Just hours after his half-sister Winter Lightning (Shamardal) became the third runner out of their dam to land a UAE Classic contest, last year’s UAE 2,000 Guineas and UAE Derby winner Thunder Snow (Helmet) added a third Meydan victory to his record when landing the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge R2.
Never far from the pace under Christophe Soumillon, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained colt was three wide coming around the turn but kept to his task well to hit the front close to home and win by a neck from Dubawi’s North America, while the evergreen Heavy Metal (Exceed And Excel) added further Black Type to his record when taking third.
Thunder Snow won on his very first start and rounded off his juvenile campaign with victory in the G1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. He reappeared with a five-and-three-quarter-length win in the G3 UAE 2,000 Guineas, before landing the G2 UAE Derby six weeks later. Last July, he added a second win at the highest level, taking the G1 Prix Jean Prat and was beaten just a quarter of a length when third in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois.
Thunder Snow is out of the outstanding broodmare Eastern Joy, also dam of the aforementioned Winter Lightning, plus fellow UAE 1,000 Guineas winner Ihtimal (Shamardal), who finished third in the G1 English 1,000 Guineas in 2014.
Helmet, also sire of multiple Group winner and Italian 2,000 Guineas victor Anda Muchacho, stands at Dalham Hall Stud at fee of £12,000, October 1, Special Live Foal.
