Richard and Michael Freedman may be about to dissolve their training partnership, but the pair is still a force to be reckoned with in coming weeks.
The Freedman brothers go their separate ways on April 1 with Richard to continue training at Rosehill and Michael from their Randwick yard.
The pair sent a team of four horses down from Sydney to Canberra on Sunday and came away with a double and a second placing, but importantly carried off the day’s biggest prize, the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes (1200m).
With a heavy track at Rosehill on Saturday, the Freedman’s elected to scratch Queen Of The Ball from the Group 3 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) and sent her to Canberra on Sunday to run on a soft track to claim the second stakes win of her career.
Jumping smartly from the widest gate, Rachel King had the $2.80 favourite Queen Of The Ball in front and on the fence after travelling 250m and held off a late bid from debutant Warby ($11) to score by 1-¼ lengths with Metallicity ($4.20) in third spot.
Queen Of The Ball, a two-year-old filly by I Am Invincible, scored in the Group 3 Widden Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on January 29 before finishing fifth in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on February 19.
The two-year-old remains in the hunt for next Saturday’s Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) where Queen Of The Ball now sits in seventh spot on the Order of Entry following Sunday’s success.
The Freedman brothers won last year’s Golden Slipper with the recently retired Stay Inside.
Earlier on Sunday, the Freedman’s won with Duchess in the Affinity Constructions Australia Quality Sprint (1000m) with stablemate On The Lead in fifth position while Park Avenue ran second to Cavalier Charles in the LandHQ Handicap (1200m).