 Leading Caulfield trainer Lee Freedman is pleased
he took the softer option by running Barkada in Melbourne yesterday and not being lured to
Queensland to tackle Ha Ha in yesterday's 3YO Trophy on the Gold Coast.Freedman announced he would skip the feature race on the Gold Coast
and concentrate on yesterday's $100,000 Zeditave Stakes after Barkada's win at Caulfield
on December 29.
The son of Spectrum is now the winner at his last three
starts and continues the great run for the Freedman and Patrick Payne combination.
Freedman who is on the Gold Coast at the Magic Millions
Yearling Sale, where he has already purchased seven yearling, said he was pleased with the
decision to stay in Melbourne and not tackle the classy field in sweltering conditions in
Queensland.
"I felt the race at home would suit him better, but
perhaps we should have been up here yesterday," he said with a smile.
 Payne gave the colt a lovely run in transit before
pouncing on the lead at the top of the straight before striding clear for what turned out
to be a comfortable win.
At the end of the 1200 metre race Barkada and Payne were two
and a quarter length winners over the early leader Sir Chuckle. The runner-up was just
able to hold out the promising Keltic Verse who finished third.
Freedman said the colt is nominated for the Group one
Australian Guineas and would head in that direction, with the distance being the main
worry.
"He is a query at the distance. We would look at running
him over 1400 metres in weight-for-age to see how he handles that distance," Freedman
said.
Freedman is hoping the colt can follow in the footsteps of
another Gooree Park owned galloper Mr Murphy who placed in this race last year before
going on to win the Guineas.
The well backed favourite Golden Fawn ($4) never appeared to
be travelling well and made no impression failing to beat a runner home. |
