Responsible for the defeat of Godolphin’s runner in the race prior when winning aboard Grinzinger Heart, Craig Williams was at his best in the $2m G1 All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday as he guided Harry Angel (IRE) 5yo Tom Kitten to a fighting victory for the Anthony and Sam Freedman stable.
Resuming with victory in the G3 MRC Kevin Heffernan Stakes (1400m) at the beginning of February, Tom Kitten started the second elect behind Ciaron Maher’s Pride Of Jenni who was having her first start run since finishing down the track in the G1 Champions Mile in the spring.
Going forward as expected, Pride Of Jenni took up the running from barrier 2 with the Ben, Will and JD Hayes trained Evaporate (NZ) settling in second, with the son of Per Incanto (USA) chasing his first elite level victory.
Racing in fourth position on the outside of Bjorn Baker’s Stefi Magnetica, Tom Kitten was a few lengths off the leader who started to turn up the pace with 800m to run.
Leading by three into the home straight, Pride Of Jenni was full of running, but those behind her were starting to run on and with Craig Williams holding up Tom Kitten as long as possible, the gelding had hit the lead at the 200m.
Getting the better of Evaporate in the run to the line, Tom Kitten pulled clear to win by a short neck margin from Evaporate who had to settle for his sixth, G1 top four placed finish.
Toughing it out all the way to the line, Pride Of Jenni finished third with Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr’s Sabaj finishing three-parts of a length off the winner, highlighting his G1 Australian Cup (2000m) chances.
Sam Freedman was speaking post-race.
“He's a remarkable horse,” said Freedman “He's been to the top for a long time.
“We've been blessed to get him into the stable in the last eight or nine months. We were disappointed with the spring we had with him. We felt he was going well, but we were chasing our tail, but this prep, I don't know what it is.
“I rang Dad this morning and said he's a different horse. He looks amazing, he's holding more condition, he's racing heavier than he was in the spring.
"Sometimes you are a victim when horses change yards. They go onto a different feed pretty quickly, a few changes can happen pretty quickly, so now he's in a nice routine at Pinecliff, gets out into a paddock during the day.
“For James and his team, that worked with the horse for such a long time, they should all be very proud as well as my team. He's a remarkable horse and turns up every time.
Asked if the Australian Cup is on the radar, Freedman felt he might be best suited at the mile.
“I feel he's best fresh at a mile. We might see him in the Doncaster more likely than the Australian Cup. He might grind away late like he wants the 2000 metres, but he likes a strong tempo where he can sit back and stalk them.
“We'll have a chat. He's also entered in Dubai and Hong Kong, so there's plenty of options for him. The beauty of him is he's an easy horse to work with and I'm just rapt for the whole crew.”
Having ridden him now in back to back group victories, jockey Craig Williams was full of praise for the horse.
“I'm really fortunate to say thank you to Sam and Anthony Freeman and all their team, Godolphin, for giving me the opportunity, just being part of this Autumn with him and so far we're two from two, but I've just seen him grow up,” said Williams.
“They've obviously spent a lot of time with his barrier manners. We saw it in the spring when he got scratched and he's really unruly. So, we're very fortunate. Part of our people that look after us, our guardian angels, the great horsemen, the barrier attendants.
“So all the team that we have here in Victoria are amazing. So thank you for the work that they've done, and we see the finished product when it comes to racing."
With eight wins, highlighted by three G1 victories and a further eight placed efforts from 31 starts with earnings of $7,525,650, the Godolphin bred and raced Tom Kitten is the best of four winners from four to the races out of the Street Cry mare Transfers, a sister to the dam of G3 winner Idle Flyer.
A half to stakes winners Va Via and Promotions, Tom Kitten is from the extended family of Redoute’s Choice
Tom Kitten is the highest prizemoney earner for Darley’s Harry Angel who has been represented by 32 individual stakes performers worldwide, with the Chris Waller trained G2 winner Angel Capital finishing a solid third in the G1 Newmarket Handicap on the same Flemington card.
