An astute piece of placement by trainer Mitch Freedman combined with a perfect Ben Melham ride has resulted in Ceerseven (NZ) (Complacent) pulling off a successful Sydney raid, when running out a ready winner of a BenchMark 78 Handicap over a mile at Randwick on Saturday.
The son of Complacent was in a stalking position throughout as favourite Nana’s Wish (NZ) (Belardo) and Canadian Ruler (NZ) (Vancouver) set moderate fractions up front, and pounced when Melham pressed the go-button to score a dogged victory.
Ceerseven had previously won at The Valley over 1600m in BenchMark 70 company and despite believing the four-year-old gelding will be seen to better effect over further in the future, Ballarat trainer Freedman identified the Sydney target and was duly rewarded with his first Sydney success.
“It looked a great race for him, being a three and four-year-old 78 mile,” Freedman said.
“He came up on Thursday night and it was a nice little rise in grade for him. He came off a very restricted race at Moonee Valley but he was impressive and he’s a horse with a bit of upside.
“He is a horse that is still maturing and we thought a trip away from home would harden him a bit.
“He might be just off the top tier Country Cup horse going forward for us, but at the moment we will race him through the ratings and see where he ends up.”
Now a winner of four of his nine starts, Ceerseven was bred by Mapperley Stud and is a son of Complacent, who previously stood at the Matamata nursery.
Ceerseven’s dam is the unraced Elnadim mare Calypso Miss (NZ) (Elnadim), who has been represented by five winners from six foals to race including the Group Two-placed High Tower (NZ) (Keeninsky).
Mapperley Stud offered Ceerseven in Book 2 of the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, where Freedman teamed up with Phill Cataldo Bloodstock and bought him for only $30,000.
The Group One winning trainer was back in New Zealand recently for the Karaka Sales where he secured yearlings by Churchill ($140,000), Satono Aladdin ($220,000) and Zed ($70,000).
