Little Thunder targeting NYRABets Sprint

Little Thunder may not be in the league of Book’em Danno or Just Beat the Odds, but he has gotten his career off to a solid start, winning two of his first three starts. On Saturday, he won a first-level allowance race by 7 3/4 lengths at Tampa, running six furlongs in 1:08.95, just .28 off the 14-year-old track record. He earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

“You never really expect it but it didn’t really shock me the way that horse was going,” trainer Tim Hamm said. “He’s shown up every time.”

Little Thunder won his debut on Dec. 24, came back on Jan. 31 and ran second to the Todd Pletcher-trained and well-regarded Disruptor, then returned in two weeks to win that allowance in impressive fashion. Now, he’ll get some time before the $110,000 NYRABets Sprint, a six-furlong race restricted to Florida-breds at Tampa on March 29.

“We ran him back in 14 days from his last race, which wasn’t ideal but I thought if I did that and could get away with it that would give him plenty of time to come back in the stakes without a bounce or anything,” Hamm said.

Creed’s Vision, the horse Little Thunder beat in his Dec. 24 maiden race, came back to win his maiden on Saturday at Tampa, running six furlongs in 1:09.05 and earning an 89 Beyer.

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