An encouraging debut second from Let Go Lenni last September certainly had racegoers looking forward to the Australian import’s next start, which, alas, was to take longer than expected to eventuate – four months.
After injuring his leg, the former Victorian galloper was immediately tipped out by trainer Michael Freedman shortly after that Kranji debut in a Class 4 race over 1100m on Polytrack when he ran a smart second to Superb Success.
The Australian handler was loath to take any chances, especially as Let Go Lenni was the second galloper he had been entrusted with by the Australian Bloodstock Stable, the same connections he combined with a few months earlier to collect a creditable third place in the Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m) with German import Mawingo.
Let Go Lenni may not be as highly-credentialled as Mawingo being only a one-time winner in a lowly Maiden (1100m) in Kilmore, when then prepared by Caulfield trainer Mick Price, but he has also mixed it with the best at his handful of starts back home.
He once ran a close second to the classy Epaulette in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) in September 2012 before finding All Too Hard exactly that – all too hard to beat in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) two weeks later.
The Stratum four-year-old looked fit and ready at his comeback on the training tracks, including a close second to Slew Of Lode in a barrier trial on January 9. Picking out the Novice race over 1200m on Sunday as his comeback race, Freedman was feeling bullish enough about a performance in the same vein as his first-up run, albeit after a protracted break.
“I was at the Gold Coast when he trialled a couple of weeks ago, but I saw the replay online and I was pretty happy with what I saw,” said Freedman who was attending the Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
“He ran a good time (59.84 seconds) and he seems to have trained on well since then.”
Freedman said the acid test would be Sunday’s race itself when he will have Corey Brown, his debut partner, aboard, especially after such a long time on the sidelines through injury.
“He pulled up with strained ligaments and I had to give him time off,” he said. “He’s come along well, though there is obviously still some improvement left in him in terms of race fitness.
“It’s not a bad little race with horses like My Brothers Keeper and Lucky Mission in it. He’s got 58kgs on his back, which won’t make it a walk in the park.
“He’ll be racing on turf this time. He was not necessarily happy on just the Poly and I thought a turf race would be nice for him.
“Anyway, we’ll see how he gets through Sunday especially as he is coming back from injury. I just want him to get through in one piece, but hopefully he races well, too.”
Freedman is keeping his fingers crossed Let Go Lenni can overcome his ligament problem to go and enjoy a longer racing career at Kranji than his former Group 1-winning stablemate Mawingo, who unfortunately had just the one more start after the SIA Cup, duly winning it before being recently retired for a very shortlived Singapore stint.
“It’s a pity Mawingo has already been deleted. He had so much potential, but he was not the soundest horse from Day 1,” said Freedman of the former Doomben Cup winner.
“He went back to Australia last November. I bumped into his owners at the Gold Coast sale and they were thinking that as he’s an entire, they may send him to stud.”
Always busy buying horses at this time of the year, Freedman was on hand for his first Kranji race meetings last weekend, but will be packing his bags again for more shopping this weekend.
“I’m off to Karaka tomorrow (Friday) night. I wanted to leave on Saturday as I have only Sunday to view the horses, but there were no flights, meaning I will miss Friday’s racing,” said Freedman.
“The Gold Coast sale was good. Missed out on a few top buys, which is the nature of the game, but I was able to get a couple of nice colts.
“I paid A$190,000 for a colt by I’m Invincible, who’s a young stallion on the rise and $85,000 for another one by Magic Albert, which is more your bread-and-butter type, but I liked him and I’d thought he was a good buy.”
Freedman might not see his runners in action this weekend, but the pleasing barrier trial (third) by Irish newcomer Holy Warrior (x Holy Roman Emperor) did go into his notebook in bold print.
“I don’t know much about him but I was told he ran over a trip in France and won one race over 2000m there,” said Freedman. “But Manoel (Nunes) told me he actually felt more like a sprinter in the trial.
“It was a very nice trial. It’s the first horse the Lucky Stable has sent to me and I hope he can prove useful to us.”
