Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Comeback mare Freyja gave a sample of her ability with an impressive victory in the $23,000 Join Trotsynd Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Contesting her first metropolitan-class event, the seven-year-old, trained and driven by Jocelyn Young, revealed excellent gate speed from barrier four to withstand an early challenge from Blaze Coops and then enjoyed her frontrunning role.
After a lead time of 37sec. and reasonable opening quarters of 30.9sec. and 30.6sec., Freyja, the $1.90 favourite, sprinted over the final 800m in 56.2sec. to win by a half-length from the $3.80 second fancy Blaze Coops.
This was Freyja’s sixth appearance after being out of action for three years and four months after sustaining a tendon injury following an all-the-way win at Pinjarra in August 2021. Her six starts for Young have produced three wins and three seconds, and she appears destined for bigger and better things.
“Freyja was a lot sharper tonight than she was last week (when she had a tough run and was a head second to Our Lady Jen),” said Young. “I think she has the potential to be a Free-For-All mare, but at this stage she is just going through the grades.”
The $50,000 Laurie Kennedy Pace over 1730m on February 7 looms as an appealing target for Freyja, but Young will wait until she sees how the mare feels in the coming weeks.
“If she begins in that race, it will be a significant step up for her, but if she gets a sit on the rail she should go well,” said Young. “I’ll be driving Steno in that event, and I have Castella Dellacqua and Peaceful back in work, but I’m not sure whether they will be ready for that race.”
Freyja is still quite inexperienced, having had 20 starts for seven wins, five placings and $49,064. She is by Betterthancheddar and is the fifth foal out of the Armbro Operative mare Miss Feelgood, who raced 17 times in Victoria in 2011 for two wins, six placings and $8748.