‘Don’t come near the races’: Cup-winning trainer’s sage advice to his dad
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The Melbourne Cup-winning trainers – Anthony Freedman and his youngest son, Sam – have better bloodlines for the race than their horse Without A Fight.
Anthony’s great-grandfather Bill ‘Midge’ McLachlan became the first jockey to win three Melbourne Cups when he steered home Westcourt in the 1917 Melbourne Cup, after piloting Prince Foote and Comedy King to victory in 1909-1910.
Sam Freedman kisses the Cup after he and his father Anthony trained the Melbourne Cup winner Without A FightCredit: Racing Photos
Anthony’s brother Lee won five Melbourne Cups with Tawriffic, Subzero and Doriemus before Makybe Diva’s final two Cups were won with the Freedman touch. While Lee held the licence, Anthony, Michael and Richard were a key part of FBI (Freedman Brothers Incorporated), which dominated racing.
Without A Fight became the family’s ninth Melbourne Cup win as either a trainer or a jockey. Anthony and Sam, meantime, became the 12th trainers to complete the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double. Lee was one of the first people on the phone to Sam after the race to congratulate him.
Sam took the call on track, having saddled the seven-year-old up while Anthony, as is his preference, stayed at home on the Mornington Peninsula watching the race alongside his best mate Simon Gillies from the winery Yal Yal Estate, waiting to see which bottle they should open.
Despite their confidence in the horse’s chances, Sam told his dad to watch the two-mile race from the same chair from which he watched Without A Fight win the Caulfield Cup.
Without A Fight could be “something freakish” according to his trainer Sam FreedmanCredit: The Age
“Don’t come near the races,” Sam told him. “If we are going to keep winning these big ones I am sure he is happy to stay away.”
The pair worked in unison to prepare the horse for the race with Anthony’s experience critical in key decisions such as working Without A Fight on the morning of the race to take the edge off him.
“He does all the hard work at home,” Sam said.
The pair began working together in 2017 after Sam returned from working with European trainer Roger Varian and they officially became a partnership in 2020.
Sam is measured, relaxed, and part of the next wave of young trainers. Anthony is astute, content with his horses away from the crowds he battled through in the 1980s and 90s as part of the FBI crew.
When he rang his son and training partner post-race, Anthony did not carry on.
“He gave me ‘that was pretty good’ today and that was word for word what he said,” Sam Freedman said.
“It is great to have his name on it because he was part of it when Lee was having a lot of success and I am sure it means a lot to him, even though he won’t say it, to have won one of these today.”
The Melbourne Cup was not originally the target this year for Without A Fight after he struggled home in 13th spot in the 2022 Melbourne Cup. They thought he may not run the two miles but began to realise it was the way he had been ridden that day and the state of the track that led to his defeat.
The lead-up to the Caulfield Cup had not been perfect, either, but he found a way to win, raising the eyebrows and the stakes for the trainer.
“When he won we thought this horse might be something freakish because we knew there was going to be improvement heading into this race,” Freedman said.
“The key is getting him to switch off and relax.”
Not often do trainers switch off. There is always more work to be done.
But the Freedmans – 18 years after their most recent victory in 2005 – are ready to do so on Cup night for the ninth time in their family’s history.
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