Mitch Freedman has backed in John Allen to exorcise the demons of the Moir Stakes when he partners star mare Skybird in her Everest dress rehearsal in Friday nights Group 1 Manikato Stakes.
Speaking to Betsy on the same day Skybird was announced as a runner in Sydney’s $20 million sprint race, Freedman said there had been no discussions with the owners about a jockey change, despite the mare’s luckless first-up run.
Skybird settled at the rear of the field and finished two lengths behind Baraqiel, despite being largely untested behind tiring horses in the final 300m of the race.
Allen has only taken the reins of the mare in 2025 and delivered a Group 1 win with his first ride on the horse in the Black Caviar Lightning at Flemington.
While Everest plans will be finalised after the Manikato, Freedman said it is his preference for Allen to continue his association with Skybird in Sydney.
“Johnny is a good horseman and he’s really committed to doing the work behind the scenes to help prepare the horse,” Freedman said.
“My view is that if you don’t have a problem with a ride while watching a race live, you can’t be too critical in hindsight because that’s the only time they (jockeys) have to make decisions as well.”
“Obviously being a Group 1 race, I went back and watched it (Moir Stakes) a few times and I don’t think there was anything he could’ve done differently so we just put it down to one of those unfortunate hard luck stories in racing.”
“Part of that bad luck was that there were too many passengers in that race and in my opinion, there were too many horses in there that were going forward that weren’t going to be competitive in the race and she (Skybird) is a horse that was probably always going to get back.”
Freedman said the five-year-old has trained on since the Moir and ticked over with a trial between runs at Donald.
Skybird is rated $8.50 in Bet365’s Manikato Stakes market.
Skybird! Where did she come from?!
Last to first, well done Johnny Allen 👏 pic.twitter.com/Yqo8nsPitP
— bet365 Australia (@bet365_aus) February 15, 2025
