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After Jupiter Gold and Mikki Joy pulled the pin on the Kranji Mile, another notable absentee has joined the list of dropouts from the glamour race on May 25 – Circuit Land.

In this case, it’s got nothing to do with injury, thankfully. 

The 2018 Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) winner was not quite the same force in this year’s renewal on April 7, running seventh, just a little over four-and-a-half lengths off the winner Debt Collector. 

It wasn’t such a bad run, but neither was it an encouraging lead-up to his Holy Grail, the $1.5 million Invitational Group 1 Kranji Mile (1600m), a race in which he ran ninth to Southern Legend last year. 

He would be meeting Debt Collector and all these who finished ahead of him – Countofmontecristo, Preditor, Blizzard - at the same weights. 
With the Hong Kong contingent headed by title defender Southern Legend heading their way back for another bite at the cherry, Freedman, in consultation with Circuit Land’s Hong Kong-based owner Ngo Tai Tak, made the decision to call it off for the eight-year-old US-bred son of Mizzen Mast. 

“The owners thought it’d be silly to run him in the Kranji Mile. He lost a bit of weight after a spell,” said Freedman. 

“He’s back to his best, but we just felt that going on his recent runs, he wouldn’t be able to measure up to the Hong Kong horses and the Debt Collector, etc. 

“We’ll press him on towards a Class 1 race over 1700m on the Polytrack on June 7, and then he’ll have a good break. We will then bring him back for the Singapore Triple Crown races (Raffles Cup, Queen Elizabeth II Cup and Dester Singapore Gold Cup). 

“He’ll be competitive in such races. Other than that, there isn’t much on the programme that suits him.” 

Freedman won’t be without runners in the Kranji Mile, though, as he also has the other Hong Kong-owned Blizzard in the entries as well as Ngo’s other horse, Circuit Mission, who runs this Sunday in the $85,000 Class 2 race over 1800m. 

Circuit Mission is not quite of the same calibre as Circuit Land , though. With a rating of 75, he is about 40 points off his more illustrious stablemate, and Freedman is currently in two minds whether he will pick up enough points by May 25. 

The balancing act for Freedman is to sift through the myriad options in terms of ratings points versus race targets - and time. 

“For Circuit Mission, it’s a bit of a juggling act. You’ve got to build up his ratings, but you can’t keep going back to the well,” said the Australian Hall of Fame trainer who has captured a whopping 125 Group races in his feted career mainly in Australia before he relocated to Kranji in 2017. 

“He was actually bought for the Derby and that’s what we’re aiming at now. The Kranji Mile is like the first noms of the Melbourne Cup, we throw them in first, but they can’t possibly invite us all. 

“Depending on how he goes on Sunday, we’ll have to reprogramme him, anyway.” 

Circuit Mission initially had three more fellow Freedman nominations alongside him, but Sun Marshal and Super Dynasty were in the end scratched, leaving only Fastnet Rock six-year-old Lionrockspirit as the running mate. 

“I also have Lionrockspirit in the same race; he’s an honest horse in this grade,” said Freedman. 

“We’ve been waiting for a race for him and he never runs a bad race, but again for him, we don’t have enough staying races to get his points up for the Gold Cup. He’s now on 80 points and will probably need another five to 10 points to be safe. 

“We’ll just have to place him in the right races, like Sunday’s, and hopefully, he can make it.” 

Meanwhile, Circuit Mission is not the only four-year-old Freedman has thrown into the Derby calculations. He has at least four more: Sun Marshal, Karisto, Mr Clint and Mr Dujardin. 

“It’ll be interesting to see where they end up. Mr Clint commences his Derby programme in the Class 2 race (1200m) on Friday,” said Freedman. 

“I could potentially have five of them if everything goes to plan. Circuit Mission was actually one of the challenges as he came with a low rating of 65 points. 

“We thought maybe he wouldn’t be good enough, but he has done a good job at his last two starts, winning both and he’s now up to 75 points.” 

While Circuit Mission is being skewed more as a Derby proposition, Freedman was confident Blizzard would be their flagbearer in the Kranji Mile. 

“The owners are from Hong Kong and they are definitely excited to be part of that night with Blizzard,” said Freedman. 

“They are the same partners who own Jomo, so they’ll all be here for the big Saturday night in two weeks’ time.” 

A seven-year-old by Starcraft, Blizzard might not have scored again since his Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1400m) win in February, but he’s always been thereabouts when the whips are cracking, picking two thirds and one fourth in three subsequent starts. He last ran on for third to Elite Excalibur in the Group 3 Moonbeam Vase (1600m) on Sunday.