Father-and-son training team Richard and Will Freedman have caused an upset with Fashion Legend taking out the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas at the Gold Coast.
Fashion Legend defied a late bid by the heavily supported favourite Yellow Brick to land the 1425m $2 million contest on Thursday.
Ridden by Josh Parr, Fashion Legend scored by a neck from the $2.70 favourite Yellow Brick with Hell I Am ($12) a long-head away third.
Will Freedman was left speechless with the success, providing him with his biggest victory.
Having started his own career at Scone in 2020, Freedman joined his father in a training partnership in April last year.
“I never thought I’d be speechless. It’s not a trait Freedmans have much (of),” Will Freedman said.
“We thought he had good form and he sat three-wide without cover. He’s just a tough, honest horse and I can’t believe it.”
Fashion Legend is raced by prominent Hong Kong owner Bon Ho who landed The Everest at Randwick with Classique Legend in 2020.
Freedman said not long after kicking off his career at Scone, he sent an email to Ho as he was looking for horses to train.
“He gave me the leap of faith,” Freedman said.
“This was the first horse I ever bought in, and I sent him an email saying that I was a struggling Scone trainer and that I needed some horses.
“He went, ‘I like the sound of you’ and he gave me a go. Now I’ve won the Magic Millions Guineas. I know Group 1s are everything, but he puts a lot of money into it.”
After being prepared originally at Scone, Fashion Legend joined Freedman and his father at Rosehill and is now a five-time winner from eight starts, including the Group 3 Vo Rogue Stakes at Doomben.
Freedman said he felt sick for former Victorian jockey Ben Thompson who had ridden Fashion Legend in his two Brisbane lead-up runs.
But Thompson elected to stick with Yellow Brick who he had partnered to win the King Of The Mountain at Toowoomba on New Year’s Eve.
“He did a lot of the work on him earlier and sometimes you don’t pull the right rein,” Freedman said.
“But I’m particularly pleased for Bon Ho. He’s a great supporter of Australian racing and he looks for results like this.
“He never puts pressure on you but they’re also the ones that put the most pressure on you because they want results.
“Definitely this is the biggest win of my short career to-date. I can’t believe it.”