Manaal’s final Group 1 mission

Randwick trainer Michael Freedman will take Group 1 winner Manaal to Eagle Farm on Saturday knowing it will probably be her final start.

The Inglis Sires Produce Stakes winner as a two-year-old, Manaal has lived in or near the top level for most of her career and is the only Group 1 winner in Saturday’s Tatt’s Tiara.

Freedman hopes that will be the case after the final Group 1 of the year.

“She is really well and was a bit unlucky in her first-up run up there,” Freedman said. “We know that she takes a step of her first run and she is ready for the 1400m.”

Manaal will be out to give Freedman’s Gold Coast satellite stable a perfect end to a great season in Queensland, which delivered 34 city winner in Brisbane to be fifth on the premiership.

Those numbers compare favourably to the two mega stables of Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher, which have 42 and 37 Brisbane wins for the term from their Northern operations.

“If you told me we would get those kind of results up there when we started the stable, I would have been very happy,” Freedman said.

“It has worked well and means horses like Manaal stay in their routine when they go up there.

“I went up there on Tuesday to have a look at the stable and watch her work, and she is ready to go.”

Manaal comes from a different form reference after she ran third in Uncommon James’s  Moreton Cup, and her second-up record cannot be ignored.

She has five runs second-up from a spell for three Stakes wins in the Sweet Embrace Stakes, Furious Stakes and Sheraco Stakes. Manaal also has a second and her unplaced run was a fifth in the Surround Stakes, where Group 1 winners Lady Shenandoah, Lady Of Camelot and Lazzura filled the placings.

“After the Coolmore Classic, we decided this was her race because she probably will see a stallion in the spring,” Freedman said. “I wanted her to be at her peak, that’s why we had a run.

“How she worked on Tuesday, it has done its job.”

Freedman will also look for further black type with debut winner Tannin in the Tattersalls Stakes and Givemethebeatboys and Moravia in the Healy Stakes on Saturday.

“I thought it was a nice progression for Tannin after Gosford and Moravia is ready to return, but I wish he could draw a barrier,” Freedman said.