Django Freeman on the comeback trail

Injury has restricted German import Django Freedman to just six starts in Australia since his arrival in the spring of 2019.

For the connections of Django Freeman, it has been a hard slog.

The German-bred import arrived to much fanfare on the eve of the 2019 Melbourne Spring Carnival but injury has robbed the now seven-year-old, restricting to six starts for Robert Hickmott.

Django Freeman is now in the care of Michael Shepherdson at Geelong and is being taken along quietly following his latest setback.

Firstly, a knee operation to remove a chip and more recently a suspensory ailment has resulted in Django Freeman being on the sidelines.

Shepherdson made the trip from Geelong to the Cranbourne trials on Tuesday to put the gelding through his paces in a bid to get him back to the track.

“His last injury was probably his most serious. He’s had 12 months out and we were lucky enough to be asked to train him,” Shepherdson said.

“He’s been doing a lot of work down at the beach. He’s still quite fat and we were thinking that he would need at least three jump-outs or trials.”

Django Freedman led up in his trial on Tuesday before finishing fourth to Nonconformist and Shepherdson said his next trial, or jump-out, would have a bit more intensity.

“By the third one, hopefully he’s trialling good enough for him to go to the races and we can step him off at a trip which he is comfortable at and in which he can be competitive,” Shepherdson said.

“I haven’t ruled out even taking him to Sydney for a trial and a race first-up.

“He was quite effective in Germany on his Sydney leg, so that’s something that hasn’t happened in Australia yet, so that’s an option we’ve got.”

Shepherdson is the former Melbourne foreman for the Tony McEvoy and branched out on his own after McEvoy, with his son Calvin, set up a stable at Ballarat.

He trains of the old BC3 Farm near Geelong where he uses a track on the property, has access to Thirteenth Beach and for more serious gallops he trucks his horses into Geelong racecourse.