MOVING IN ON SEQ
CUP WINNER EYES NEW BASE:
FIVE-TIME Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Lee Freedman is poised to return to Australia from his three-year stint in Singapore, with southeast Queensland emerging as the favoured destination to continue his career.
Racenet understands the Hall of Fame trainer has been in contact with race clubs on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast regarding a potential new venture in the Sunshine State.
Negotiations have progressed to the point where Freedman may be on the verge of making a decision on his training future.
It would be a huge coup for Queensland to score a trainer with the profile of Freedman, who won the last of his five Melbourne Cups with glorious triumphs with Makybe Diva in 2004 and 2005.
Freedman also won the Cup with Tawriffic (1989), Subzero (1992) and Doriemus (1995) to put him in the spotlight with his three younger brothers when they were labelled the ‘FBI’ – Freedman Brothers Inc.
The Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast have now emerged as the favourites for Lee Freedman, 64, to set up a new base and it is understood he has been in recent negotiations with both.
Racenet has reached out to Freedman repeatedly over the last seven days but he has not responded.
Freedman handed over control of the family‘s famed Markdel operation to brother Anthony in 2011 before renewing his association with leviathan owner Lloyd Williams when taking up the new position of director of training and racing at Macedon Lodge in 2013.
He has been in Singapore since 2017 and won the Singapore trainers’ premiership in 2018, finished sixth the following year and sits in third in 2020.
Lee’s brother Anthony has enjoyed great success in Melbourne where he co-trains with son Sam. Other brothers Richard and Michael are in a training partnership in Sydney and Richard’s son Will trains at Scone.