I've never had any problems with American Cherry veneer, either 0.5/0.6mm commercial Cherry veneer, or thicker highly figured Cherry veneers that I've made myself on the bandsaw.
However, I'm intrigued by your comment that your veneer is 1.5mm thick. That's an odd thickness, too thick for commercial veneer but not quite thick enough for constructional veneer.
There is a general consensus that the maximum thickness for veneers that are to be laid on a man made ground is in the range 1.0-1.5mm. However, to go up to 1.5mm you need a moderately soft timber like Cherry, if you tried 1.5mm with say Rosewood you'd be running the risk of micro fracturing spoiling the result.
One other point, many finishers don't like old based finishes on Cherry because of blotching. Personally I'm less concerned because Cherry patinated really quickly, especially given some sunlight. So give the piece four to six months in a south facing room and, even if there was an initial trace of blotching, it'll quickly become invisible.