come out of the race well and been bubbling apparently since the weekend and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is the plan,” said Philip Robinson, racing manager to owner Saeed Suhail. The son of Night Of Thunder has run twice at Ascot this season, finishing second behind Ten Bob Tony in the Queen Anne Stakes in June before a slightly underwhelming fourth on the round course to Zeus Olympios when favourite for the Summer Mile in July. Reflecting on the two runs, Robinson believes it is not necessarily that he cannot run around a bend rather that the pace of the race is key. “Going back to Ascot for a straight mile will suit as the last time he ran there over a mile he would probably have won had there been a good gallop. There is no reason he can’t run round a bend that’s for sure,” he said. “More essential is that there is a proper gallop and no messing about.”
