Tom Kitten back in winner’s stall at Caulfield

After a spring of chasing their tail with Tom Kitten, the autumn campaign of the Group 1 winner has commenced in far better fashion at Caulfield.

Tom Kitten returned from a spell to claim the Group 3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes (1400m) on Saturday after the gelding gave his father-and-son training partners Anthony and Sam Freedman plenty of headaches last campaign.

Winning Jockey: Craig Williams

“I’ve had a lot of riding instructions from Ben Melham going into the race. He gave me a bit of an insight into the horse.

“I had my first sit on him on Tuesday morning and I think I blew more than he did.

“I know what he’s like as opposition and I know his form, but to get on him, they have spent a lot of time getting his barrier manners right so we’re fortunate that the barriers do their work so professionally but they even work in with trainers away from that to work on race manners.

“Last preparation that was what he was doing wrong.

“We had a bit of time to work out inside or outside. I trust him being a really good horse and it turned out the one I followed was the one I had to run down.

“When we discussed about his barrier and with the way this track has been racing, we haven’t got a speed horse at 1400 first-up so we were hoping the mentality of the track pattern and pressure might play out and work out well for us.”

The five-year-old, who had previously been prepared by James Cummings for Godolphin, missed out on the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last spring after being scratched at the barriers placing his campaign behind schedule.

In a bid to get Tom Kitten back to fitness, the Freedman’s were forced to pour work into the gelding.

It has been a different scenario this campaign with Tom Kitten being given a gradual build-up and it paid a winning dividend through a patient ride by Craig Williams.

Sent out the $3 favourite, Tom Kitten grabbed Feroce ($6) in the closing stages to score by a short-head with Veight ($6) a further 3-¾ lengths away third.

“Craig and I had a chat before the event, and I really wanted to see him not have a gut buster and not have to circle the whole field and make a long run,” Sam Freedman said.

“You see when they got going, he kept him back, he made his run at the perfect time and it’s great to get the horse back in the winners’ stall.

“When you take on a horse like this that has been to the top of the mountain, there’s always a bit of pressure.

“Ultimately, we felt that he’d been running well in the spring but didn’t get the rub of the green.

“We’re not getting carried away as it is a fair step down from the level that he has been to, but on his times at home and the way he is carrying condition, he can hopefully get to the level he has been at again.”

Freedman said Tom Kitten had been trained differently in this campaign and was carrying more condition.

He said being fresh, and doing less, probably worked best for Tom Kitten.

“We were a victim last prep of missing a run when he was scratched at the gates,” Freedman said.

“We were chasing our tail going to the mile first-up and we were concerned that he was racing too keenly and we had to work to make him settle, which didn’t work.

“He pulled his head off in a sedate tempo in the Makybe Diva and then he gradually got better. He had a fitness run at The Valley, and then he was back on track in Sydney.”

Freedman said Tom Kitten would go to either the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 21 or the Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on February 28 which will lead into the All-Star Mile (1600m) on March 7 and potentially the Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 28.

JustHorseRacing