It’s Somewhat on target for Perth G1 goal

It's Somewhat can cap the most productive year of his career in one of the best races he has contested when he runs in the G1 Kingston Town Stakes at Ascot in Perth on Saturday.

Godolphin’s former English galloper meets a field including the high-class Black Heart Bart, the recent G1 Railway Stakes winner Great Shot and the ultra-consistent Tom Melbourne.

But the case for It’s Somewhat (Brenton Avdulla) has rarely been stronger.

“He’s really been targeted at this race for the entire spring campaign and we feel that he’s building up to a peak,” said trainer James Cummings.

“He achieved a good result with his third in the Emirates Stakes at Flemington and the space between runs coming into this suits him.

 It’s Somewhat ranks among Australia’s best milers, as shown by his career-best victory in the G1 Doncaster Mile last autumn, and his record of nine wins and 12 placings have yielded $3.3 million.

As Cummings points out, the seven-year-old is also useful over Saturday’s distance: “He ran well at 10 furlongs last start and he’s back to nine furlongs which is a distance he won over at weight-for-age last winter.”

Assistant trainer Paul Reid said the horse showed he was up to the mark with a strong trial win last week.

“It was going to be a month between runs, so we took him to the trials last week to give him the feeling of race-day pressure rather than just having a gallop at home,” Reid said.

“He won the trial and is going super - we believe he’ll be very competitive.”

The Godolphin team will also run the three-year-old colt Gaulois in the Listed Lee Steere Stakes on the  same Ascot card, with Cummings confident he can atone for recent misfortune.

“He was very game in defeat at his past two starts after being wide both times,” Cummings said.

“This is a race that Gaulois can be very competitive in given the great form he’s shown in his recent runs.”