Tamerlane chases first Caulfield win in Kevin Heffernan Stakes

A midweek trip to Caulfield to reacquaint himself with Caulfield is expected to give Tamerlane an edge when he races second-up at that track on Saturday.

The James Cummings-trained and Godolphin-owned galloper runs in the Group 3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes (1400m) second-up on Saturday.

A veteran of the ‘Blue Army’ Tamerlane is a dual winner at Listed level, but has yet to taste success in Group company, but he looks to have found a suitable contest on Saturday after an eye-catching first-up performance.

Tamerlane finished fourth behind Another Wil and Jimmysstar in the Linlithgow Stakes (1400m) at Flemington during Melbourne Cup week and it will be four weeks between runs.

Godolphin assistant trainer Nacim Dilmi said the gelding had not been idle since that first-up run, and the stable was certainly interested in the form coming from that first-up run.

“His run a few weeks ago in the Linlithgow was good, beaten by two decent horses and Another Wil was then very good in the Sir Rupert Clarke,” Dilmi said.

“We gave him a nice jump out at Flemington last week, but we didn’t have to do too much as he does things pretty easy.

“He’s a very big horse. He doesn’t mind a track like Caulfield and we’ll be quite confident, he’ll run a good race Saturday.”

At his only previous appearance at Caulfield, Tamerlane finished fourth in a benchmark 84 grade race in August 2022.

Dilmi said the decision was made by the Godolphin team to give Tamerlane another look at Caulfield before he raced there again.

“We took him to Caulfield on Tuesday just for a look,” Dilmi said.

“He is fit enough, so we made sure the rider didn’t have to do too much with him.”

In form jockey Ben Melham rides Tamerlane for the first time on Saturday.