Anthony and Sam Freedman, the training partnership behind Melbourne Cup success, are staring down a mandatory minimum six-month disqualification after the Victorian Racing Tribunal heard penalty submissions on Wednesday. A decision has been adjourned to July 1.

The charges stem from race-day treatment administered to two horses — Kira and Moonhaven — at the Freedmans' satellite Cranbourne stable on August 16 last year. RV Compliance Assurance Team investigative stewards observed Kira receiving treatment via nebuliser, while stable staff indicated Moonhaven had received similar treatment earlier that morning. Both horses were prescribed therapeutic medications for diagnosed respiratory issues but were ultimately scratched from their Caulfield assignments on the day.

The circumstances were not disputed in terms of intent. Neither Anthony nor Sam Freedman was present when the treatment occurred, and the defence characterised the episode as the product of human and administrative error. An oversight had left both horses accepted at Caulfield despite the intention, according to the stable, being to race them the following Wednesday at Sandown.

Racing Victoria's barrister Greg Buchhorn asked the tribunal to impose a three-month disqualification, citing the Freedmans' early guilty pleas as special circumstances warranting departure from the mandatory minimum. On the matter of incomplete treatment records, Buchhorn submitted a $1,500 fine consistent with prior decisions. Critically, however, he was unambiguous on one point: regardless of any reduction in period, the penalty must take the form of a disqualification. "The only restriction that goes to this, is it must be a disqualification," he told the tribunal.

The Freedmans' barrister Matthew Stirling pushed further, urging the VRT to consider a fine or a penalty below the disqualification threshold altogether — and when pressed on the mandatory provisions, floated a nominal sanction of two to four weeks. Stirling underscored the operational consequences in considerable detail: monthly expenses at Freedman Racing include a $340,000 staff wages bill and $40,000 in stable lease costs. A formal disqualification under the Australian Rules of Racing would require all horses in the stable to be transferred, with up to 70 staff potentially losing their positions. Potential prizemoney loss, the tribunal was reminded, cannot be factored into penalty calculations.

Stirling acknowledged a degree of culpability on the trainers' part — "the system broke down" — but argued it should be assessed as relatively low given neither trainer authorised, intended, nor directed the treatment. "The point of importance is the administration was not authorised, or intended, or a directed act of either trainer," he submitted. The Freedmans' compliance record was also placed before the tribunal, described as strong with no relevant prior offences.

The VRT's determination on July 1 will test whether the mandatory disqualification framework leaves genuine room for the discretion the defence is seeking — and whether the human cost of a stable-wide disruption carries any weight where the rules of racing draw a firm line.

Image: Freeman website