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Well-bred filly Thunder Kiss wins Wednesday’s Munster Oaks

After finished second last start in the Blue Wind Stakes (Gr 3, 1m2f) at Naas, the Ger Lyons-trained Thunder Kiss (4 f ex Desert Snow by Teofilo) went one better on Wednesday and won the Munster Oaks (Gr 3, 1m4f) at Cork, providing her former Darley shuttle sire Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) with his 22nd stakes winner. 

Settled towards the rear of the nine runners, Thunder Kiss was moved up with 600 metres left to run. She took the lead at the 200 metre marker and kept on well in the closing stages to win by three quarters of a length from Silence Please (Gleneagles). High Heels (Galileo) finished third. 

“She has been promising that. She has been black-type placed before, but getting this win was most important,” said Shane Lyons, the trainer’s brother and assistant.

“We knew she would this season as she has strengthened up big time.

“I’m delighted for (owner-breeder) Maurice Regan and all the Newtown Anner team.

“She is not ground-dependent, she has really appreciated stepping up in trip to one mile and four furlongs, albeit she ran a cracker over one-mile-two last time and we’ll have fun in those races.

“She has improved with age and hopefully will improve again next year.

“She could eventually run in those cup races, but we’ll get her home now and make a plan.

“Maurice is a great supporter of ours (and) has a good band of mares as well, so this is most important and is a prestigious race to win.”

Bred and raced by Newtown Anner Stud, Thunder Kiss is out of the stakes placed Teofilo (Galileo) mare Desert Snow who was bought for 250,000gns by BBA Ireland at the 2016 Tattersalls July Sale. She is the only winner out of her dam who is a daughter of Requesting (Rainbow Quest) making her a half-sister to seven winners including Listed scorer Parish Boy (New Approach) and the dam of the Listed placed colt Thunderspeed (Night Of Thunder). 

This is also the family of Aussie Rules (Danehill), dual Group 1 winner Coronet (Dubawi) and her Group 2 winning half-brother Midas Touch (Galileo) who also ran third in the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m), as well as Group 1 winners Allegretto (Galileo), Albanova (Alzao), Alborada (Alzao), Yesterday (Sadler’s Wells) and Quarter Moon (Sadler’s Wells).  

Night Of Thunder shuttled to Australia for just one season in 2016 when he covered a book of 96 mares. He has sired 27 winners from 37 runners in Australasia with five of those winning at stakes level including this season’s Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Kukeracha and Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Cherry Tortoni. 

The son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) has a strike rate of 13.8 per cent stakes winners to runners in Australia.