Magnatear will bid to confirm his rise from midweek company to stakes level when he contests the Group Two Shannon Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday, with trainer Will Freedman hoping the seven-year-old can produce another career-best performance.
The gelding was previously trained by Freedman’s late friend Sam Kavanagh, who died from cancer in December 2024 aged 38. Freedman and his father and co-trainer, Richard, took over Magnatear’s preparation afterwards.
Freedman has been reluctant to claim credit for the horse’s progress, saying Magnatear had shown promise under Kavanagh before embarking on his current run of form.
“To be brutally critical of myself, I don’t think we’ve done that much different. He just seems to be going a bit better earlier in his prep,” Freedman said.
Magnatear has won two Midway races since joining the Freedmans and recently moved into stakes company. He finished third in the listed National Sprint at Canberra before winning the Muswellbrook Cup in March, securing his place in November’s $3 million Big Dance.
He returned in the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes over 1300 metres two weeks ago, finishing just over a length behind Skyhook after benefiting from an inside draw and a positive ride from Ash Morgan. Magnatear has gate one again for the 1500-metre Shannon Stakes, where Skyhook is the $1.90 favourite.
“He seems to be like a fine wine. He just keeps getting better,” Freedman said.
The trainer believes Saturday’s race will show whether the Theo Marks effort was a one-off and whether Magnatear is ready for the Alan Brown Stakes before his principal target, the Big Dance.
“The Big Dance is his main aim … I think he’s a chance of beating Gringotts with such a light weight, but he probably still needs to step up this start to show that it wasn’t a one-off, that he can start stringing a few good performances together,” he said.
Magnatear has recorded five wins and seven placings from 18 starts for the Freedmans, taking his earnings beyond $760,000. He was bought by Kavanagh for $200,000 in 2021.
Freedman said the horse’s success remained complicated by the loss of his former trainer, with Kavanagh’s lifelong partner, Kelly Fawcett, still an owner and involved in Magnatear’s care.
“It’s always bittersweet,” Freedman said. “I’d still prefer Sam to be around and to be watching him race it, but that’s the hand we’re dealt.”
Fawcett, a physiotherapist, continues to work with the gelding, while Morgan is expecting to adopt a more positive approach from the inside gate after Magnatear’s first-up run.
“He was terrific and his trials had been really good going into it,” Morgan said. “He gets a similar setup on Saturday. He’s drawn the right gate again and we’ll be a bit more positive on him because they were just mindful of him being first up the other day.”
