Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman, who has 120 plus Group 1’s to his credit, was one of the special guests at the launch of the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival on Thursday.
The multi-Premiership winning trainer is set to become a regular on the racing scene in South East Queensland as he is in the process of setting up his training business at the Gold Coast, which was his final choice for his new location following his return from Singapore.
“Initially we thought about Queensland, in general, in terms of finding a new base,” said Freedman, explaining the process that brought him to the Gold Coast.
“We were initially looking at the Sunshine Coast, but I was persuaded by the Gold Coast Turf Club to go there with so many new things coming on board at the club … the new structure of the course proper and with night racing coming in the future.
“It looked like more opportunity there, plus it is a bigger centre to draw clients from as well … so, that’s what basically made up my mind.
“I have to say that both the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast Turf Club are very good clubs.
“I always said that Queensland would be where I came back to … mainly for the climate … but, in the end, the Gold Coast Turf Club had a lot to do with my final decision.
“We are busy establishing the new stable and we are looking to get some tried horses … and yearlings.
“We will be operating from the stables at the end of the third week in May … but that will be only to start educating the yearlings. We haven’t got any older horses committed to us, so we have to grow that side of the business.
“Currently, we’ve got about twenty yearlings on our books, but they are a long-term project, and we want to get horses running sooner than later. I think we might get a few given to us from down south and through the upcoming sales at the Gold Coast.
“We’ve only got twenty boxes to start with, but I’d like to build on that and make it a really firm business space. We are hopeful to get forty or fifty within a year or so.”
Watch this space.
