Surprise switch sees Gelagotis prepare Malaguerra for the Spring

In a surprise switch Moe trainer Peter Gelagotis will prepare BTC Cup winner Malaguerra for his Spring Carnival campaign.

Malaguerra, above, will now race under the Peter Gelagotis banner. Photo by Steve Hart.

Malaguerra, above, will now race under the Peter Gelagotis banner. Photo by Steve Hart.

Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman and his co-trainer and brother Anthony brought Malaguerra up through the grades before the Magnus four year old won the Group 1 $500,000 BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben during the Brisbane Winter Carnival and was surprised when owner Bruno Micalizzi informed them that Malaguerra wouldn’t be coming back to his stable.

“The owners removed the horse from the stable and sent it to I don’t know who,” Lee Freedman told RSN.

“It happens, everyone has got a story like that.”

Malguerra had one more run in Brisbane for a ninth to Under The Louvre in the Group 1 $1.5m AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 11 before heading to the spelling paddock.

The Freedmans left Malaguerra in Queensland to spell and were informed on Tuesday morning by Micalizzi that he would be going to trainer Peter Gelagotis when he returns to work.

“He’s up at Kolora Lodge, up in Queensand, at the moment,” Micalizzi told G1X.

“We decided to leave him up there, just to get some warm summer … and bring him back in maybe four weeks and they’ll take him from there.”

“It was a personal decision. I thank the Freedmans for taking my horse to a Group 1 – that was a great effort with the horse, it was an amazing trip.”

“I’ve given the horse to the Gelagotis boys. There was a lot of interest from a lot of other people but I’ve taken it to a smaller boutique stable – I’ve made the choice, it was a personal business decision.”

“He had wonderful care at the Freedman stable, he was well, well looked after.”

“The (Gelagotis) boys down here will do a good job with him as well, then he (Malaguerra) has just got to prove himself.”

The Gelagotis stable will be the fourth that Malaguerra has been prepared under after originally being under the care of Peter Moody.

Injury prevented the gelding from racing for Moody and he had his first race start, which he won, when Wez Hunter saddled him up in a two year old Maiden at Cranbourne in January, 2014.

The Freedman’s then took over the training of Malaguerra at the beginning of 2015 and he won first up the stable in an 1100m BenchMark 64 Handicap at Ballarat.

Malaguerra then worked his way up through the classes with one of his nine wins for the Freedmans coming during the 2016 Sydney Autumn Carnival when he took out the Group 3 $150,000 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill.

 

From his total of ten wins from nineteen starts, Malaguerra has earned just over $758,000 in prizemoney and bonuses.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.