Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman says he has no intention of retiring from racing despite standing down as the head trainer of his stable.Freedman, 54, announced on Wednesday that he was handing over the reins of the Markdel training operation, based at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, to his brother Anthony to coincide with the start of the new racing season.Freedman will remain heavily involved in the day-to-day training operation but will no longer be the public face of the operation."I will

Hall Of Fame trainer Lee Freedman says he has no intention of retiring from racing despite standing down as the head trainer of his stable.

Freedman, 54, announced on Wednesday that he was handing over the reins of the Markdel training operation, based at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, to his brother Anthony to coincide with the start of the new racing season.

Freedman will remain heavily involved in the day-to-day training operation but will no longer be the public face of the operation.

"I will be the assistant trainer. I am not retiring," Freedman said.

"If I wanted to retire I would have.

"I still have the passion. Horses are my first love but after a great deal of thought I have made this decision to allow me the time to reassess our business."

The stable's performances have dropped off in the last two years and in 2009/10 its number of winners in Victoria dropped below 100 for the first time since 2001/02.

In 2005/06 it had 201 winners on Victorian tracks including 115 on city tracks and 26 feature race wins with prizemoney earnings of $14.2 million of which Makybe Diva's Cox Plate and third Melbourne Cup win were significant.

In the 2009/10 season, total Victorian winners halved from 152 to 76 and stakes wins fell from 14 to five.

Last season the stable had 92 Victorian winners and seven stakeswinners for a return of $3.3 million.

"I am not satisfied with how things have been over the past few years and the time is right for me to have a good look at every aspect of how we do business," Freedman said.

"I think this is the best way forward for the business to be at its most competitive in racing."

Freedman said the stable would be in very capable hands with Anthony in charge.

"Anthony has served a 25-year apprenticeship and will bring great skill and a fresh approach to an ever-changing business. We feel this is the best way to rejuvenate the business," he said.

"I will be at trackwork every morning as an assistant trainer and ready to give advice if required."

Only a month ago, Freedman's website put a positive spin on last season noting that it was the leading stable of two-year-old winners in the state and fourth on the Melbourne premiership.

The stable lost traction when David Hayes beat it by one win for the two-year-old title and the stable ended up fifth on the premiership.

"I'm not doing anything different to when I trained 140-plus horses to win the premierships ... if anything, I'm doing it better considering I have half the numbers," Freedman said at the time.

"I'm not hiding from the fact that I don't have any topliners, but I would question anyone who would suggest that I am not doing the best with what I've got."

A seven-time Victorian premier trainer, Freedman has reinvented himself several times in a remarkable career which began at Sydney's Warwick Farm in 1983.

A year later he moved to Flemington and in 1985 opened Brackley Park at Avenal near Shepparton as a pre-training operation.

In 1996 he relocated his stable to Caulfield and two years later closed Brackley Park and opened a similar pre-training complex near Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula.

In 2002 Freedman relocated from Caulfield and developed the multi-million dollar training facility Markdel at Rye.

"We have trained over 30 Group One winners from Rye," Freedman said.

"Perhaps it has been a bit lean the last year or two but we certainly had plenty of success up to that point.

"As businesses develop and get older they need a bit of rejuvenation and that is part of what this decision is about."

Freedman's owners have applauded the move.

"All the feedback I have had from owners has been very positive and they are certainly supporting the decision," Freedman said.

"It will be a change for me but we all need new challenges."