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| Staff Writer |
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Group One placed Stakes winner and Canadian sire Thunderello died May 5 due to colic on a farm in Ontario owned by Charles Mady, who raced the son of Montbrook.
Thunderello who was 22, was a fleet-footed sprinter who had three wins and three seconds out of seven lifetime starts that included a runner-up finish in the 2002 NAPA Breeders' Cup Sprint to Orientate at Arlington International Racecourse.
Bred in Florida by Four Horsemen's Ranch, Thunderello is out of the In Reality daughter and multiple stakes producer On the Square. Prominent bloodstock agent Buzz Chace bought the colt for US$47,000 as a yearling at the 2000 Ocala Breeders' Sales August Select Sale of Yearlings for West Point Thoroughbreds. Thunderello was offered again by M & H Training and Sales at the OBS March 2YO in Training Sale, where agent Brian Morgan bought him for $175,000 on Mady's behalf.
Trained by Scott Lake for all but his first start, Thunderello was second in his debut at 2 at Saratoga Race Course to Mayakovsky. Thunderello became a winner in his next start, winning by 14 1/4 lengths at Saratoga and finishing only a quarter of a second off Mayakovsky's record.
The colt was a close second in his debut at 3 and followed with two wins by a combined 5 1/2 lengths, which included a victory in the Gallant Bob Handicap. He went on to the Breeders' Cup, where he led the field through blistering early fractions of :21.53 and :43.91. With a furlong to run, Thunderello was a length in front of favourite Orientate and holding tough, but Orientate surged in the final strides to win by half a length.
Thunderello made his last start in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes during which he tore a ligament and had to be pulled up. He was retired with US$388,400 in career earnings.