A winning double on the Pakenham Poly track was a great start to winter for the Mitch Freedman team, with Arctic Princess & Tuscan Sun saluting.
At start 13, which may be unlucky for some, Arctic Princess was a well-deserved winner of the 2200m maiden. There is arguably no horse in the stable that deserved a win more than this mare. She may be small in stature, but she has a true fighting spirit, giving her all in every start. A great ride by promising WA apprentice, Luke Campbell saw Arctic Princess weave through the field, diving through for her maiden win.
Arctic Princess was an $8,000 purchase from the Magic Millions Tasmania sale in 2020 and has picked up some prizemoney in all her career starts, now providing her owners with their greatest thrill in the winning circle.
Tuscan Sun made it two from two on the day with a gutsy effort stepping up to BM64 grade after his maiden win at Stawell. Statistically, it takes a special effort to win up in grade out of a maiden, yet Tuscan Sun was up the challenge, fighting off all rivals in a tough effort to win by a short half head. Tuscan Sun continues to improve with racing and no doubt benefited from his last start win. When asked about the future of the back-to-back winner, Freedman felt “he’s a horse with good upside, he raced more truly today, went a lot straighter today and he is out of a really good stakes-class mare (Tuscan Sling) so he might be ready to turn the corner.”
Since its renovation, the Pakenham Polytrack has been a happy-hunting ground for Freedman. Whilst a long trip across the city, Freedman’s strike rate at the course is outstanding, with three winners from only five runners. The winning double was a fantastic day for the Mitch and the stable. “The team are doing a great job to present the horses for the races in good order and it’s great to get some reward for their hard work.”
The winter period coming up is an exciting time for the stable, with yearlings having their first preparations, promising un-raced horses furthering their education at the jump outs and heading to the races, along with the spring carnival horses now in full training. In our monthly update with Mitch is a must watch – he labelled Arctic Princess as the one to follow in June and she truly delivered! Make sure you keep up to date with all stable news and check out the horses that are available to join our winning team.
