Sons Of John on way back to best: Attard

For the first time since he matched it with Winx in the spring, Sons Of John is starting to make life easier for his trainer.

Yet the signs of improvement Jason Attard is seeing might not be enough to secure Sons Of John a run at Rosehill on Saturday.

Sons Of John is one of the favourites for the Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting Handicap, but Attard isn’t committing his horse to a start until he talks to connections.

Attard is worried a rain-affected track and a 61kg impost won’t be compatible.

“It’s a conversation I’ll have to have with the owners but carrying all that weight and running in those sort of conditions might not be that ideal,” Attard said.

No horse has come closer to beating Winx this season than Sons Of John when it took a last-to-first finish from the mare now rated the best racehorse in the world to deny him in the Theo Marks Stakes.

It’s been a mixed bag since with Son Of John’s season turning pear-shaped a few weeks later after his Epsom Handicap placing to Winx.

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And it’s all because Sons Of John enjoyed himself too much as he recovered from a Melbourne campaign that Attard says took its toll.

“Because he had such a hard time in Melbourne we wanted him to have a big spell and he came back in quite fat,” Attard said.

“To get that off him was a long process. He just couldn’t quite get to where he had to get in the period of time we had hoped.

“The Doncaster would have been a great race for him but it didn’t happen.”

But Attard is certain Sons Of John is tracking the right way after he was involved in a blanket finish to the Scone Cup.

“I was very happy with his run at Scone because he still wasn’t at his right fitness levels. He didn’t stop and he fought on,” Attard said.

Attard, who trained Shalmaneser to win at Randwick last week, will definitely give Kellyville Flyer her chance in the TPG Handicap despite the mare’s wide barrier.

“She doesn’t mind the wet track but I wish she could draw a gate,” he said.

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