Plan fit for a Champion
Freedman brothers assemble team
Melbourne Cup winners Anthony and Sam Freedman will unveil what could be Without A Fight 2.0 in Queensland as the father-and-son duo reveal they will bring a 16-strong team to Queensland over the winter months.
Without A Fight won his way through Queensland last year before going on to win the Caulfield and Melbourne cups.
Sam Freedman said Royal Ascot winner Royal Champion will follow in his footsteps this year, in what is one of the most highly credentialed imports to come to Australia in recent time. Fittingly, Royal Champion will even race in the same colours as Without A Fight, as another of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum’s runners in Australia.
Freedman struck up a friendship with the Dubaibased Sheikh and worked on him bringing Royal Champion to Australia, with the six-yearold gelding already having a jump out on the Sunshine Coast during the week.
“It is the same owner, same idea when it comes to his program, this horse might be a little bit sharper, he might be more to a miler to 2000m opposed to 2000m and above,” Freedman said.
“He trialled at the Sunshine Coast (on Tuesday) and he trialled quite well, he has a bit of speed and will be suited to Australian racing.
“He has been in Australia for about three months, we have taken our time with him to get him used to it all.
“He probably has better form than Without A Fight, he won a nice race at Royal Ascot (the Wolferton, 2000m) and he ran second in a Group 1 at Canada (Canadian International) a few starts back.
“He has proper world-class form which still has to translate here, we are hoping it does.”
Without A Fight will be one of the 16 horses who makes his way to Queensland for the stable over the winter months, however he is unlikely to race until the spring.
It will instead be Royal Champion who kicks off his
Australian campaign on June 1 in the Group 3 Lord Mayors Cup (1800m).
“He is still doing his rehab at Lee Evison’s at the moment, it is going the right way,” Freedman said of Without A Fight.
“Hopefully in a month or so he might be able to resume some light training. All being well, he should be right for the spring, but we aren’t going to rush him and just go to the autumn instead.” The Freedman family used Queensland as a winter base three decades ago for the likes of Doriemus and are looking to make it an annual trip again with Anthony basing himself on the Sunshine Coast.