Japanese import Ambitious is still on a 2018 Caulfield Cup path despite missing a place in the Group 2 $300,000 Pages Hire Brisbane Cup (2200m) at Doomben last Saturday.

Ambitiouss finished fourth to Sedanzer, above, in the 22018 Brisbane Cup at Doomben. Photo by Steve Hart.

Ambitiouss finished fourth to Sedanzer, above, in the 2018 Brisbane Cup at Doomben. Photo by Steve Hart.

Trainer Anthony Freedman is willing to forget Ambitious’ fourth placing in the Brisbane Cup after he failed to handle the rain affected track and said that the Deep Impact six year old will still be aimed towards the Group 1 $5m Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield in October during the 2018 Melbourne Spring Carnival.

“He just struggled in the ground when the pressure went on,” Freedman told RSN 927’s Correct Weight on Sunday.

“He travelled really well in it until the serious end of the race, and then just floundered a bit.

“I like the way he toughed it out, I still think he’s a really nice Caulfield Cup horse.

“We’ll probably get a really firm track there which he loves.

“He’ll be into his second prep which will help him a lot.

“He’s going to have a short break, but again, he won’t have too long off because these horses aren’t too used to spelling.

“He’ll have two weeks on a walker somewhere up here (Queensland), then head home and prep up for those races.”

Ambitious has had five starts for the Freedman stable for two Group 1 placings with a second to Almandin in the Group 1 $1.5m Kia Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill on March 31 and third two starts back in the Group 1 $650,000 Hardy Brothers Doomben Cup (2000m) at Doomben on May 19.

The Freedman stable still had plenty to celebrate at Doomben on Saturday despite the unplaced effort of Ambitious with their high class sprinter Santa Ana Lane scoring back to back Group 1 wins with his victory in the Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1350m).

Santa Ana Lane was a winner at his previous start in the Group 1 $1m Darley Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on May 19 but still drifted out from $11 to start at the good odds of $14 to beat Super Cash ($31) and the $5 favourite Champagne Cuddles.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.