Thunder Mania off to the paddock
Symons and Laxon eye Melbourne Group races with promising Snitzel colt
A coronavirus-impacted Queensland winter carnival significantly dented John Symons’ hopes of a Group 1 victory with his promising juvenile Thunder Mania (Snitzel) and a “concrete” Eagle Farm surface has ended plans for connections to chase a compensation win this weekend.
The talented colt, a winner of three of his five starts, was a closing sixth in the J J Atkins Plate (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Sunshine Coast-based Symons had earmarked Saturday’s The Phoenix Plate (Listed, 1600m) as the race to round out his stable star’s two-year-old career.
But Symons, who trains in partnership with Sheila Laxon, revealed yesterday that Thunder Mania would instead head to the paddock rather than contest the $125,000 race which is run over the same distance as the J J Atkins Plate is traditionally staged.
Racing Queensland, in a condensed winter carnival, reduced the distance of the Group 1 two-year-old race for this year in place of the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1350m) due to the Covid-19 pandemic that limited interstate participation.
“We would have loved to have pushed on to the mile race, but he just jarred up on that track again which he did the first time he went there (Eagle Farm).” Symons said yesterday.
“We’ve got some races in the spring time that we’d like to aim at, so we will stop now and see what we can do.”
Thunder Mania was considered a contender for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) on the back of his debut win at Doomben in mid-December but he came out of his sixth in the B J McLachlan Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) a bit jaded and was afforded a break by Symons and Laxon.
He returned from a spell with back-to-back wins at the Sunshine Coast before his four and a quarter length fifth in the J J Atkins Plate, won by fellow Queenslander Rothfire (Rothesay).
Thunder Mania, an $85,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase by Symons’ client Micheal Kirby from the Baramul Stud draft, could follow the path set by Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) who was narrowly defeated in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) last year before returning for the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (RL, 1400m) in January.
“If we can get (to the Caulfield Guineas) that would be good, but there’s obviously other races down there like the Stutt Stakes and the Carbine Club that would suit him as well,” the Group 1-winning trainer said.
“There’s quite a few races he could run him in if we go south but, of course, he’s a Magic Millions horse so we want to make sure we back up into the three-year-old race up here as well.”
New Zealander Laxon is best-known as the trainer of champion Melbourne Cup-winning mare Ethereal (Rhythm) while Symons has enjoyed success at the top level with Bel Esprit (Royal Academy) who won the 2002 Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and the 2003 Doomben 10,000 Stakes (Gr 1, 1350m).
Like Bel Esprit, who was a $9,000 Inglis Classic bargain buy as a yearling, Symons was prepared to forgive some perceived conformation faults with Thunder Mania.
“As soon as I saw him I wanted him. It was just the way he walked and carried himself and the way he was balanced,” he said.
“He has a little bit of a turned front foot, which probably put a few people off, but it didn’t worry me and I was happy to look past some of those defects. It’s not that bad and he’s not as bad as Bel Esprit was.
“He was great buying as it’s turned out; it’s just unfortunate that both times he’s been to Eagle Farm it’s been like concrete and he’s just jarred up.
“He’s immature and that’s why he’ll get better as he gets older because he’s not quite set up everywhere yet.”