More Thunder holds on for Bunbury Cup glory
More Thunder was a 6-5 favourite to get back on the winning trail in this £100,000 contest and having been dropped out last by Tom Marquand early on, he was angled towards the stands' rail to mount his challenge and quickened up smartly to challenge for the lead.
More Thunder gets up on the line to land the @bet365 Bunbury Cup 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/KcjDydcCPF
— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) July 12, 2025
Last year's winner Aalto, a 40-1 shot to successfully defend his crown, bounced back from an uninspiring run of form to make a real race of it inside the last of seven furlongs and the pair flashed by the post almost as one, but it was More Thunder who had his head down where it mattered, with the judge confirming him the winner by a nose.
Haggas said: 'I need to watch it again, but for me they didn't go fast at all and he struggled to get momentum. I think he's better going fast and Tom came in and said 'if you run him over this trip again, they need to go hard'. Six furlongs, he feels, is his best trip.'
More Thunder holds big-race entries in major handicaps and Pattern races and it is clear his trainer is keen to see him compete in Group One company at some stage.
When asked if he had thought about running in the July Cup later in the afternoon, Haggas added: 'We considered it strongly, but we also wanted to go up to seven furlongs at some stage and this was an opportunity to do so.
'That is why he came here, but we will have a crack at a six-furlong stakes race. He just needs pace this horse, but in six-furlong Group races, you'll see in the July Cup, they don't go slow!
'He could run in another handicap, but I think he deserves a shot at a good race now.'
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