Thunder Snow Arrives at Belmont Park

Thunder Snow, Godolphin's Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) winner, has settled into the Belmont Park quarantine barn for his bid in the Sept. 29 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

The 4-year-old Irish-bred Helmet colt arrived from England around 3 a.m. ET Sept. 21 at Belmont, where his training will be overseen by Tommy Burns, traveling manager to trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

"Our flying groom, Chris Webster, who's one of the best around, said he traveled brilliant," Burns said. "He drank well, ate well. In our experience, he's been a very good traveler, and it's not a problem for him."

Thunder Snow is scheduled to clear quarantine before the end of training hours Sept. 23, when he is expected to train over the main track for the first time.

"He had a nice walk around this morning. We'll just take a couple of easy days until he gets out of quarantine and then see how he is, but he seems in good order," Burns said. "I'll speak to Saeed every day, so we'll take it day by day and plan from there."

Thunder Snow's only previous trip to North America resulted in a disappointing start in the 2017 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), where he began to buck shortly after he left the gate and was pulled up by jockey Christophe Soumillon on the front side of Churchill Downs.

Since the Derby, Thunder Snow won the 2017 Prix Jean Prat (G1) on the turf in France, and this winter he competed in all three preps at Meydan for the Dubai World Cup. He won the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Sponsored By Gulf News (G2) in February and finished second in the other two rounds. 

His March 31 World Cup victory was completed in frontrunning fashion by 5 3/4 lengths over dual grade 1 winner West Coast. In his only start since then, Thunder Snow set the early pace in the Aug. 22 Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) before he faded to eighth at York.

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Other international shippers for the New York track's Sept. 29 stakes include group 3 winner Teodoro, who is scheduled to arrive Sept. 23 and is pointing to the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) for trainer Thomas Dascombe, and Mendelssohn, who is due to touch down Sept. 25. Mendelssohn was second to Catholic Boy in the Aug. 25 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) and is on target for the $750,000 Gold Cup for trainer Aidan O'Brien.