Lee Freedman and Lloyd Williams set sights on winning another Melbourne Cup

PODCAST: Lloyd Williams and Lee Freedman have won nine Melbourne Cups between them. And both have strong chances to win it again on Tuesday.

THEY have nine Melbourne Cups between them and only the legendary Bart Cummings has a better record in the great race.

And at Flemington on Tuesday, owner Lloyd Williams and Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman have a very real opportunity to win the $6.2 million race again.

Williams has four runners — Bondi Beach, Almandin, Galante and Assign — as he bids for a fifth Melbourne Cup trophy.

 

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The high profile owner first won the race with Just A Dash in 1981 and then with What A Nuisance (1985). He had to wait more than 20 years for his next Cup with Efficient (2007) before Green Moon (2012) gave him a fourth Melbourne Cup.

Freedman, a Hall of Fame trainer, has Our Ivanhowe and Exospheric lining up in Tuesday’s race. He is chasing a sixth win after Tawrrific (1989), Subzero (1992), Doriemus (1995) and dual successes with Makybe Diva (2004-05).

Williams once described his Melbourne Cup focus as an “obsession”. Nearly 40 years after his first Cup triumph, the owner is still single-minded about his Cup passion.

Lee Freedman has his eyes on winning a sixth Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. Picture: Mark Stewart

“The Melbourne Cup is the race we like to target but it is so hard to win — yet you live in hope in this game,’’ Williams said.

Williams’s Almandin, Gallante and Assign are trained by Robert Hickmott, while the owner’s other runner, Bondi Beach, is prepared by Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien.

Bondi Beach ran poorly in the Melbourne Cup last year when only 16th to Prince Of Penzance but Williams is convinced the five-year-old is better equipped physically to compete in the big race.

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“He was only a three-year-old (by northern hemisphere time) last year, he’s a different horse now,’’ Williams said. “But that is the normal maturing process, 12 months on.’’

Bondi Beach has won two of his four starts this year and Williams said O’Brien has the horse ready to run well. “The way the race was run last year this had no chance but he is in very good order for (Tuesday).’’

Almandin is emerging as one of the best lightweight chances in the race.

This is the former European stayer who defeated Protectionist at Group 2 level in Germany during the northern hemisphere summer two years ago.

Almandin is among four runners in the Cup for owner Lloyd Williams. Picture: Ian Currie

Protectionist came out of that race to win the Melbourne Cup later that year while Almandin was sidelined with injury.

In fact, Almandin didn’t race for two years before the stayer resumed at Moonee Valley during the winter when he ran on from the back of the field to finish sixth in a 1600m race.

Almandin has continued to build steadily into his Melbourne Cup preparation, finishing unplaced at Flemington and Moonee Valley before he was taken up in distance for the Harry White Classic at Caulfield where the seven-year-old gelding struck winning form again.

He backed up that win with an even more impressive effort to take out the Bart Cummings a month ago. Williams said Almandin’s races have been deliberately spaced as the gelding follows a more European-style preparation into the Melbourne Cup.

“Almandin is going OK, I’m very happy with him,’’ the owner said. “He had a tendon when we brought him out here so we gave him the time he needed. If the jockey gives him a proper ride, that is all we need. He is a good horse and will run a mighty race.’’

Gallante is trying to join elite company by emulating Carbine (1890) and Makybe Diva (2004) by completing the Sydney Cup-Melbourne Cup double in a calendar year.

 

 

Williams wasn’t happy with the riding tactics on Gallante when it ran unplaced in the Moonee Valley Cup last start but is hopeful the step up to 3200m brings out the best in his stayer.

“The good thing is he has come through the race well and he is a genuine 3200m horse,’’ Williams added.

Assign, a former Irish stayer, scored a career-best win in the Herbert Power Stakes, albeit narrowly from Big Memory.

Although Williams rated Assign the outsider of his Cup quartet, he handed out a long-range big-race tip for The Daily Telegraph readers.

“Assign is a tough, old stayer, typical European stayer, he keeps grinding on,’’ Williams said. “I think he has got a 40/1 chance. If he doesn’t win the Melbourne Cup he will win your Sydney Cup.

“I won it last (autumn) with Gallante. (Racing NSW chairman) John Messara pointed out to me the race was worth $2 million so I said to John I will be up there to try and win it. We will come back next year.’’

Lloyd Williams is happy with his runners heading into the Cup.

Freedman, who took an extended break from training in 2011 citing exhaustion from the long hours and relentless grind of the job, made a comeback two years ago, forming a training partnership with his brother Anthony.

They are drawing on past experience with the likes of Doriemus and Makybe Diva as they prepare Our Ivanhowe and Exospheric for the big race.

Lee Freedman revealed they sent both stayers over to Mornington for a searching gallop late last week — a tactic he has employed previously with his past Cup champions.

As Freedman explained, Our Ivanhowe and Exospheric are stabled at nearby Pinecliff so the trip over to Mornington was convenient and provided a suitable track surface for his stayers.

They both come out of the Caulfield Cup where Exospheric was a closing third and Our Ivanhowe a fast finishing sixth to Jameka.

Exospheric, a Group 2-winner in England, was making his Australian debut for the Freedman stable and there was a lot to like about the horse’s Caulfield Cup effort.

Immediately after that race Freedman was lukewarm about a Melbourne Cup start for Exospheric but the Hall of Fame trainer has been pleasantly surprised by how well the five-year-old has done since that run.

Lee Freedman says Our Ivanhowe is going better than last year, when he finished 10th in the Melbourne Cup. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

“We gave him his opportunity and he has done so well,’’ Freedman said. “These European horses usually race with a much bigger gap between runs so that is a query with Exospheric but the way he is doing, he obviously has taken no harm from Caulfield.’’

Our Ivanhowe, who began his race career in Germany, has been with the Freedmans for over 12 months and has proven his class winning a Group 1 Doomben Cup and running competitively in all of the major staying races.

He did contest the Melbourne Cup last year, finishing 10th, and Freedman is adamant the seven-year-old is a superior horse this spring.

“Our Ivanhowe is going extremely well, he is in better condition than last year,’’ Freedman said. “He is one horse you can take to the bank that he puts in 100 percent when he runs.

“He is a top class stayer and apart from the feet issues we have had with him, he hasn’t had a lot of luck in terms of run of the race stuff.’’

Originally published as Lee Freedman and Lloyd Williams set sights on winning another Melbourne Cup