Great expectations: Highclere hope Thunderous and Ascension have star quality

Highclere Thoroughbreds supremo Harry Herbert is excited by this season's crop of juveniles, and has hopes the unbeaten Thunderous can thrust the syndicate's colours back into the limelight.

Winner of all three starts to date, Thunderous was a Listed winner at Newbury last time out and could step up in class this weekend for the Group 3 Betway Solario Stakes at Sandown.

The Mark Johnston-trained colt has improved with each start, and an entry for next year's Investec Derby is an indicator of the regard in which he is held. Plans are fluid for Thunderous, and Herbert thinks the son of Night Of Thunder has a lot more to offer.

Speaking from the sales on Tuesday, Herbert said: "The horse is very well and we're very excited about him. I saw him last week when I was up at York. He's in the Solario but initially Mark was talking about the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster [September 14].

"My guess is we'll probably wait a bit longer for Doncaster or possibly the Royal Lodge. He'll be better for going further, he hasn't done anything wrong and I think there's still plenty more left in the tank."

It was in 2010 that Harbinger dismantled the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth field by 11 lengths at Ascot, a performance that was to be his swansong and earned an official rating of 135, making him the world's highest ranked horse for that year.

Since then Highclere's colours have been carried to many victories, but a star of similar calibre has not been unearthed. Such horses are in short supply, but Herbert thinks there could be exciting times ahead.

He added: "We've been very spoilt and lucky over the years and have had horses at a champion level. But those are incredibly difficult to find. We've had some really nice horses; black type horses and horses running in Group races, but we haven't had a star horse for a bit."

Impressive winner: Ascension (in front) looked a smart prospect when winning at Salisbury earlier this monthCredit: Edward Whitaker

As well as Thunderous, Ascension created a good impression when winning easily at Salisbury on his second start and the Roger Varian-trained colt is another potential top-class prospect.

"Ascension is a seriously nice horse and could run back at Salisbury next week in a novice or Haydock on Friday," Herbert added. "He's working very nicely and we hope he's a black type horse in the making.

"I think we've got some really nice two-year-olds, including a few others that haven't come out yet that we really like. We aim for the top at Highclere and expectations are high. In the last two or three years we've been short of those really big horses but hopefully we might have a couple."

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com and the Racing Post mobile app with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news