Freedmans hope for more bittersweet success with late bloomer

Will Freedman is reluctant to take credit for the late rise of Magnatear and admits success with the seven-year-old is always bittersweet.

The Rosehill trainer, though, would love to see the gelding once trained by his late mate, Sam Kavanagh, back up a career-best run in the group 2 Shannon Stakes on Saturday and show he is ready to challenge in bigger races.

Freedman and his co-trainer and father, Richard, took on Magnatear after Kavanagh lost his battle with cancer in December 2024 at age 38.

Under Kavanagh, Magnatear had won midweek in town and placed in Midway grade. He won two Midways soon after the Newcastle trainer’s passing and has risen to stakes level in recent times, finishing third in the listed National Sprint at Canberra and winning the Muswellbrook Cup in March to book his place in the $3 million Big Dance in November.

He returned in the group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) two weeks ago and made the most of a rails draw under Ash Morgan to finish just over a length away second to Skyhook. He has gate one again on Saturday when he rises to the 1500m of the Shannon and Freedman wants to see a repeat before heading to the $1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes and $3 million Big Dance.

“He seems to be like a fine wine. He just keeps getting better,” Freedman said.

“To be brutally critical of myself, I don’t think we’ve done that much different. He just seems to be going a bit better earlier in his prep.

“You always get a bit worried when you tip older horses out, that they’re not going to come back as they were, but he seems to have grown in stature.

“I think he’s just been a horse that’s taken longer to mature. He put in good performances for Sam before he came here and he just got on a bit of a roll and the purple patch’s continued.

“He’s drawn a good gate, which is a big plus at Rosehill, and he sits on speed, so he gets a lot of favours.

“The Big Dance is his main aim … I think he’s a chance of beating Gringotts with such a light weight, but he probably still needs to step up this start to show that it wasn’t a one-off, that he can start stringing a few good performances together.”

Magnatear, a $200,000 buy for Kavanagh in 2021, has had five wins and seven placings from 18 starts for the Freedmans and taken his earnings past $760,000.

“Kelly [Fawcett], Sam’s lifelong partner, is still an owner in the horse and does a lot of body work on him. I’d still prefer Sam to be around and to be watching him race it, but that’s the hand we’re dealt.

“Kelly is a physio and she knows him as well as anybody, so we’re always going to and fro with some ideas, but to be honest, he’s pretty straightforward. He’s big, gangly, jumps on speed, and he keeps going.”