Insurrection’s path into the 2026 Canterbury Sprint differs to 12 months ago, but trainer Michael Freedman is optimistic the gelding can again claim the New Year’s Day feature.
The six-year-old will be chasing his first win since taking out the 2025 edition when he resumes in 1200-metre Listed event that is the feature of Thursday’s twilight program at Canterbury.
Insurrection won his Canterbury Sprint after a second placing in the Group 3 Razor Sharp Stakes, which followed a win in the $300,000 The Warra.
He has not started since a seventh placing in the Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes on April 1, but Freedman said the long break had been appreciated by the son of Russian Revolution.
“He just had a few aches and pains that he was dealing with and we were more or less one step forward, two steps back with him,” Freedman said of the back-end of last preparation.
“So, we just decided to give him a nice, long break and let him go and be a horse for a few months in the paddock, which he did, and I think he’s really enjoyed that and come back with a bit of a fresh body and fresh mindset.”
Insurrection demonstrated that with two impressive 850m Randwick Kensington trials in December; the first a soft win before a three-quarters-of-a-length second placing under a similarly light ride.
“It’s probably one of those things where you’d love to it to be maybe 1000 or 1100 rather than the 1200, but just at this time of year there’s simply nothing else around that suits a horse of his rating,” Freedman said.
“He’s had two nice trials going into it, he’s had a nice steady build-up, and I think it’s a nice race for him.
“Whether he’s quite rock-hard fit enough for it against a few race-fit horses remains to be seen, but he’s a very competitive, genuine customer, so I’m sure he’ll give his all.”
Insurrection has the services of Tommy Berry in the Canterbury Sprint and will jump from gate six in the field of 15, which includes Private Eye’s in-form younger half-brother King’s Secret, gritty front-runner The Instructor and Peter Snowden’s classy Zealously.
