Ballarat-based trainer Mitchell Freedman has travelled to Perth to oversee the final preparations for his Group 1 winner, Attrition, as the gelding targets a second elite-level victory in the Group 1 Northerly Stakes (1800m) at Ascot this Saturday.
The son of Churchill, who claimed the Group 2 Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill in October, last raced at the same track in the Listed Five Diamonds (1800m), finishing fourth behind Pericles last month.
“He’s settled in really well,” Freedman said. “He just seems to have thrived on travel the whole prep. He’s done a few trips now, but it doesn’t seem to have affected him.”
Attrition is scheduled for a final gallop on Tuesday after completing a 1000-metre trial at Belmont last week.
“It was a fast horse’s jump-out, and he was actually very good, albeit beaten a few lengths by what some people would consider below his standard,” Freedman noted of the trial, where Attrition finished fourth of four runners.
“He is looking for 1800 or 2000 metres. He has got the freshness out of his legs, but his sectionals were very good, and the way he came through it, it was the right thing to do.”
Beau Mertens, who guided Attrition to victory in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield last year and in the Hill Stakes, will again take the reins on Saturday.
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