BALLARAT mare Mrs Bignell may be Melbourne bound after scoring an impressive victory in a benchmark 64 race over 1200 metres at Warrnambool on Tuesday. Mrs Bignell, trained by former Crossley trainer Mitch Freedman, defeated Royal Navy by a length-and-a-half with Trenchant back in third place in the $35,000 race. Freedman said the six-year-old mare deserved a crack at a mid-week mares race in town. “Mrs Bignell is an honest mare,” he said. “From her 16 runs for me she’s won four and got a couple of minor placings. I’ve got to thank Greg Baker he used to train her and he gave me a great insight how to train her before he retired. I’m confident Mrs Bignell is up to a mid-week mares race. I’ll keep her to races around the 1200-metre mark.” Freedman, who has been training at Ballarat for 15 months after establishing his career at Crossley, said the move has been great for his stable. “It’s been a great move to go to Ballarat,” he said. “The training facilities at Ballarat are excellent. “Ballarat is so central to other tracks which is another bonus but I must admit I did like my time down here and it’s always great to come back to Warrnambool and have a winner.” Warrnambool trainer Aaron Purcell led in two winners on the eight-event program. He was successful with Rendelsham in a maiden over 2000 metres and Von Mystic in a restricted race. “Rendelsham has been crying out for distance,” he said. “She’s out of a Zabeel mare, I just knew she would run well over the 2000 metres. She’s an improving type mare who should race through her grades.” Purcell shared training honours for the meeting with Darren Weir. Weir’s two winners, Boomstock and Lope de Field, were ridden by Dean Yendall, while Linda Meech rode Purcell’s two winners.