Thunder Down Under
Photo: Trish Dunell
Stakes-winning three-year-old Thunder Down Under is set to join the stable of champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller.
Trainer and part-owner Stephen Ralph revealed to www.theinformant.co.nz that the Street Sense colt is booked to cross the Tasman early next week.
"He'll fly over on Monday night and join Chris Waller," the Te Rapa trainer said. "Then Chris will do whatever he likes with him and we'll see how he measures up. It's exciting."
Thunder Down Under is the winner of three of his 17 starts and more than $90,000 in stakes. He won the Listed BMW Salver at Ellerslie in December before a string of unplaced finishes, often with bad luck, in feature three-year-old events through the summer and autumn.
He has returned to form with back-to-back wins at Ellerslie and Ruakaka in his last two starts, but Ralph sees few domestic options for him in the coming months.
"We've reached a bit of a dead end here," he said. "We can't really achieve a lot between now and the Hawke's Bay spring carnival.
"He's in really good shape, he looks really good, so we think it's the perfect time to send him over. We've got to continue running our business here, so it makes financial sense to give him to Chris to train.
"We've been a bit frustrated trying to win races with him in New Zealand, so in Sydney with Chris Waller is the best place for him to be as far as we're concerned. Their prize-money versus nomination and acceptance fees, compared to ours, it's a no-brainer.
"We're rapt that Chris was keen to have him in his stable and we're looking forward to it. He might trial as early as next Friday and he could even race the following Saturday, but we've got no time frames or targets that we're going to impose. We'll leave it all up to Chris." - www.theinformant.co.nz
Trainer and part-owner Stephen Ralph revealed to www.theinformant.co.nz that the Street Sense colt is booked to cross the Tasman early next week.
"He'll fly over on Monday night and join Chris Waller," the Te Rapa trainer said. "Then Chris will do whatever he likes with him and we'll see how he measures up. It's exciting."
Thunder Down Under is the winner of three of his 17 starts and more than $90,000 in stakes. He won the Listed BMW Salver at Ellerslie in December before a string of unplaced finishes, often with bad luck, in feature three-year-old events through the summer and autumn.
He has returned to form with back-to-back wins at Ellerslie and Ruakaka in his last two starts, but Ralph sees few domestic options for him in the coming months.
"We've reached a bit of a dead end here," he said. "We can't really achieve a lot between now and the Hawke's Bay spring carnival.
"He's in really good shape, he looks really good, so we think it's the perfect time to send him over. We've got to continue running our business here, so it makes financial sense to give him to Chris to train.
"We've been a bit frustrated trying to win races with him in New Zealand, so in Sydney with Chris Waller is the best place for him to be as far as we're concerned. Their prize-money versus nomination and acceptance fees, compared to ours, it's a no-brainer.
"We're rapt that Chris was keen to have him in his stable and we're looking forward to it. He might trial as early as next Friday and he could even race the following Saturday, but we've got no time frames or targets that we're going to impose. We'll leave it all up to Chris." - www.theinformant.co.nz
