Aerodrome to put Group 1 potential to test in JJ Atkins
Master two-year-old conditioner Michael Freedman is confident Aerodrome (Ole Kirk) is ready to put his best foot forward on firmer ground as he seeks to shore up the first season stallions’ title for his sire in Saturday’s JJ Atkins Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Bred by Rick Jamieson’s Gilgai Farm and bought by relatively new Singleton-based industry player Sean Dyson for $190,000 at Inglis Easter, Aerodrome took off spectacularly by winning his first two starts.
The gelding sat on the pace for a debut 0.33–length victory in a 1200m Warwick Farm maiden on a good 4 on April 16, before again travelling in second spot when a 0.74-length winner of the prestigious Clarendon Stakes (1400m) at Hawkesbury’s stand-alone Saturday meeting, on a heavy 8.
Aerodrome was then beaten but unbowed when seventh in an Eagle Farm gluepot in the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) – the fifth and last race that day before the meeting was called off. While 6.3 lengths behind the picket fence-building Atkins favourite Cool Archie (Cool Aza Beel), Aerodrome kept coming over the final 100m after he’d lost ground to be ninth on straightening.
With fine and sunny weather forecast for Eagle Farm all week, and the track rated a soft 5 on Monday, Randwick-based Freedman is hopeful Aerodrome will have the chance to show his best in the last two-year-old feature of the Australian season.
Bookmakers had him on the third line of betting on Monday at $8, behind Cool Archie at $3, with Freedman hopeful of landing another juvenile major in a strong season for his stable, to add to his Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) triumph with Marhoona (Snitzel).
“He’s come through that Sires run in good order,” Freedman told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“That race was a bit of a non-event unfortunately because of the state of the track, but he seems to have come through it well, has had a good week since.
“It’s always difficult to accurately assess how much a run like that on a bog track takes out of a horse, but all the things we look for in terms of appetite and demeanour are good. He hasn’t left an oat, and he’s been bouncing around the place.
“There was also merit in that Sires run because he was just hopeless in the ground, and was spinning his wheels like a lot of them were on the day, but he kept trying to find the line. So that gave me a bit of encouragement that if we could get him back onto a firmer surface he could get back to the form he showed in his first two starts.
“So, I never get too confident, but I’m hopeful he’ll be able to perform well. He seems to be in good order. I left him up in Brisbane with my foreman, so he’s enjoying having a bit of sun on his back.”
If Aerodrome can win the last juvenile major of the term and its $600,000 winner’s purse, it would clinch the first season sires’ title for Vinery Stud’s Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), adding more validation for his service fee hike for his coming fifth standing season, from $55,000 (all fees inc. GST) to $99,000.
Ole Kirk currently has a $441,000 lead on the first season table over second-placed Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), though with four stakes winners while his rival awaits his first Australian-bred black type victor.
However, Coolmore’s shuttler may have two chances to leapfrog Ole Kirk in the Atkins, to back his own recent and far more spectacular increase, from fee-on-arrangement (understood to hover around the $275,000 mark), to an Australian record smashing $385,000.
Among Atkins nominations are Chris Waller’s two Wootton Bassetts: Regulated Affair, an $11 chance on Monday, and Providence, at $51.
The Hermitage-owned Regulated Affair has had three starts for a 1000m Warwick Farm maiden win and one placing, rounding off with a last-start fourth over 1200m at Randwick on a heavy 9.
Providence – a $650,000 Easter buy for China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy – has had two starts for a third and a fourth, the latter when making good ground from tenth on the turn in Eagle Farm’s The Phoenix (Listed, 1500m).
Should one of those two win the Atkins and Aerodrome collect $180,000 for running second, it would set the scene for a most engrossing battle for first season sire honours between Ole Kirk and Wootton Bassett over the final six weeks of the season.
Still, Aerodrome – never a Golden Slipper type – has encouraged Freedman greatly, not just with his own efforts but because of the form around him.
At Warwick Farm he beat into second place Nathan Doyle’s Hidden Motive (Capitalist), who’d had quality race experience with a debut fourth in the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m), and who’s since won twice, including at Randwick last Saturday.
At Hawkesbury, where regular rider Regan Bayliss reported Aerodrome “didn’t really like the heavy 8 but still won”, third place went to Godolphin’s Zebra Finch (Exceed And Excel), who then won at Rosehill last Saturday week and is an $11 shot in the Atkins.
“The subsequent form has worked out well for Aerodrome,” Freedman said. “He did a very good job against Hidden Motive at Warwick Farm, and at Hawkesbury, while he managed to get himself up and win, Regan was adamant he went better on a firmer track the start before.
“Obviously he steps up to a mile this Saturday, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. They will all be having their first try at it, but my bloke at least gives me the indication it won’t be an issue. He gets into a nice rhythm, and I took a bit of confidence from the fact that despite not really loving the ground in the Sires’, he was hitting the line pretty strong in the last hundred metres of that race.”
The first foal of Group 3-winning and multiple stakes-placed mare She Shao Fly (Epaulette), Aerodrome was bought by Randwick Bloodstock’s Brett Howard on behalf of Dyson, who runs a parts business for heavy mining equipment while growing his thoroughbred interests from a farm near Singleton.
“Sean’s a terrific bloke who’s built his business up from scratch, and he’s starting to get more involved in the racing industry,” Freedman said. “He’s developed his own farm and has certainly got a bit of a passion for it with his wife Felicity, which is great.”
Aerodrome presented at Freedman’s Randwick stable as “a big, strong fella – not dissimilar to his sire”.
“Tommy Berry used to ride Ole Kirk a fair bit back in the day, and he rode Aerodrome in trackwork, and said he was not dissimilar in physique to his father,” Freedman said. “The trouble was, he was a very aggressive young colt.
“We trialed him in September, and he’d shown a fair bit of natural early ability, but was just very wayward and very colty. He had his mind on other things. I had the discussion with Sean and we decided to geld him.
“So that’s had the desired effect. He’s still a bit of a big kid at the moment both physically and mentally, but he’s got a bit of natural talent.”
Whatever the result this Saturday, Freedman does allow himself confidence to believe Aerodrome will be far better next season, like his sire. Ole Kirk won one of four as a two-year-old, but claimed the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) back-to-back in his powerhouse three-year-old spring.
“Aerodrome’s got his share of talent, and obviously I’m hoping he can run well on Saturday, but I’m also looking forward to what he might develop into in the spring,” Freedman said.
“Ole Kirk was better as a three-year-old. He’s got off to a good start as a sire with his two-year-olds, but I guess you’d be hoping they can be better at three.”
Coming towards the end of his third full season a solo trainer, Freedman is on course for his strongest campaign yet, winners-wise.
He has 62 winners – compared with a personal best for a whole season since his split from brother Richard of 66 in 2023-24, and 47 the season before that.
He’s had one elite winner in each of those seasons, in Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) victor Communist (Russian Revolution), ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) heroine Manaal (Tassort), and Slipper queen Marhoona.
“The season has been terrific,” said Freedman, who has built up his stable to have around 110 horses on his books. “For a relatively small stable, we’ve managed to pick up a good few city winners and some nice majors along the way, obviously with the Slipper being the stand-out.
“It’s been a really good season and with a bit to build on, given we’ve got a team of largely young horses.”