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Trainer and media personality Richard Freedman paid A$330,000 to buy a spectacular Snitzel filly during the Inglis’ recent digital Easter sale. Freedman trains with Brother Michael at Freedman Brothers which began in 2017 but he has been involved in racing since the ‘70s.
Freedman’s client was hoping to buy a filly with a good pedigree and a nice residual value eventually as a broodmare.
His plans for the filly are still fluid. Her ability over the next few months will help him decide what course to chart for his charge.
Freedman trained his first winner at eighteen. At the time he was considered to be the youngest ever professional trainer to train a winner in Australian Racing history. Together with his brothers Lee, Anthony and Michael, Richard has trained winners for over a hundred Group One races including the Melbourne Cup (5 times), Golden Slipper (4 times), Caulfield Cup (4 times), and Cox Plate (twice).
As with most potential buyers, once it was announced that the sale would be going digital, Richard along with his brother visited most of the farms in New South Wales to inspect the horses.
“We did go out to most of the farms in the Hunter Valley area. It was difficult as it’s a very big area but we got around to most of the studs.”
“We did a lot of travelling (over those days) to make sure that we saw them before we completed our shortlist.”
Freedman is not convinced that the sale was truly representative of a “normal” Australian yearling sale.
“In terms of success, it's a very difficult sales to read because, of the 514 horses catalogue, only 228 sold. The rest were either withdrawn or passed-in. And the top lots were equally divided between the fillies and the colts, suggesting that the purchases were by personal choice.”
Freedman also believes that round two of the Easter sale in July could be tricky for buyers and trainers.
“It could be problematic for unbroken yearlings if they were sold later in the year because if this they wouldn't be ready in time for our early 2YO races. The horses that were bought earlier, like in the Classic sale, would likely have an advantage.
“I believe all the large trainers have got plenty of horses in their stables to get ready for our early 2YO races, so I think it will balance out, in the end.”