Has time come for Tom to triumph?
RACING’S perennial bridesmaid Tom Melbourne is giving off “positive vibes” as he chases an elusive Group 1 success in tomorrow’s Kingston Town Classic at Ascot.
Part-owner Terry Henderson said the nation’s most maligned but consistent galloper was in peak condition in Perth as he prepared to take on Darren Weir’s Black Heart Bart in the final Group 1 of the year.
Tom Melbourne, who has placed in six of his seven starts this campaign, including a third in the Railway Stakes at Ascot a fortnight ago, can push through the $1 million prizemoney barrier if he can run in the first three in the Kingston Town Classic.
Henderson said trainer Chris Waller, who had three horses in the race, was pleased with the gelding’s condition, but conceded the seven-year-old would need to be at his best to beat Black Heart Bart.
“Chris has said the horse has put on some weight, he loves the beach, so he has been enjoying that,” Henderson said on RSN radio.
“He has been eating better than he has been eating all preparation, so the vibes are good. Aren’t they always with Tom going into a race?”
He said Black Heart Bart, who finished second to Great Shot in the Railway Stakes, was the clear danger.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Weiry’s horse, he has got to get past him,” he said
“He meets him four kilos worse off on the run in the Railway. If we have improved and we get a better run, it could turn around. But on what we are seeing, the horse deserves his place in the race and he deserves to be one of the favoured horses.”
Tom Melbourne was second in the Group 1 Epsom and Kennedy Mile during the spring.
Meanwhile, Melbourne trainer John Sadler will plead guilty to an improper conduct charge when he fronts the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board. Sadler was last week charged by Racing Victoria stewards following the scratching of Observational from the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on November 18.
RV stewards found that comments made by Sadler to chairman of stewards Terry Bailey and deputy chairman Robert Cram on race day constituted improper conduct.
The RAD Board will hold a hearing on the penalty on December 18.