Tom Kitten provided early proof of his potential when returning from a four-month break to win with the Group 3 Up And Coming Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
The three-year-old Harry Angel colt, trained by James Cummings, now has three wins in six career starts, including a Listed success gained at Randwick in April in the Fernhill Mile.
Giving weight to all, 4kg to his nearest rival in the 1,300m contest, Tom Kitten, Nash Rawiller up, charged down the centre of the track from well back on the home turn to beat Kintyre (Gary Portelli/Dylan Gibbons) by a head with Encap (Portelli/Brett Prebble) a further half length back in third.
Cummings said: “That’s an exceptional win first-up, but not entirely surprising that he throws in a PB first start at his second prep. He kept improving last prep, but he improved a lot to get to that level today.
“To give upwards of four and five kilos to those horses, it’s a special performance resuming and lays a very promising platform for the rest of his spring. To get within a couple of lengths of them at the weights would have been promising, to win is hair-raising.”
-v2.jpg)
Winning jockey Rawiller said: “I always thought we had a nice horse here and going to the gates today I realised we had. I took my time and he’s just a horse you can’t find the bottom of, he’s always got another gear."
Tom Kitten capped a successful day for Cummings after Marquess and Inhibitions won at Rosehill and Moonee Valley, respectively. Marquess (James McDonald) scored a gutsy win in the Mounties Group BM78 Handicap (1,500m) before Ben Melham brought Inhibitions with a perfectly timed winning run in the Ladbroke IT Handicap for three-year-old fillies over 1,200m.
