'A once-in-a-lifetime moment' - high emotion for Thundering On's owner-breeder after sparkling Oaks victory

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Thundering On lived up to her name with an impressive victory in the Oaks at Epsom on Friday. In doing so, she paid a fitting tribute to her much-missed dam, Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes victress Thundering Nights. 

Thundering Nights died due to colic in early 2024, but she leaves behind a remarkable legacy as the dam of an Oaks heroine from her only foal. 

That mare, like her daughter, sported the silks of owner-breeder Shapoor Mistry to Group 1 victory, her success coming in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in 2021. She also landed the Group 3 Snow Fairy Fillies Stakes at the track the previous season, and placed in the Prix Jean Romanet after her Group 1 victory. 

Her daughter has looked rapidly progressive in four outings before her Oaks win, landing the Group 3 Salsabil Stakes at Navan by nearly four lengths in April, shedding her maiden tag in the process. 

Mistry said: "We bought the granddam and bred the dam and now we've bred her. We tried to sell the dam and we couldn't sell her, so we kept her in training and she won us a Group 1. It was meant to be.

Shapoor Mistry (third from right): "It's tough to win big races anywhere in the world, but especially in England"Credit: GROSSICK PHOTOGRAPHY

"It's phenomenal, I've been in racing and breeding for 40 years now. We race and breed horses in India and have a few here as well. It's tough to win big races anywhere in the world, but especially in England. It's like a dream come true. I've won three or four Indian Derbys, but I guess this would top all of that, for sure. It's a once-in-a-lifetime moment."

Thundering On is the 41st Group or Grade 1 winner for Frankel and is also the first elite winner as broodmare sire for reigning British and Irish champion stallion Night Of Thunder.

Thundering Nights is out of Cape Cross mare Cape Castle, who Anthony Stroud bought on behalf of Mistry for 32,000gns at the 2017 Tattersalls February Sale when she was carrying the daughter of Night Of Thunder in utero. 

A multiple winner for Clive Brittain and Saeed Manana, Cape Castle is out of Kaabari, a half-sister to the Group-winning Queen's Best, dam of Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf scorer Queen's Trust. 

Another half-sister is black-type winner Urban Castle, dam of multiple US Grade 1 victor Domestic Spending. 

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