Artorius’s European campaign ended with another frustrating outing but it did little to diminish Anthony Freedman’s belief that the four-year-old has another big win in him.
As such, plans will soon be in place to work out which spring feature is the most suitable option for last year’s Blue Diamond winner.
The son of Flying Artie again caught the eye late in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, as he did when equal third in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and third in the July Cup, but was forced to settle for a 2-3/4-length sixth in the 1300-metre race won by Highfield Princess.
Freedman, who trains in partnership with his son, Sam, said he knew Artorius and jockey Jamie Spencer were in trouble in the early stages of the race.
“He actually overraced, which he’s never done in his life, so that would suggest they went pretty steady and then they kicked off a slow pace and he had to change course a little bit,” Freedman said.
“In a Group 1 1300-metre race you would expect that they would go a lot quicker than they did but they just raced in one big pack and no one made a move and no one did anything.
“They pretty much just held their spots and the ones up the front were in the finish and the ones out the back weren’t. He probably did best of the ones out the back.”
Artorius will now have an easy time of things before entering quarantine, which will give the Freedman stable and owners, headed up by Newgate Farm, the chance to plot a spring path.
Pressing on to France meant The Everest is all but off the table with a decision to be made on whether to step out to the 1500m of the $10 million Golden Eagle or stick to sprinting and target the $3 million Champions Sprint (1200m) at Flemington on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
“He’ll go into quarantine in a week or two and probably come out with the Caulfield Cup horses and then we’ll work out where to go,” Freedman said.
“Obviously here (Flemington) up the straight is an option, but we’ll get him home and assess him then.”
