Premier Victorian trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman are fighting potential devastating bans for what the duo said was a medical mistake.
As the duo prepare to race star colt Tentyris in the TJ Smith Stakes on Saturday, they appeared in the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Tuesday, fighting a Racing Victoria argument the trainers should have an automatic ban for medically treating two horses on the day of a race.
The duo argued they weren’t recently aware of any plans to ban them, pointing to their significant expenses and business decisions to purchase expensive yearlings.
The charges followed after Racing Victoria Stewards visited the Freedmans’ stable on race morning, seeing two runners receiving treatment, which is not allowed on the day of a race.
The Freedmans had previously publicly apologised for treating the two horses, Moonhaven and Kira, on raceday on August 16 saying it was an ‘’oversight’’ and put down the treatment to ‘’human error’’.
Stewards, who had visited the stable that morning and witnessed the treatment, ordered the scratching of both runners. They charged the duo in December 2025 with treating a horse with medication on a race day, as well as failing to keep treatment records.
Both trainers pleaded guilty.
But in a report in The Age, Racing Victoria is now arguing the punishment must include a mandatory suspension, something which seemed to catch the Freedmans by surprise.
They argued in court the punishment could decimate their business given they pay $4 million in annual wages for its 60 staff, and more than $40,000 a month in rent across Australia.
According to The Age, they have also bought $3 million worth of yearlings across the past two months.
The trainers’ lawyer Matthew Stirling accused ‘’Racing Victoria of introducing a new legal point ‘without warning to anybody’ on the day before the hearing’’ and ‘’had changed its case by saying the tribunal had to impose a ban.’’
“They are asking the tribunal to ignore, to contradict and to overturn the long years of history of decision-making and to follow a different path,” Stirling reportedly said.
“Anthony Freedman has laid himself bare over the last two months, nearly two months since the ninth of February, purchasing yearlings,” Stirling said.
“If there’s a case hanging over their head, and they’re subject to a mandatory six-month disqualification, why would you give a horse to them?”
“The natural position of an owner would be to avoid the risk, avoid the dislocation, and give the horse to a trainer who has no such jeopardy hanging over his stables.”
The hearing has been adjourned to June.
