Tom Kitten lands second All-Star Mile
Godolphin’s ever-consistent five-year-old Tom Kitten (5 g Harry Angel ex Transfers, by Street Cry) made history at Flemington on Saturday when he became the first dual winner of the All-Star Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).
Having narrowly defeated Mr Brightside (Bullbars) in the 2025 running of the $2 million contest, the gelded son of Harry Angel (Dark Angel) was again made to work to overcome Evaporate (Per Incanto) inside the final 100 metres and score by 0.4 lengths.
There was a further 0.2 lengths back to the third-placed front-runner Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), who was also bidding for her second win in the race.
It was Tom Kitten’s third success at the elite level and first for the Sam and Anthony Freedman stable, having formerly been trained by James Cummings. The win took his prize-money earnings beyond the $7.5 million mark.
“He’s a remarkable horse,” said Sam Freedman. “He’s been at 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.
“Sometimes you’re 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 [Cummings] and his team, who 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.”
Freedman said Tom Kitten is likely to be kept to the mile in future, with options in Australia but also abroad on the agenda.
“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 for 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.”