Anthony and Sam Freedman’s eyes are focussed firmly on delivering Godolphin a Golden Slipper this weekend, but they took time out to provide Sheikh Mohammed with a valuable Stakes win on Monday.
The father/son training team produced Bistro to win the $107,000 Listed Cinderella Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville.
It was a valuable win for the daughter of Street Boss, whose only other starts generated a debut win at Sandown before a fifth placing in the Listed Blue Diamond Preview on Australia Day.
It was after the latter performance that Sam Freedman said the Cinderella Stakes became a target.
“As soon as we thought she wasn’t going to be up to a Blue Diamond, we just gave her a little freshen up and thought we’d target this race,” he said.
“We tested the water to see if she was up to the top ones and probably thought she just fell below them.
“But we thought she was Black Type all day and we just wanted to try and tick it off at two because it can be a little easier to get as a juvenile, which thankfully she did.”
Bistro ($3.30) powered to a three-length all-the-way win under Jamie Kah, defeating Runaway Belle ($20), who finished three-quarters-of-a-length clear of $1.85 favourite See You In Heaven, who was slightly tardy away but under pressure early in the straight.
“She’s obviously a smart filly but she probably surprised me how well she went,” Kah said.
“She was very dominant. I think if she got challenged she would have gone on with it.”
Bistro is one of just four two-year-olds the Freedmans train for Godolphin with headline act Daumier primed to do what the stable was unable to achieve with its other Blue Diamond winners,Lyre and Artorius, in this Saturday’s $5 million Golden Slipper at Rosehill.
“Of all our horses who have won the Blue Diamond and gone to the Slipper, they’ve had their little chinks in their armour where they’ve get back and need a bit of speed on, but he’s probably the perfect horse to take because he can make his own luck, he can settle wherever we want and he has a crack.”