Mick Price’s instincts with I’m Thunderstruck (NZ) (Shocking) have proven correct with the galloper sent off to the spelling paddock instead of The Championships in Sydney.
I’m Thunderstruck galloped at Cranbourne on Tuesday morning to test Price’s theory that the horse might need a break after a busy season and so it proved to be.
“We’re not happy with him and so he’s going to the paddock,” Price confirmed.
The trainer, who prepares I’m Thunderstruck with Michael Kent Jnr, told Racing.com on Monday that the five-year-old gelding still did not appear to be 100 percent over his All-Star Mile failure, where he pulled up with heat stress after fading noticeably over the final 200m.
“He had the staggers and they had him under the cold horse and that’s totally not him,” Price said.
“This is about day nine for him after that race and you know what, I still don’t think he’s 100 per cent because the horse is usually bright, perky and on the bridle.”
After a spring carnival, where he ran six times – all at Group One level – I’m Thunderstruck appeared just three times in the autumn for a first-up third in the G1 C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) followed by a third in the Futurity Stakes and then an 11th placing in the All-Star Mile.
