Freebelle fires first-up at Waverley
Robbie Patterson was given a boost of confidence around the future of staying mare Freebelle (NZ) (Belardo) when she came out on top in the Murdoch Contracting 1400 at Waverley on Sunday.
The five-year-old had just five starts under her belt in a short career to date, two of those being winning efforts over a mile, so Patterson anticipated she may find the seven furlongs a touch sharp first-up this campaign.
Kavish Chowdhoory got the late call-up to ride the mare after regular stable rider Craig Grylls was unable to attend the meeting, but the former had guided her to success at Trentham through the winter and allowed her to find her feet early under a fierce tempo set by Vibration and Duncan Creek.
The field strung out along the back straight and Freebelle was spotting the leader more than eight lengths at the 600m, but started to pick up ground turning for home as Duncan Creek attempted to get a break on his rivals.
Challengers were coming across right the track but none with more momentum than Freebelle, who wound up down the centre and powered on by to score with authority ahead of a game Vibration and Champagne Linda.
Patterson was pleasantly surprised with the result, with Freebelle being his sole representative on the nine-race card.
“She’s a real staying type and not a big horse, so over the 1400m, I would’ve been very happy if she ran into about fifth,” he said.
“The pace in the race showed she’s got some real stamina inside her, she was flat to the boards the whole way so to round it off like that, she’s shown she’s above average.
“I was never worried about the better track, she’s a very good-actioned horse and comes from a very good family over a few generations. I didn’t expect that over 1400m, so it’s a sign of a good stayer if they can do that fresh-up over 1400m.
“We’ll find a nice race around three weeks’ time for her, I think there’s a 75 mile back at Waverley on their Cup day so I’ll take her back there for that.
“I’ll be patient with her and hopefully she’ll go to another level.”
While talented, Freebelle has a few tricks up her sleeve, and Patterson praised Chowdhoory’s handling of the daughter of Belardo.
“Craig was unfortunately not unable to be here, but Kavish is a lovely guy and rides jumpouts for us and does a lot of work behind the scenes,” he said.
“This horse has been tricky, she has been late scratched a couple of times for dumping riders going down to the start, so he’s done a super job with her.”
In six starts, Freebelle has recorded three wins and a minor placing, having only debuted as a four-year-old last December. Out of a Thorn Park mare Freelinks, her granddam was a top middle distance mare and Group One performer in Freequent.
