Craig Kerry
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.
“It’s always bittersweet,” Freedman said of the success.
“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.”
Morgan, who took Magnatear to his maiden win three years ago, expects to be even more positive from the gate when they clash with Skyhook ($1.90) again.
“He was terrific and his trials had been really good going into it,” Morgan said.
“I would have been delighted if he ran top six, but he ran second, so it proves he’s come back in really good order.
“He gets a similar setup on Saturday. He’s drawn the right gate again and we’ll be a bit more positive on him because they were just mindful of him being first up the other day.
“He would strip fit for that. It’s the same race really, so he gets his chance.”
The Freedmans also have Miss Spacegirl ($9) first up and Vexxy ($6.50) in the Midway handicap.
“Miss Spacegirl is not traditionally a first-up horse, so I’m not expecting fireworks from her,” Freedman said.
“It’s sort of a starting spot, but I think Vexxy is going very well and even though she’s drawn wide, it probably suits her. She likes getting to the outside, but she’ll need a bit of speed on to be able to get into the race.”
He said Genesis Runner, second in the Up And Coming and fourth in the Ming Dynasty, was headed to the Dulcify Stakes on October 3, where he could try blinkers.
Morgan took David Payne-trained Persian Wonder to victory in the group 3 Ming Dynasty and he was excited about his chances in the Gloaming Stakes on October 10.
“That was good,” he said of the win.
“I needed something like that, just to kick off. Matcha Latte just got beat on Saturday [in the Bill Ritchie] and Magnatear was second the Saturday before, so it was good to knock one off in a good race.”
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