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Thunder Down Under has overcome a minor setback and he will attempt to double his black type tally when he resumes his New Zealand career at Ellerslie on Tuesday.
Last season’s Listed 3YO Salver winner will front up in the Gr.3 OMF Stakes with Trudy Thornton booked to ride the son of Street Sense.
Thunder Down Under won consecutive races at Ellerslie and at Ruakaka during the winter to earn a trip across the Tasman where his best performance in five appearances for Chris Waller was a third placing at Rosehill.“He was really disadvantaged with big weights on heavy tracks in those benchmark races,” trainer and part-owner Stephen Ralph said.
Thunder Down Under was battling a foot problem on his return from Sydney, but he has made a pleasing recovery.“We can’t find any heat in the foot so we’re going to have a crack at Ellerslie and see where we are,” Ralph said. “Hopefully, they get a shower of rain to keep the sting out of the track.”
Meanwhile, stablemate Thenamesbond may be better known as a jumper, but a weather-dependent plan is in place for him to have a possible crack at one of the country’s feature staying events.A former K.S. Browne Hurdle winner, he holds a nomination for the Gr.3 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup and a solid display at Ellerslie on Tuesday, combined with the right forecast, will see him head south.
“He would be some sort of longshot chance if it happened to be raining down there,” Ralph said.“Not many of them could handle two miles on a wet track, but he would.”
Mark Hills, who partnered Thenamesbond to a last-start third on the course, retains the ride in the Vertical Logistics 2200.