Blue again the colour on Diamond day for Freedmans
Godolphin-raced Daumier shows tenacity in spades to win Victoria’s premier juvenile race
Over the years the Freedman Family have very much made the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) their own, and yesterday Anthony and Sam Freedman wrote their name into the record books once more when the Godolphin-raced Daumier (Epaulette) followed up Artorius’ (Flying Artie) triumph in last year’s edition to hand the training partnership back-to-back victories in Victoria’s premier juvenile race at Caulfield, while the win added to the victory of Godolphin’s Lyre (Lonhro), trained by Anthony, in 2019.
Ridden By Mark Zahra, Daumier was positioned just behind the leading division and was peeled wide rounding the home turn and struck the front midway down the straight.
The son of Epaulette (Commands) survived a late challenge from Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution) to score a short-half-head win with Jacquinot (Rubick), the $4.40 favourite, a neck away third. Daumier, who won the Blue Diamond Preview (C&G) (Listed, 1000m) on debut on January 26, before finishing third in the Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) on February 12, had the blinkers applied yesterday, which Zahra believed made the difference.
“His work (in blinkers) was really good on Tuesday morning and I was still a bit cautious – I thought he’s definitely got a better hope than he did without them – and I was just able to get to a spot where I was able to get room and to really get at him, which he needs, and he responded,” he said.
The name Freedman is synonymous with the Group 1 contest and Anthony was part of the team when his brother Lee won the race with Knowledge (Last Tycoon) in 1997 and the year after when saddling Danelagh (Danehill), while Alinghi (Encosta De Lago) landed the 1200-metre race in 2004.
Anthony, when training in his own right, took out the race with Lyre – who was also raced by Godolphin – in 2019 and he triumphed again last year with his son Sam when Artorius swooped late in the day. It would have been a Freedman whitewash in the Blue Diamond in the last four years, had Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) not denied Hanseatic (Street Boss) victory in the 2020 edition of the race.
Sam Freedman was quick to pay tribute to the whole team at Pinecliff.
“Just proud of the whole team,’’ he said. “It’s been a fair sort of build up to this but the staff at Pinecliff and Flemington, I stand here and do the interviews after a win like this but they’re doing all the hard work,” he told Racing.com.
“Mark Zahra gave him a great ride. To Godolphin, they’ve supported us with a handful of horses every year and everyone there is a pleasure to deal with, they let us place the horses as we wish.
“To the horse’s credit he really knuckled down there late. This colt has shown very good ability from day one and it’s nice to see it come to fruition.”
Freedman said they always had a big opinion of the colt and was confident the 1200-metre trip would bring out the best in the two-year-old.
“The preview (when he ran third) was a look and see,’’ he said. “We probably didn’t think he would win over 1000 metres, we always thought he would be better over 1200. He won that but he had a good look around late.
“We toyed with the idea of putting winkers on him or something for the prelude. Ultimately we needed to find a couple of lengths today, it was the same story probably with Artorius last year. He worked super in them on Tuesday.
“You’ve got to be right on top of your game and thankfully he was today.’’
Bred by Godolphin, Daumier (2 c Epaulette – Illustrate by Street Cry) is out of Illustrate (Street Cry), an unraced daughter of prominent Darley filly Parables (Lonhro), winner of the Surround Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and the Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) during the 2010-11 season.
Further back, this is the same family as Listed scorer Fairytales (Night Shift) and New Zealand Group 1 winner On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau).
In winning the race, Daumier also provided his sire Epaulette – who stood at Darley for seven seasons before being sold to the Turkish Jockey Club last year – with his third Group 1 winner, joining South African top-flight scorer Soqrat and Red Lark, who won at the highest level in America.
Fireburn and Promitto shine at damp Randwick
Gary Portelli tasted success in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) when She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) landed the Group 1 in 2017 and the trainer is hoping yesterday’s Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Fireburn (Rebel Dane) can hand him a second win in the Rosehill juvenile Group 1.
The filly took her record to three wins from four starts with a powerhouse performance when ploughing through the Heavy 10 conditions to defeat She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) by three-quarters of a length.
Lady Laguna (Overshare) was a distant third, another two and three-quarter lengths away, while Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) winner Xtravagant Star (Xtravagant) failed to handle the track, finishing seventh and almost ten lengths from the winner.
Portelli, who also prepared Fireburn’s sire Rebel Dane (California Dane), already has smart colt Sejardan (Sebring) on a Golden Slipper path and confirmed Fireburn would join him and head straight to the juvenile feature in three weeks.
“She has come from being beaten at Warwick Farm to winning a Saturday, another Saturday and now a Group race. Phenomenal,” Portelli said.
“Thanks very much to (managing owner) Louis Mihalyka for the opportunity to train this filly by the stallion that means so much to me.
“We had so much fun with Rebel Dane and I reckon this filly, she is well on her way to some big things.”
Owned and bred by Laurel Bloodstock, Fireburn is the first winner out of winning So You Think (High Chaparral) mare Mull Over and she is herself out of dual Listed winner Galizani (Galileo). The filly descends from the same family as Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) Danarani (Danehill).
Mull Over has a yearling colt by Hallowed Crown (Street Sense) and she was covered by Pierata (Pierro) last spring.
The win provided Glen Eden Stud-based stallion Rebel Dane a second individual stakes success and he stood for a fee $8,800 (inc. GST) in 2021.
Meanwhile, in the next race on the card, it was the turn of the two-year-old colts and geldings in the Skyline Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) which went the way of the David Atkins-trained Promitto (Divine Prophet).
Last seen breaking his maiden on debut at Newcastle, the son of Aquis Farm’s Divine Prophet (Choisir) upstaged his more fancied rivals to beat Rise Of The Masses (Russian Revolution) by a comfortable two lengths. Jemeldi (Winning Rupert) was a further three-quarters of a length away in third.
Unlike Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Fireburn, Promitto is not among the nominations for the Golden Slipper Stakes and the colt’s owner-breeder Matthew Chidgey said they have not yet made any plans for the colt.
“We will worry about a drink tonight and leave that to Dave (Atkins),” said Chidgey.
“We bred him. We raced his mum, so we have had the family from a long way back. Peter O’Brien put us onto Divine Prophet, and away we went.
“It’s just good to win a race anywhere. It will be a good drive home. Dave has always had an opinion of the horse. He was confident that he would handle the conditions, and he was reasonably confident that he would run well.
Promitto (2 c ex Lohgairo by Lonhro) is one of two winners out of winning Lonhro (Octagonal) mare Lohgairo – who was also raced by Chidgey – and she is out of Listed winner Air She Goes (Air De France).
Lohgairo produced a filly by Kermadec (Teofilo) and was not served in 2021.
In winning the Group 2, Promitto becomes the second individual stakes winner for Divine Prophet, with last year’s Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner See You In Heaven the stallion’s first black type scorer.