Freedman hoping to carry sales-ring success over to Queensland with stakes quintet
Off the back of another big week at the yearling sales, Randwick-based trainer Michael Freedman will make the journey to Queensland on Saturday with a quintet of big hopes in stakes races across the Eagle Farm card.
Freedman teamed up with bloodstock agent Andy Williams to secure a filly for $580,000, while also going to $400,000 for a colt in partnership with both Williams and Darby Racing at this week’s Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, with both yearlings being by Newgate Farm sensation Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt).
Both of those yearlings finished in the top four of the highest-priced lots at the sale and, while hitting the heights in the sales ring, Freedman is also hoping to plunder some nice prizes this weekend.
Star mare Manaal (Tassort) will be Freedman’s headline act from his five runners, lining up against ten rivals in the $300,000 Moreton Cup (Gr 2, 1200m) where she is priced at $4.80.
A winner of six races from 19 starts – including the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) as a juvenile – and over $2.15 million in prize-money, the Emirates Park-bred-and-owned four-year-old has been off since March 14 where she ran ninth in the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m).
Freedman revealed that the daughter of Tassort (Brazen Beau), who has also landed four Group 2s and a Group 3 throughout her career, is likely to head to the breeding barn following a two or three-run campaign culminating in the Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m).
“I think we’re going to concentrate on the Tatt’s Tiara with her,” Freedman told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“If we’d have run last week then the Stradbroke might have been in the mix, but I doubt we’d be backing up into it now.
“We just want to see her run well on Saturday, she is most likely heading to the breeding barn after this season so we made the plan to give her a two or three-run campaign up there before she heads off to stud so hopefully we see her run well, and if so the Tatt’s would likely be her swansong.”
Manaal is the best of three winners from four foals to race out of the Midshipman (Unbridled’s Song) mare Red Lodge, herself a stakes-winning granddaughter of dual Grade 1 winner Memories Of Silver (Silver Hawk), so would be another valuable addition to Emirates Park’s already large breeding barn.
“Emirates are a big breeding operation and she’s done amazing for them, winning a stakes race and Group 1 at two and stakes races at three and four, which probably doesn’t happen all that often,” Freedman added. “She has done a great job for connections.”
Joining Manaal at Eagle Farm will be quartet Givemethebeatboys (Bungle Inthejungle), Flying Destiny (Flying Artie), Mystical (Exceed And Excel), and Sylph (I Am Invincible).
The first two mentioned will line up in the Lightning Handicap (Listed, 1000m), with Givemethebeatboys ($9) heading the weights on 60 kilograms and Flying Destiny ($6) just behind on 59.5 kilograms.
Givemethebeatboys was a £1.1 million purchase at the high-profile Goffs London Sale back in 2023 before running fourth in the Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) at Royal Ascot the same week. He arrived in Australia with a rating of 103, being a three-time stakes winner in his native Ireland, and Freedman admits that he has struggled to place the five-year-old gelding.
“He has been tough to place to be honest,” Freedman said. “Off the back of some of his earlier performances in Ireland and the UK he came out here with a pretty high rating and being a sprinting type, it is probably difficult to be taking on our sprinters with that type of rating.
“We took him up north to see if we could pick something off, which he was able to do first-up at Eagle Farm.
“He didn’t get a great deal of luck in the race at Rockhampton [The Archer], he got tangled up at the back and he’d have been better off being forward as that is the way he races.
“Lee [Freedman] has been very happy with his work since he got back from there and, while he has a bit of weight to carry in a decent race, he could race well enough as this is about his level.”
Meanwhile, Flying Destiny is chasing a fifth consecutive victory and second successive stakes win having landed the Chief De Beers Quality (Listed, 1110m) at Doomben last time out.
“He seems to be in great order. I had a look at him on Monday when I was up there with Lee and he looks fantastic,” Freedman added.
“He is certainly taking his racing well and we’ve kept him fresh for it.
“Jamie [Melham] has a good association with the horse and he’s drawn a nice gate [in three]. He has more weight to carry than last start and at the Gold Coast but he should get a nice run behind the speed again.”
Freedman will also have maiden runner Mystical tackle the Show A Heart (Listed, 1500m), with the daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) seeking a breakthrough success in the $160,000 contest.
Having made five starts to date, Mystical has finished runner-up on two of those occasions and also ran a third placing in a 1300-metre maiden at Illawarra Grange just last weekend, prompting this step up to 1500 metres.
“She ran at Illawarra Grange in a maiden last Saturday and didn’t get much luck at all on the inner track there, she was a touch slow out and then ended up behind a wall of horses and by the time she got some room the race was over,” Freedman said.
“I did like the way she hit the line and the headgear she wore for the first time that day definitely helped her.
“It just gave me the impression that the extra distance will suit and we thought we could stay and pick off a maiden here but given it’s getting to the end of the season it is worth a try, we could always come back to a maiden after Saturday.
“She is probably a little poorly drawn [in barrier 11], but I had a good chat to Rachel [King] and if she can find a good spot she could run a big race.”
The final runner making up Freedman’s stakes quintet is Sylph, a Yarraman Park homebred that broke her maiden at the tenth time of asking last start and who tackles the $200,000 Queensland Day Stakes (Listed, 1200m).
Ridden by Jamie Melham in the 1200-metre maiden at the Gold Coast, the daughter of Yarraman’s sire sensation I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) defeated Crash The Party (Brave Smash) by 0.6 lengths, and the runner-up will re-oppose this weekend.
“She’s a talented filly and we were just keen to give her a bit of confidence last time out so it was nice to see her do it,” Freedman said.
“She got run to less than a length by a filly I have a lot of respect for and who she meets again on Saturday, but it was a big gap back to the third. She has a nice draw and Jamie knows her well now so hopefully she can get a nice run in transit and, although it’s a step up from last start, it sets up well for her.”
Returning to matters off the track, Freedman reflected on a great year at the yearling sales, where he has often partnered with Andy Williams.
“Andy is doing a lot of my bloodstock work these days,” Freedman said.
“We’ve grown in size and you pretty much need someone focusing on that side of things, particularly during the yearling sale season. Andy has done all my shortlisting at the sales for the last year and a half and is helping drum up some business and managing clients, so he is very much part of the team.
“Emirates are fantastic supporters of the stable and they usually give me a couple of homebreds each year and when Hussain [Lootah] moves to buy a yearling or two we usually team up to do that, which is what we did at Inglis Easter this year with a couple of nice fillies acquired there.”
Freedman also welcomed the continued support from other high-profile owners in the game, including Yarraman, James Harron and Godolphin.
“I get lots of good support from James Harron with both his colts and fillies, we have ten or 12 of his colts for the colts syndicate so he’s been a great supporter of the stable and we’re starting to get a big busy with all the yearlings now,” Freedman said.
“Hopefully we find the next [Golden] Slipper winner in there!
“We have broken in all the yearlings pretty much, barring a couple that were held back after Inglis Easter.
“We’ve probably had about 30 or 40 yearlings through to have a look at our Randwick stable. I like to get them in for about a week or ten days just to have a look around and familiarise them with the place before they go back out.
“Then over the next two or three months during winter we bring them in and out and go through the whole education process. Godolphin have also been a great supporter and they have given us nine yearlings this year, so hopefully we have got plenty to look forward to.”