Australian trainers Michael Freedman and Brian Dean have given notice to the Singapore Turf Club that they will relinquish the stables allocated to them in March 2016.

Freedman is returning to Melbourne for family reasons while Dean has decided to pursue his training career in Seoul, Korea.

After joining the Kranji training ranks in April 2008, Freedman, the youngest brother and racing manager of Hall of Fame trainer Lee, did not take long to stamp his famous racing pedigree on the local scene, gaining a quick reputation as a trainer of feature race winners.

Bar 2010, he always finished in the top five, with his best season being 2012 where his haul of 76 winners saw him finish tied on top with Laurie Laxon on the premiership but having to settle for second place on a countback for seconds.

Altogether, Freedman has racked up 456 wins up to now, including an outstanding record of 36 wins at Group level at Kranji as well as two feature wins in Malaysia. Of particular note are his seven Group 1 wins, including the Longines Singapore Gold Cup with TROPAIOS in 2013 and three Raffles Cup with CHEYENNE DANCER (2009), AWLAYS CERTAIN (2011) and SUPER NINETYSEVEN (2013).

Freedman also made a clean sweep of the 2012 Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge with SUPER EASY, without a doubt, the best horse he has trained. The son of Darci Brahma by himself captured nine ‘black type’ races, including three at Group 1 level, the Singapore Guineas (2012), Lion City Cup (2013) and Patron’s Bowl (2013) and won back-to-back Singapore Horse of the Year titles in 2012 and 2013.

After riding on the Malayan Racing Association circuit in the early 90s, Dean was not lost to racing and that part of the world when he retired. The Bendigo man became track rider and stable supervisor for several MRA trainers such as Leong Poh Keong, Charles Leck and Laurie Laxon before striking out on his own as a trainer at Kranji in 2004.

With no real superstars in his stable, Dean still managed to earn some silverware in the 2007 Group 2 EW Barker Trophy with WORLD AIRLINES and the 2008 Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint with ONENINETYFIVE.

It was mainly his consistency that was key to his success. In 11 full seasons spent at Kranji, the 57-year-old horseman has prepared a total of 428 winners with his best haul being 53 winners in 2008 and a highest ranking of fourth place on 50 winners in 2010.