Technician triumphs at Newbury to offer St Leger hope

Technician advanced his claims for a shot at Classic glory in next month’s William Hill St Leger at Doncaster with victory in the Unibet Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury on Friday.

After having found the undulations of Goodwood against him last time out, the Martyn Meade-trained grey bounced back to form with a hard-fought win in the Group Three event.​

Showing an abundance of stamina, the son of Mastercraftsman appeared to appreciate every yard of the ­extended one-mile-five-furlong trip, gradually warming to the task before defeating favourite Morando by three-quarters of a length.​

Meade’s son and assistant, Freddie, said of the 10-1 scorer: “He has been a funny horse. It’s very difficult, as you only have a short amount of time to work these horses out. He has only had six runs. A galloping track and a bit of juice in the ground has helped, and he just keeps on giving. Rob [Hornby] said he felt all the way up the straight he would get there.​

“With all credit to him he has managed to win over a mile and a quarter and has run over a mile and a half and stepping up now I think these sort of trips will be his distance.​

“We will have to talk to everybody, but that [Leger] has been on our radar for a while and I think the extra trip and the ground the way it could be at Doncaster might make it a logical step.​

“He was never able to get into a real good rhythm [at Goodwood] where he could get into a good fight. Like he showed at Longchamp, he likes to get his head down and get stuck in and he never had that chance at Goodwood.”​

Thunderous extended his unbeaten record to take Listed honours with a ­tenacious success in the Denford Stakes. The Mark Johnston-trained two-year-old backed up wins at Doncaster and Redcar to join a roll of honour which features subsequent Derby winners Lammtarra and Rodrigo De Triano, in a race better known as the Washington Singer.​

Racing in the front rank throughout the seven-furlong prize, the Franny Norton ridden Night Of Thunder colt found plenty when challenged late on by the Richard Hannon-trained pair Sun Power and Sesame Birah, before defeating the latter by a length.​

Assistant trainer Jock Bennett said of the 11-8 winner: “We weren’t 100 per cent sure about the ground, but we thought his action would go through it and it did. I thought he was tough.​

“He didn’t show a gear change there, but that might have been the ground. If you look at his form, horses are winning from his maiden so he has got a good profile.​

“We will probably have options over a mile and they are talking about things like the Royal Lodge. After you have won a Listed race like this, you can plan the next attack.”​

Thunderous was introduced at 33-1 for the Qipco 2000 Guineas by Unibet.