Sam Freedman lauds Kyle Wilson-Taylor’s win on favourite Punch Lane at Sunshine Coast

Group 1-winning hoop Kyle Wilson-Taylor received high praise from trainer Sam Freedman after winning aboard short-priced favourite Punch Lane at Sunshine Coast.

Kyle Wilson-Taylor rides Punch Lane to victory for trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman at Sunshine Coast on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

Former champion apprentice and Group 1-winning hoop Kyle Wilson-Taylor has continued his stellar rise among the Queensland metropolitan ranks, receiving high praise from Flemington trainer Sam Freedman.

Wilson-Taylor guided short-priced favourite Punch Lane to victory in the Benchmark 75 Handicap (1400m) after the four-year-old gelding finished a narrow second behind Magic Conqueror (Kelly Schweida) at Doomben last start.

Freedman, who trains in partnership with his father Anthony, said he was happy to get the win in tough, wet conditions.

“He was obviously very stiff the other day,” he said post-race.

“He’s been gradually building fitness but we still weren’t sure how he would go on the really Heavy ground here today.

“Credit to the team up here, he looked terrific today and he’s developing into a nice horse.”

Punch Lane salutes for favourite backers! 💪

Another leader salutes on the Sunshine Coast.@[e-mail]/vZb6XNzTAY

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) July 6, 2024

Freedman was quick to throw his support behind jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor, who also guided the horse to a third-place finish in May.

“He’s a very good jockey,” Freedman said.

“He had a plan in his head when we spoke to him before the race today, he was very confident and put the horse in a great position which is the sign of a very good rider.

“I’m not sure if he’d consider moving to Victoria, but I’d say he would fit in very nicely there.”

Wilson-Taylor, who is the partner of rising female hoop Angela Jones, beat home Redwood Shadow (Tony and Maddy Sears) and Drop The Mic (David Murphy).

“He was terribly unlucky last start and it’s probably not the way to ride him today, but it’s a heavy track so we decided to take luck out of the equation, and he was too good for them,” Wilson-Taylor said.

“He was able to dictate from the front and it’s pretty obvious that you need to be up on the speed today.

“Thanks to the Freedman team as they’ve been really good to me and filled me with a lot of confidence before the race. They let me ride my own race and it worked out well.”

Black On Beauty keeps kicking to salute! 🖤@tonygollan@RMaloney_Jockeypic.twitter.com/SsQJelEMk1

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) July 6, 2024

The result comes as Tony Gollan trained Black On Beauty secured a narrow victory from My Snow Queen (David Vandyke) in the Provincial Sprinters Series Final (1200m).

“She loves rain-affected tracks, I just didn’t know whether she’d like one quite as wet as this one, but she was brave, she had to do it on her own up on the speed so it was a really good effort,” Gollan said.

“I thought the Gai Waterhouse Classic was a really strong race last time, when I looked into the meeting I felt it was probably the strongest of the three Stakes races.

“She raced really well and came through it in very good order and she needed to in order to win today, because the 1200 metres is about her limit especially on such a Heavy track.”

Originally published as Sam Freedman lauds Kyle Wilson-Taylor’s win on favourite Punch Lane at Sunshine Coast