Melbourne Cup-winning trainer keen to join forces with Roos players past and present
20/12/2023 07:30
Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Sam Freedman is planning to get a North Melbourne mob together with the purpose of racing a horse in the club's famous colours.
Freedman is a lifelong Kangaroos fan who would love to bring together some North people to race under the training banner he shares with his father Anthony.
He says club great Anthony Stevens along with fellow premiership player Cam Mooney have been the catalysts behind the scenes in pulling together a troop of past and current players.
"Absolutely, I would love to," he said on SEN's Sportsday when asked if he would one day like to be involved with the Roos.
"Even chatting with Anthony Stevens, we're keen to try and get a horse off the ground that might be a lot of past players and the odd current player. Off the ground he is leading the charge in that with Cam Mooney.
"We're hopeful that in the next 12 months we might have the North Melbourne silks in the stable."
The co-trainer of 2023 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup champ Without A Fight has a rich Roos history within his family.
His grandfather was once on the board and his famous uncle Lee was also involved at Arden Street at some point, leading to Sam's love for the royal blue and white stripes.
"My grandfather on my mum's side was a big North fan," he added.
"He was on the board at some stage. On my dad's side, and it was communicated to me through Anthony Stevens, who said he could remember Lee and a few of the others having a bit of involvement in the club when they were in the heyday of their training.
"My brother and I became massive North fans."
Despite the club's recent woes, Freedman's love for the Roos remains strong.
He is kept up to date by North's two-time premiership coach (and Victoria Derby-winning trainer) Denis Pagan who he shares a yarn with each day at Flemington trackwork.
"We share a box at Flemington so I see him every morning," he said further.
"All we chat about, pretty much, is North Melbourne. The other trainers there are probably just waking up and Denis and I are chatting about the new draft picks and how their training looked.
"He's right up to speed with it all so I'm learning heaps off him which has been awesome."
Of the Roos specifically, Freedman continued: "There has been a little bit of optimism at stages, and a lot of it is coming off the field rather than on the field.
"Hopefully there's some light at the end of the tunnel."
Freedman's star galloper Without A Fight is currently sidelined by a minor tendon injury, but he and Anthony are still preparing plenty of winners around Victoria.
Listen to the full in-studio chat with Sam below:
