Determined mare Vagrant made it three on the bounce on Saturday February 3, winning the Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes. Vagrant has been a model of consistency this preparation, rising through the grades and now adding an illustrious stakes victory to her page. The daughter of Pariah was stakes placed as a 2yo at only her third career start and it was a great thrill for the stable to see her win the esteemed Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes.
An ecstatic Freedman post-race explained “it was not the original plan to go the Geoffrey Bellmaine, but she is going so well and when the nominations were lighter than expected, we knew we had the fit horse on the scene, a recipe to see her be really competitive.”
Vagrant showcased her unwavering will to win, a spirited performance in which star jockey Beau Mertens was able to ride for luck on the rail and when the gap opened, Vagrant pinned her ears back and exploded to the line, winning by almost 2lengths.
The Freedman & Mertens combination is fast becoming one of the best pairings in the game in the last 6 months delivering an abundance of winners including Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 success.
Freedman had outlined to the ownership group a desire to cross Bass Straight in search of stakes success, targeting the Vamos Stakes but now that she has delivered on the mainland, the Autumn really opens up for her, with many options to continue to compete at stakes level both in Melbourne and in Tasmania.
It’s been well documented that it had been a difficult week for the stable building into the Geoffrey Bellmaine, with key staff member Maddie Rumler suffering a serious injury on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, Maddie is okay and on the road to recovery and we are truly grateful for all the messages we have received in support of the stable and most importantly, to Maddie.
The ownership group involved with Vagrant has a great mix of loyal stable clients and a number of first-time owners. Vagrant has taken them on the ‘journey of a lifetime’ and we feel the best is still to come!
