Mitchell Freedman, trainer of last-start Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) winner Attrition, is preparing the four-year-old entire for further success at the elite level.
Attrition recently trialled at Geelong, receiving praise from rider Beau Mertens, who was aboard for the horse's latest victory.
“Great to be back on him,” Mertens said.
“Unfortunately, he had the setback going towards the Golden Eagle, had to give it a miss, but Mitch [Freedman] has obviously done the right thing by him and put him out and given him that time to get over it because he's come back and not had any issues.
“I think he'll improve even more this prep, I think he's aimed at the Futurity first-up, he's a horse that's going well.
“He's seemed to come back super, he's jumped out well this morning, Mitch gave me a call earlier and said he's not up to doing much today, just a bit of maintenance work on him.
“I was pretty quiet on him, he took me through the trial … I think he'll take a stack of improvement out of that.
“He's got a lot of confidence and a lot of natural ability, he wants to get out there and do things so that will take him a long way this prep.”
Attrition is a +1400 chance in the Futurity Stakes futures market with online bookmakers.