Part-owner gives Tom thumbs up for Doomben Cup

RACING: Part-owner Terry Henderson said if Tom Melbourne happened to win Saturday’s Doomben Cup, no one would know what to do.

“Well, it’s going to ruin the story, it will be a yin and a yang for everybody in the industry because what do we talk about after that?”, he said of the briin desmaid who has become somewhat of a cult hero.

Tom Melbourne has been left to fly the flag for Henderson’s OTI Racing after the tendon injury to former Cup favourite Gailo Chop late last week.

Tom Melbourne is trying to snap a two-year losing drought the Doomben Cup, after garnering one of the biggest followings in Australian racing after notching 10 second placings since that day.

Henderson said he and the fellow owners enjoy the banter that now accompanies the horse every time he races.

“I think it’s very good for racing,” he said. “The story around Tom, even though it’s far more flippant than what’s happened down here at the moment (with Aquanita scandal), is actually good.”

Henderson said Tom was not far off from a win.

“I think he’s just been a victim of being beaten by better horses in the majority of cases and in a couple of cases, a bit of bad luck,” he said.

“He’s paying his way and I think those around him, the people in Chris’s stable and Chris (Waller) himself, they like the horse, he’s quite a genuine horse.”