From a well known racing family, Lee Freedman established his own racing operation at Warwick Farm in 1983 and at Flemington in 1984.
His first black type win came in 1984, and his first Group 1 win in 1986 with Miss Clipper in the SAJC Australian Oaks. Since then he has compiled a formidable record of victories in major handicap and weight-for-age races, including five Melbourne Cups, four Caulfield Cups, two Victoria Derbies, three AJC Derbies, four Golden Slippers, two Doncaster and two Epsom Handicaps, and two Cox Plates. In 1992-93 he became the first trainer to win the Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper in the one season. Freedman has 124 Group winners to his credit, making him third on the list of all-time Group 1 winning trainers.
After being runner-up six times, Freedman won his first Melbourne trainers’ premiership in 1996-97, which he repeated in 1997-98, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-6, and 2008-09.
At the end of the 2011-12 racing season, Freedman announced that he was handing over the role of head trainer at his family training operation to his brother Anthony. In 2013 he took up the new position of racing director of Lloyd Williams’ Macedon Lodge.
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