Freedman Brothers Information

Freedman soon made his mark in Melbourne, especially through the deeds of a quality young mare named Sauna. The sale of Sauna to America helped finance the expansion of the Freedman brothers' enterprise to an extra stable complex at Flemington and a pre-training centre at Avenel, formerly Malabar Park, but renamed Brackley Park. In 1986, Miss Clipper won the Australasian Oaks at Morphettville, giving Freedman his first Group 1 winner. Two year's later, Tawrrific was Freedman's first Melbourne Cup runner, finishing 12th behind Empire Rose. The young trainer made the point that he was watching the every move of master trainer Bart Cummings in his preparation of stayers. In 1989, Tawrrific beat stablemate Super Impose in the Melbourne Cup - Freedman cites it as his most memorable moment in racing. "It gave my career a huge kick and opened a lot of doors". But it was Super Impose who gave Freedman his biggest thrills in those early days at Flemington. The great chestnut set racing abuzz when he lumped big weights to win the Doncaster-Epsom double at Randwick in 1991 and again in 1992. Freedman and his brothers continued to expand. Youngest brother Michael came into the business around the same time more stables were opened at Epsom, where Lee was installed as private trainer for big spending property developer Floyd Podgornik. Unfortunately, Podgornik died soon after the Freedmans moved into the Epsom, which forced another change in directed for the brothers. In 1993, the Freedmans moved to Geoff Murphy's vacant stables at Caulfield. Richard was in charge at Caulfield, while Anthony set up a satellite stable at Randwick in Sydney. Lee had a huge 1992-93 season, winning the Melbourne spring treble - the Caulfield Cup (Mannerism), Cox Plate (Super Impose) and Subzero gave him his second Melbourne Cup. Bint Marscay was trained out of Sydney in 1993 to win the first of Freedman's four successive Golden Slippers. He also won with Danzero, Flying Spur and Merlene. Freedman continued his wonderful run with horses like Mahogany, Durbridge and Doriemus, who won Freedman his third Melbourne Cup in 1995 after winning rhe Caulfield Cup the same year. In 1996 Freedman made the dramatic move to close his Flemington operation and moved to new stables at Caulfield. While the Caulfield complex was state-of-the-art and Freedman trained many winners, he failed to have the same impact he had at Flemington. Winning the 2002 AJC Australian Derby with Australia and New Zealand's costliest yearling Don Eduardo (NZ $3.6 million) was a memorable triumph during his Caulfield days. Even so, Freedman was in a lean period and a restructure was needed to re-ignite both his enthusiasm and the business. Apart from buying and developing part of Muranna Stud, Balnarring, into a spelling and pre-training centre, he took the risky decision to move "off course" and in 2003 to establish his own training centre at St. Andrews, near Rye on the Mornington Peninsula sand belt, adjoining Moonah Links Golf Resort. Brothers Richard and Michael moved from the training side of the business to establish their own careers in the media and golf course construction, leaving Lee and Anthony to run the new farm, "Markdel" - named after their oldest brother Mark and mother Del. Freedman's new venture produced immediate results through the deeds of Mummify (Caulfield Cup), Special Harmony (VRC Oaks) and the champion filly Alinghi (Blue Diamond Stakes and Newmarket Handicap). David Hall's move in 2004 to Hong Kong saw Freedman take over 2003 Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva, training the wonder mare to win another two Melbourne Cups, a Cox Plate, Australian Cup and a BMW Stakes. His tally of five Melbourne Cup wins sees him equal with Etienne de Mestre, and second only to his idol Bart Cummings (11 wins). In 2005 Mummify's win in the Group 1 Singapore International Stakes (2000m) at Kranji was Freedman's first international success as a trainer. In 2006 he campaigned a horse in Europe for the first time with Falkirk, finishing fourth in the Group 2 King's Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot. Meanwhile, Mummify who gave Freedman his 100th Group 1 winner when he won the 2004 Yalumba Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on October 9. Until Makybe Diva, Freedman regarded his best horses as Super Impose (four successive Randwick miles) and Schillaci (champion sprinter), just ahead of Naturalism and Alinghi. But he has also trained wonderful horses including Poetic King, Mahogany, Mannerism, Paris Lane, Durbridge, Danelagh, Don Eduardo, Gold Ace, Serenade Rose, Kensington Palace and Benicio. Freedman personally broke new ground on June 19, 2007, when his outstanding sprinting mare Miss Andretti won the Group 2 King's Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot, providing Freedman with his first European winner. "I have been waiting all my life for this, it means a lot to me," he said in an emotional moment after Miss Andretti crossed the line. Miss Andretti, who won four Group 1 races for the season in Australia, went on to give the Freedman stable his fourth Australian Champion Racehorse title. His other titles came with Makybe Diva (2004-05, 2005-06) and Mahogany (1993-94). It was fitting that Freedman's first Group win in Europe was in front of the Queen at Royal Ascot. His great-grandfather Midge McLachlan left Australian in 1922 to ride in England, where he became the first Australian jockey to ride for the British Royal Family. In 1924, both Midge and his son Bill rode winners at the Royal Ascot meeting. Freedman passed his position as head trainer for the Freedman Racing operation to his brother Anthony in August 2011. Freedman was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 2003 at the age of 46. He is married to Janelle, and has two daughters, Emma and Georgia.