Michael Freedman hopeful of success with new GC stable

By Glenn Davis

Michael Freedman is hopeful of training his first winner from his new Gold Coast satellite stable when he heads to Eagle Farm on Wednesday.

The Sydney-based trainer saddled his first runners from his new base last Saturday but did not land a blow with Pyrois in a 1200 metre Benchmark race at the Gold Coast and Encoder in a 1400 metre Open Handicap at Eagle Farm.

Michael has three runners engaged for the Eagle Farm midweek meeting and has declared Frostfire in the Class 1 Handicap over 1000 metres as his best hope.

Frostfire - a Kyle Wilson-Taylor mount - is having his first start as a three-year-old and hasn’t raced since finishing fifth to the Chris Waller-trained Congressman in a two-year-old race at Wyong in the middle of March.

“Frostfire looks our best chance. He’s a nice horse and won a Randwick trial recently,” Michael said.

“I was going to run him at Kembla Grange recently, but it was a bog track.

“He likes to jump and race on the speed so a Class 1 around Eagle Farm should suit him.”

The youngest of the famous FBI (Freedman Brothers Incorporated) of the 1980s, Michael has a wealth of experience since going out on his own in the early 2000’s.

During a 20-year tenure with older brothers Lee, Anthony and Richard, the Freedmans were feared Australia-wide. 

They dominated with more than 100 Group 1 winners, including five Melbourne Cups and four consecutive Golden Slippers.

In 2008, Michael branched out on his own and was granted a licence to train in Singapore where he stayed for eight seasons.

He trained 468 winners including Singapore Triple Crown winner and Horse Of The Year, Super Easy.

The 57-year-old also had a brief stint training in Hong Kong.

After returning home, Michael joined with brother Richard and soon made his mark winning the Group 1 Golden Slipper with Stay Inside in 2021 as well as three Group 1s with Forbidden Love.

Michael also trained this year’s Golden Slipper with Marhoona.

To win two Golden Slippers in five years is a huge achievement for Michael who doesn’t have the huge numbers of some of the bigger stables.

Michael believes the time is right to launch a satellite stable in Queensland and has moved into the Gold Coast stables operated by elder brother Lee who has decided to take a step back from training to manage the operation.

“We have 29 boxes at the Gold Coast and it’s at capacity now,” Michael said.

“It’s exciting to have a Gold Coast stable but it’ll take time to bed down.”