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By Ray Hickson

It’s very much an experiment by Richard and Will Freedman to stretch consistent mare Elettrica out in distance in search of an overdue win at Rosehill on Saturday.

Will Freedman (Pic: Bradley Photos)

But Will Freedman is quietly confident it’s the right move for a mare who has taken a little bit of time to get to know but has shown in her past few starts the promise of a breakthrough.

The five-year-old has her eighth start for the father and son partnership in the Midway Handicap (1800m) where Freedman says it’s her best opportunity to win a race if she does relish the extra ground.

“The way she’s been racing she’s indicated she’d be every chance to do it,’’ he said.

“Usually horses that run fast last sectionals have the ability to go a bit further. But it’s still trial and error and it’s the first time she’s run over this sort of distance.

“We might unearth one that can get over a bit of ground.”

Elettrica narrowly missed her first Australian win in a 1600m Midway at Randwick two starts ago and was again close up when fourth behind Strait Acer back 100m at Rosehill on August 12.

It’s not quite a Goldilocks scenario that Elettrica requires but Freedman said if she can get into a comfortable spot in her races that’s when she produces her best.

“She’s just more dour than we would have expected and she doesn’t like to get used up early,’’ he said.

“Sometimes if there’s not much pace that means she can sit just behind the speed but if there’s a lot of pace she drifts further back like last start.

“There was a lot of speed on up front and to travel comfortably she had to be a couple of lengths further back. It ended up being a task too tall. You couldn’t win from where she was but I thought she was a bit unlucky not to finish third.”

Freedman said between runs Elettrica spends most of the week at a turnout facility at Somersby and when she returns she always come back a “happy horse”.

With barrier three he hopes Jason Collett can keep her happy in the early stages and produce the turn of foot she’s been showing of late at the finish.

“She has a lot of heart and if you let her catch her breath and pace herself through the race she gives a really good kick late,’’ he said.

“Hopefully she can keep in touch without doing too much work and have her best chance of winning one of these Midways. She’d be due one more than most.”

The Freedmans could have one, two, or three runners in the Midway with Olympic Theatre and Piraeus having other options in the coming days.

Olympic Theatre had a setback last weekend being scratched from a 2400m assignment so if he runs he’d be coming back in distance.

“We think 1800m is a bit short but his gap between runs is probably significant enough to drop back in distance before going up again,’’ Freedman said.

Elettrica runs fourth at Rosehill on August 12

“The deeper he gets into his prep the better you’ll see from him.”

Piraeus is also an acceptor for the Iris Foundation Handicap (2100m) at Wyong on Sunday.

He was over a month between runs before a fast finishing third over a mile at Kembla Grange two weeks ago.

“It’s probably a coin flip where he goes. He races similarly to Elettrica, he’ll probably be a similar spot in the field but his last run was really good,’’ he said.

“He sprinted well from the back of the field, he just needed 200m more last start and if he’d won that he’d be firm in the market.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting