By Craig Kerry
Father-and-son team Anthony and Sam Freedman are aiming to make their own mark in Sydney, amid their wider family’s recent success, after taking over 24 boxes at Randwick.
And they believe promising filly Price Tag can strike an early blow for them in the $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m) on Saturday at Randwick.
Price Tag running second to My Gladiola in the Blue Diamond Preview for fillies at Sandown on January 25.Credit: Getty Images
The Freedmans, who won the 2023 Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double with Without A Fight, secured boxes at the track late last year and have moved in over the past few weeks.
Anthony, who with brothers Lee, Michael and Richard formed a training powerhouse for two decades, will oversee the Randwick team, while Sam will manage their established Victorian stable.
The move comes as the Freedman family enjoy a great run in Sydney. Also out of Randwick stables, Michael has had 20 NSW metropolitan winners this season at a strike rate of 20.8 per cent, while Rosehill-based Richard and his son, Will, have had 23 statewide at 16.3. The success of Richard and Will includes interstate stakes wins with Electtrica and Coastwatch, and a Midway handicap victory at Randwick with Magnatear, all on January 25.
As for any rivalry with his cousin and uncles in Sydney, Sam said: “We’re just keeping the other ones honest and trying to make our mark in our own way. Hopefully it will be a growing stable, but we’ll just be throwing darts and hopefully some will hit.
Sam Freedman with 2023 Melbourne Cup winner Without A Fight.Credit: Getty
“It’s probably been a couple of years in the making. We were keen to secure stables at Randwick, and we just had to be patient and keep applying.
“We are still just building the numbers up slowly. They’ve got to earn their stripes a little bit to get up there. There’s some nice two-year-olds in there, and they will keep filtering through when the right races come up.”
Sam Freedman said Place Du Carrousel could run in the group 2 Apollo Stakes next Saturday at Randwick and Henlein, which was second in the group 1 Spring Champion Stakes there in October, may return to Sydney this autumn.
This Saturday, Price Tag will look to grab the first feature win for the combination in Sydney since the satellite stable move. The $3.60 Sportsbet favourite has come to Sydney off a first-up second to My Gladiola at Sandown in the group 3 Blue Diamond Preview for fillies (1000m). The $600,000 daughter of Zoustar and Humma Humma was third and fourth at stakes level in the spring at Flemington. Tyler Schiller has the ride on Saturday.
“She’s had a good build-up, she ran a nice race first-up behind a pretty smart filly, My Gladiola,” Freedman said. “I thought she might have felt the pinch a little bit late in that race. It was a tough 1000, so she’s tightened up really well. She’s handled the trip up to Sydney nicely, and she worked that way of going on Tuesday morning.
“Tyler had a gallop on her, and he was really happy, so it’s all been pretty positive. We had him down here as well to ride her, obviously with this race in mind. He was really happy with what he felt, and he actually thought she might be better going this [Sydney] direction, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.”
Price Tag has remained favourite despite a draw in 11, which will be nine of 16 with all emergencies out.
“She’s pretty adaptable,” Freedman said. “Tyler felt she might be better with a bit of room as well. But with two-year-olds, we probably won’t tie him down with too many instructions. Just keep her in a rhythm, a bit of room at the right time and she should be hitting the line very hard.”
The stable also have $61 chance Bubion in the race from gate three with apprentice Zac Waddick aboard. She was eighth in the Blue Diamond Preview.
“She might have felt the pinch a little bit first-up as well,” he said. “We’ve been keen to see her in the Sydney direction. She might not be completely comfortable the Melbourne way, so I’ll think she’ll run above her odds.”
The Freedmans have a strong hand in the sixth with Midwest ($8.50) and Godolphin-owned Austmarr ($3.50).
“Austmarr has come back from a bit of a lay-off and has trialled up nicely twice just behind Isthmus,” Sam said. “She’s a pretty smart mare, and she seems to be coming up very well this prep.
“Midwest will be ridden very positively. He’s had a couple of runs and was very good the other day at Sandown. There’s a lot of horses resuming, but he’s very fit and he’ll certainly make it a test.”
