Mitch Freedman continued a July to remember at Swan Hill on Tuesday, preparing four victories while taking his month’s tally to ten winners at a 32.25% win rate.
The stable kicked off the day with Cicconi Rain (Alana Kelly, $3.70) upstaging race favourite Hello Mistress (Neil Farley, $1.70) to win by 0.75 of a length in the 975m Maiden Plate.
It was a good front-running ride by Kelly on the grey three-year-old Nicconi filly, which won with her ears pricked.
Two races later, John Allen partnered with the stable, winning on Budjik Queen ($2.35), which started favourite in the 1300m Maiden Plate.
The three-year-old Churchill filly was on debut following a good jump out at Donald earlier this month, and justified the short quote, leading from the get-go and fighting on strongly for victory.
Completing a race-to-race double for Freedman and Allen, the Roll The Dice-raced Wazza ($2.05) started favourite in the 1600m Maiden Plate and won by a half-length.
The three-year-old Ghaiyyath gelding finished second on debut in a 1500m Maiden Plate at Ballarat on July 12, and stripped fitter for the effort at Swan Hill, triumphing in the 1600m Maiden Plate.
Freedman had to wait until the last race of the Swan Hill program to train his fourth winner, and this time teamed up with Dean Yendall as Sacramental ($4.80) caused something of an upset in the 1300m Benchmark 62 Handicap.
Giving Roll The Dice Racing a second winner on the day, the five-year-old Sacred Falls gelding won the fourth race of his 20-start career, finishing with a winning burst.
Freedman was especially pleased to bring up the win with Sacramental, who was sold the following day for $7,500 via the Inglis Online Sale, with a change of training proving all the difference.
“He got his chance today to win a race,” Freedman said.
“We just completely changed things up with him since his last run. We took the blinkers off, took the tongue tie off, changed his training up completely and used the hill track at Ballarat.
“It’s a fantastic facility at Ballarat, and we are so lucky to have it on our back doorstep. We have got access to tracks 365 days of the year. We’ve got all different surfaces, and it’s a truly fantastic facility and lucky to have it at our disposal.”
With 51 wins to his name, Freedman will have a chance to add to his tally at Bendigo on Thursday and Geelong on Friday before the 2025/26 season concludes.
