Michael Freedman hasn’t ruled out trying Ninja over a mile again in the future, but his immediate focus is on shorter races and testing the waters for a potential Everest bid.
The four-year-old will resume in a strong renewal of the Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday, his first start since finishing midfield in the Randwick Guineas (1600m).
Freedman felt a combination of the horse having reached the end of his preparation and stretching him in journey contributed to that unplaced performance, and suggested Ninja would be kept to shorter distances for now.
“I’m not ruling out one day trying him back over the mile, but his form to this point suggests he’s very effective at 1200 to 1400, so we might be smarter keeping him in and around those distances for the time being,” Freedman said.
“Like most trainers and owners with sprinting type horses, you’d love to see if he could measure up and get himself a spot in an Everest later in the spring. But there’s a hell of a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then.
“But that’s a race that would be in the back of my mind for him if he was going well enough. A Golden Eagle would be worth a look to given it’s restricted to four-year-olds.”
The winner of the Hobartville Stakes (1400m) in February, Ninja caught the eye with a stylish victory in a Randwick trial last month.
Freedman is happy the horse has improved physically and mentally since the autumn, and the Missile Stakes will be a good litmus test of his talents against the likes of Group 1 placegetters Angel Capital and Napoleonic.
“He’s just more mature and a stronger four-year-old now,” Freedman said.
“As a younger horse, he was somewhat mentally fragile. But he’s been gelded as a young horse and that trip away (to Queensland in the summer), like is does with a lot of horses, did him the world of good. He came back a lot more seasoned.
“His autumn ‘prep’ stopped reasonably early, and that enabled him to have a long spell and a long build-up. So while he’s up and about relatively early in the spring, he hasn’t sacrificed any time off to do that.
“Hopefully we get him off to the races on Saturday and see where we get to later in the spring.”
A field of eight has been paid up for Sydney’s first stakes race of the 2026-27 season and is headed by triple Group 1 placegetter Angel Capital, who was sixth to Ka Ying Rising in last year’s Everest (1200m).
