Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman saddled up a horse at Canterbury for the first time in almost 20 years on Wednesday then watched on as Mossamine raced to victory.
Freedman’s presence trackside in Sydney is set to become a more regular occurrence as he is in the process of forming a training partnership with Graeme Rogerson.
While there is still some paperwork to be processed, Freedman expects the union to become official later this week.
“We’re a training partnership already but we’re not in the (race) book yet,” Freedman said.
“We’ve got to sign off on boxes with the Australian Turf Club but we’re already registered as a partnership with Racing NSW.
“I expect to be in the (race) book by the end of the week.”
Freedman was on hand as Mossamine took out the Mossman @ Vinery Handicap (1550m) with premier jockey Nash Rawiller in the saddle.
The former Victorian-based horseman said it had been a long time since he had been to Canterbury.
“It’s about 20 years I reckon. I think it was Naturalism who won a Canterbury Cup (in 1993). That’s a while ago now.”
Racing NSW’s deputy chief steward Greg Rudolph confirmed the Freedman-Rogerson training partnership still had to be rubber stamped.
“Racing NSW had approved it in principal with one of the conditions being that they had a satisfactory stabling arrangement with the Australian Turf Club,” Rudolph said.
“I think that was lodged for them to sign off on at the end of last week.
“When Racing NSW sight that and approve it then they’ll be in a position to formerly acknowledge a partnership.”
