Ahead of the 153rd edition of the Travers Stakes, Carly Silver traces the career of the New York-bred who 30 years ago posted a landmark victory for the state’s breeding program in the historic ‘midsummer derby’
USA: Before the 1990s, New York-breds popped up here and there in major winner’s circles – but 30 years ago was arguably a significant turning point.
In 1992, three-year-old filly Saratoga Dew became the first New York-bred to bring home an Eclipse Award. Even more exciting, however, blue-collar hero Thunder Rumble was the first New York-bred in more than a century to win the iconic Travers Stakes at Saratoga, a venue at which the the colt produced a series of memorable efforts. That’s probably why he was labelled a “sensation of Saratoga” by the Blood-Horse.
Thunder Rumble was a son of fellow New York-bred Thunder Puddles, a son of the good Princequillo-line stallion Speak John and among the best of his crop on turf.
Retired to Highcliff Farm near Delanson, New York, Thunder Puddles sired a small handful of stakes winners. The best of the bunch was Thunder Rumble, out of the French-bred Lyphard mare Lyphette. Bred by Dr. Konrad Widmer, the colt raced for Widmer and his daughter, Ursula, in the name of Braeburn Farm.
Dubbed “temperamental” and “a horse with a mind of his own” by BloodHorse’s Steve Haskin, Thunder Rumble ran twice at two in 1991. He finished up the track in his maiden turf start before switching to the dirt, in which he romped home by 12¾ lengths.
Stretched to a mile and a sixteenth in January 1992, he defeated fellow New York-breds in the Montauk Stakes before trainer Richie O’Connell wheeled him back two weeks later against open company in the Count Fleet Stakes and Thunder Rumble posed a two-length victory in the Count Fleet Stakes. A third and first in stakes before a lackluster allowance performance preceded a start in the Wood Memorial, the premier New York prep for the Kentucky Derby at Aqueduct.
Off the Derby trail
But Thunder Rumble’s journey was soon rumbled. Made morning-line favorite, he was scratched after spiking a temperature – and that same virus was to knock him from Derby contention.
So Thunder Rumble lost the chance to become the first Empire State-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby. Eleven years later, in 2003, that wonderful gelding Funny Cide would achieve that distinction, adding the Preakness Stakes to earn divisional honors and an enduring place in the hearts of the racing public.
After resting his trainee for several months, O’Connell sent a fresh Thunder Rumble out in a July turf allowance, and the colt ran only seventh of eight starters. Undaunted, O’Connell returned Thunder Rumble to the dirt – and a serious level of competition – in the G2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga.
A longshot at 24.9-1, Thunder Rumble closed tenaciously to defeat Met Mile winner Dixie Brass by a half-length; another 7½ lengths back in third was Wood Memorial winner Devil His Due.
Trailing behind them were the likes of subsequent G1 winner Furiously, graded stakes-winning juveniles Agincourt and Big Sur, and Belmont Stakes runner-up My Memoirs. Covering the nine furlongs in 1:47 2/5, Thunder Rumble equaled Carr de Naskra’s 1984 record.
He was now primed for the ‘midsummer derby’: the historic Travers, a race not won by a New York-bred since the filly Ruthless in 1867. All that was about to change, however. In the 1992 edition, Dixie Brass sprang from the gate and rocketed to the front but Thunder Rumble’s jockey Herb McCauley almost immediately sent the colt after the leader, despite being four wide. Devil His Due dawdled as Dixie Brass sped along, but McCauley kept Thunder Rumble in perfect striking position as the field headed up the backstretch.
‘I don’t tell him he’s New York-bred’
On the far turn, Furiously made a furious bid for the lead, but it was Thunder Rumble who angled for the middle of the track and charged clear. As the wire flashed, Thunder Rumble was 4½ lengths in front of a late-running Devil His Due. The time for the mile and a quarter was 2:00.99, which tied Easy Goer’s Travers for the third-fastest edition of the race and was more than two seconds faster than that year’s Derby. Quoted in The New York Times, O’Connell said: “But I don't tell him he's a New York bred!”
By the fall, Lil E. Tee and Pine Bluff, winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, were sidelined by injury, and brilliant Belmont victor A.P. Indy had a lackluster effort in his subsequent start after a hoof problem.
As a result, the “important fall races that ordinarily determine the sport's championships” were “a bit thin in talent,” according to Andrew Beyer in The Washington Post.As a result, Beyer opined, Thunder Rumble was “poised to establish himself as the country's leading racehorse.”
Alas, Thunder Rumble couldn’t maintain his momentary surge to the top of the sophomore male division. As New York racing historian Alan Carr quipped in New York’s Greatest Thoroughbreds: A Contemporary History: “The rest of his 1992 season was not pretty.”
In the Woodward Stakes, Thunder Rumble faced stellar competition, including subsequent champion older horse Pleasant Tap, 1991 Derby winner Strike The Gold, Brooklyn Handicap winner Chief Honcho and Sultry Song, who had won both the Hollywood Gold Cup and Whitney Stakes. He failed to fire, finishing up the track behind winner Sultry Song.
In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Thunder Rumble delivered another poor showing, running last in a seven-horse field. Weeks later A.P. Indy sealed the divisional championship with a decisive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic with Thunder Rumble again only seventh, though he did outfinish seven other G1 winners in the Classic.
The following year, Thunder Rumble was sidelined due to a broken ankle. Widmer also moved the horse from O’Connell’s barn after the trainer suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Sent to Chris Speckert in California, Thunder Rumble couldn’t recapture his form, so Widmer shipped the colt back to O’Connell for his five-year-old season. Once the two reunited, O’Connell told Haskin, Thunder Rumble began to bounce back.
Saratoga sensation
The horse’s campaign came to a head at his New York stamping grounds. The Saratoga sizzle was back, with Thunder Rumble outclassing a talented field to win the nine-furlong Saratoga Cup for his third career win at the Spa.
Four lengths back was G2 winner West By West, with G1 winner Wallenda a nose behind in third. After an off-the-board finish in his final start, the Whitney Stakes, Thunder Rumble was then retired to Keane Stud in Amenia, New York.
He stood for most of his stud career in New York before retiring to Old Friends at Cabin Creek’s Bobby Frankel Division in Greenfield Center, New York in 2009. There, visitors lavished him with love and attention before he died in 2015 from colic.
But though his racing career largely fizzled out and he wasn’t a success at stud, Thunder Rumble’s legacy should not be understated as he helped turn the first rumblings of New York-bred success into a veritable earthquake. In recent years, New York-breds have won G1s everywhere from Dubai to Saratoga, smashed world records and set the sales ring on fire.
And Thunder Rumble? His name lives on in a $150,000 contest run at Aqueduct in December as part of the New York Stallion Series. Seems only fitting – though it might have been even better if they ran it at Saratoga.
• Visit the Old Friends at Cabin Creek website
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