In a performance that would make every Indian race lover proud, Shapoor Mistry’s homebred Thundering On stormed to a commanding victory in the Betfred Oaks (Gr 1), the fillies’ Classic at Epsom Downs on Friday, June 5. Thundering On traveled from last to first in the hands of jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, who powered her to win by a convincing margin of 3-3/4 lengths in a slick time of 2m 39.64s for the stamina-testing mile-and-a-half trip on good-to-soft ground. The Frankel filly was trained by Joseph O’Brien. 

Coming off an emphatic Group 3 Salsabil Stakes success at Navan, where she quickened impressively after finding traffic, Thundering On arrived in good nick, and was quoted at around 5/1. The stout pedigree (out of Group 1 winner Thundering Nights) perfectly suited Epsom’s undulations and stamina demands. The 33-year old O’Brien, notching his first Epsom Oaks, hailed her track adaptability. In Thundering On's Epsom success, O'brien offered a textbook example of targeted preparation paying rich dividends in big races.