Flowers primed to bloom over spring
REALM Of Flowers is likely to stay in work beyond The Andrew Ramsden even if the Anthony and Sam Freedmantrained mare can secure a start in the Melbourne Cup with victory on Saturday.
The Group 1-winning father-son training team feels the Ramsden favourite will benefit from racing through to the spring as opposed to going out for a spell now and trying to rush back to peak fitness and form.
Success in the $400,000 Listed 2800m feature on Saturday — the first of three Cup qualifiers at Flemington — would shore up the longrange plan towards the first Tuesday in November.
Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Ramsden rival Persan, owned in similar interests to Realm Of Flowers, ran an eye-catching fifth in the Cup last year after spaced runs through winter.
Persan needed to win The Bart Cummings, on Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington, to get into the Cup.
“They’ll (owners) be happy if either of them win, I’m sure,” Sam Freedman said of the Kia Ora Stud-owned stayers.
“We’ll have the secondary colours on Saturday (black cap) so hopefully they’re the successful ones.
“In a perfect world she could win her way into the Melbourne Cup … we can just keep her going until then.”
The colder Victorian winter, compared to New South Wales and Queensland, complicates the spelling of stayers.
“You’re asking a horse to go out looking well and in form and expecting them to come back looking well and in form,” Freedman said.
“A lot of the time they come back and take a little bit of time to come to themselves, I reckon it shows in a lot of Victorian trainers, their horses don’t peak at the start of spring. I know our horses, in particular, take a run or two and then start to come to themselves in the middle and late spring.”
Realm Of Flowers campaigned strongly in Sydney, a pair of slashing seconds resulting in the So You Think mare being backed into favourite for the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m).
The five-year-old, who gets back in her races and runs on, surged from last to finish fifth in the Sydney Cup despite not having any luck in transit.
The forecast soft conditions and big track at Flemington loom as major pluses. “We’ve only ever run her there once, first-up this preparation over an unsuitable distance, I think she’ll love the trip and the big long run in, it should suit her perfectly,” Freedman said yesterday.
The Freedman stable will be represented in three states on Saturday, with Prophet’s Thumb in the Group 1 Goodwood in Adelaide and 2019 Victoria Derby winner Warning tackling a Group 3 in Brisbane.
Despite Warning going 12 starts — 10 at Group 1 level — without success since the Derby, stable confidence is strong.