The Ipswich Cup meeting will kickstart the latest chapter in the training career of Lee Freedman
Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman is set to have his first Australian runner since his return from Singapore when Intrepidacious contests the Gai Waterhouse Classic at Ipswich.
A five-time Melbourne Cup winner, Freedman spent more than three years in Singapore where he captured the 2018 trainers’ premiership before deciding to head back to Australia to establish a fresh base at the Gold Coast.
Intrepidacious will be the first horse he saddles up from his new stables and she will deliver him straight back into the feature race scene when she tackles Saturday’s Listed event.
The four-year-old was sold for $575,000 at the recent Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale and had been racing in great form prior to her latest appearance when she was unplaced in the Helen Coughlan Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Craig Williams has the mount on Intrepidacious, who is an $8.50 chance with TAB fixed odds.
The Gai Waterhouse Classic is one of three black-type races on Saturday’s program, along with the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m) and the Eye Liner Stakes (1350m).
Consistent sprinter Axe is among the fancied runners for the Eye Liner having won four of his seven starts since joining Michael Costa’s stable, three of them with Jag Guthmann-Chester in the saddle.
The jockey again has the ride at Ipswich and Costa is happy to leave tactics to Guthmann-Chester from Axe’s awkward draw in barrier 13.
“Jag has got a good association with the horse so I’m just going to have to leave it to him but the one positive with Axe is we’ve given him four weeks between runs, he’s fresh and jumping out of his skin,” Costa said on Sydney’s Sky Sports Radio.
“We probably anticipated there being a lot of pace in the race and Jag’s just going to have to navigate him as best he can.”
