Trainer James Cummings and Godolphin know the type of two-year-old it takes to win the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Flemington.
They joined forces in 2019 to claim the Group 2 race over 1400m with La Tene and followed up the following year to finish third with Micro, one of their three runners on that occasion.
Last year they were represented by Sumatra, which finished eighth, while this time around Amur and Tom Kitten will do battle for the ‘Royal Blue Army’ on Saturday.
Amur has the right credentials to be competitive.
A winner of his first two starts over 1200m at Moonee Valley, Amur was dropped back to 1100m when ninth behind Maharba in the Listed Talindert Handicap at Flemington on February 18.
That outing was three weeks ago, and Cummings is expecting the rise in distance to be a plus for Amur on Saturday who will be ridden by Ben Melham.
“He is stepping up to seven furlongs, and with the blinkers on, it will be more his go,” Cummings said.
Tom Kitten is back in Melbourne and appears well suited with the step up to 1400m with Blake Shinn to ride the colt.
A warning was placed on the two-year-old after he proved difficult to load on debut when a weakening fourth over 1100m at Flemington on January 14.
Tom Kitten was then floated back to Sydney where he underwent some remedial barrier work before sitting off the pace and scoring over 1300m at Warwick Farm on February 8.
The son of Harry Angel has undertaken another float trip back to Melbourne in search of a Group 2 victory on Saturday.
“He had that run there (Flemington) when he was outsprinted, but he was much, much better up to 1300 metres at Warwick Farm,” Cummings said.
“He just needs to improve off that effort to get his chance on Saturday.”