Already the winner of two significant Group 1 races – Caulfield Cup (2400m) and the Melbourne Cup (3200m), both in 2023 – young Australian trainer Sam Freedman is confident Without A Fight can topple a class field of local and international runners in Sunday’s Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m).
Freedman, who trains in partnership with his father Anthony, describes the seven-year-old as a world-class galloper with an amazing will to win who can add a third Group 1 to his imposing career, which has already returned AU$9.74 million (approx. HK$50 million) in prizemoney.
After completing the rare Caulfield Cup and Melbourne double last year, Without A Fight suffered a tendon injury last December and, after a long rehabilitation program, returned with a first-up third to champion mare Via Sistina in the Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 9.
“It was a great first-up run and obviously it was a long time off and it was against one of the best horses (Via Sistina) in the world,” Freedman said.
“He closed it off well and might have felt the pinch a little bit in the last 100 (metres) but has tightened from that and had a nice trial (1600m) in Melbourne before he got onto the plane and he is nice and forward.”
When the timing of a defence of the 2023 Cup became increasingly unlikely, the HK$24 million Hong Kong Vase had been a long-term consideration for owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid al Maktoum who decided to leave the gelding in Australia with the Freedmans after an unsuccessful tilt at the 2022 Melbourne Cup for English father and son trainers, Simon and Ed Crisford.
Freedman, who was always destined to become a trainer, spent two years after leaving university with top European trainer Roger Varian, who introduced him to Sheikh Mohammed Obaid. The brief meeting obviously left an impression, with the horse later being assigned to the Freedman stable some years later.
“It was a relationship with Sheikh Mohammed Obaid from my time with Roger Varian going back eight or nine years,” Freedman recalled.
“He made the decision to obviously send him (Without A Fight) to us following that Melbourne Cup, and we are very fortunate to have the horse walk in to the stable.
“It was amazing foresight from Sheikh Mohammed Obaid to race the horse in Australia and leave him out with us and obviously that sort of paid off last year.”
The stable is now happy to have the horse back on track, and contesting another Group 1 feature is very special,” Freedman said.
“He (Without A Fight) was obviously a long time off the scene, and we were trying to get him ready for the (Melbourne) Cup this year, but we were going to run out of time, so once we weren’t able to get there, we immediately looked at Hong Kong and the Vase was pretty quickly the target,” Freedman said.
“He is obviously world-class, and I think he is one of the better stayers around, and we’ll see how he measures up.
“The injury was significant enough and he had a long time off but it rehabed really well and it couldn’t have gone smoother.”
Without A Fight, as Freedman says, is a well-travelled horse, having finished second in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold (2410m) feature at Meydan under Simon and Ed Crisford’s care in 2022.
“He is pretty straight-forward horse and under the conditions on Sunday he hopefully should be well suited,” Freedman said.
It’s not Freedman’s first foray into Hong Kong after bringing five-time Group 1 winner Santa Ana Lane to contest the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) in 2019. He started favourite, but finished fourth after not handling the conditions and “melting.”
Since joining the Freedman stable, Without A Fight has been unplaced in only one of six starts, which have also netted a Group 2 and Group 3 victory.
Mark Zahra is booked to ride Democracy Manifest in the Group 1 Northerly Stakes (1800m) Saturday and will arrive in Hong Kong on race morning.
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