Freya storms into Silk Road contention with dominant victory
Matt Markham - Raceform • June 21st, 2025 10:30 AM • 4 min read
It’s not so much that Ben Hope was surprised by Freya’s win last week at Addington, but more the manner in which the talented trotting mare put away her rivals.
Then again, upon reflection, he wasn’t perhaps as surprised as he had initially been, because Hope, who trains in partnership with his father Greg, has always had a high opinion of Freya – she’s just let the side down a couple of times in her career.
“She’s always been a nice horse, but for one reason or another she’s gone good and then gone off the boil a bit, but that was some win last week – she jogged it,” Hope told RaceForm.
On a quick assignment given she’d arrived home from Auckland only a week earlier, Freya sat off the speed and joined in for fun in a heat of the Silk Road series for the trotting mares. With the final of that series this week, you could easily make a case for her being very hard to beat again.
“I don’t know if she’ll take huge improvement out of last week, because she was pretty ready. Last week we were really just focussed on getting her into the final and running in the top four, but she did it so easily, you have to take a little bit of confidence into this week.”
She’ll have to be good though. The final of the Silk Road Series has some serious depth to it and Hope, always the respectful competitor, has plenty of regard for his rivals.
“It looks like the one of John Morrison’s (Lottie’s Moment) is pretty smart, she won easily in the other heat too, so she looks hard to beat again.
“We’ve got the wide draw too (barrier nine), but we’ll probably just handle her like we did last week and let her come out of the gate and find a spot and then drive her for her own high speed.
“She’s come through the run well, we’re happy with her and she’s got a great chance.”
Freya’s success on the track has continued that of broodmare The Earth Moved, who hailed from the stable. She’s left Crazy N Love, Luca and Torvi as well as Rowe Cup runner-up Mr Love, who looks set to be one of New Zealand’s best open-class trotters come the spring. Being all bred by the Hope family has added another element of joy to the success.
The stable will also be represented in Sunday’s final by Love Walked In, who has been a model of consistency of late.
“She’s going well. I do have a few reservations about her this week though, because I just don’t think she’s quite as sharp over the shorter distances. The 2600-metre races are more her go. That said, she’s a trotting mare who is going well and she won’t disgrace herself.”
After stepping into the role of co-trainer alongside his father earlier in the season, the Hope combination has been trucking along nicely with 17 wins to sit alongside the 16 achieved by Greg and Nina before the stable reshuffle.
They’ve got a nice team lined up for Sunday, including maiden pacer Justa Rippa, who looks set to win one at short notice after two excellent efforts in three career starts to date.
