Lightly raced three-year-old Liberami lived up to his high rating with trainers Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock when he produced an impressive come-from-behind performance at Flemington.
The New Zealand-bred son of Turn Me Loose was unplaced in both of his starts as a two-year-old last year, and he was well beaten again when he resumed with a ninth at Sale in early May.
Liberami made progress with strong finishes for second over 1100m at Sale on May 29, a 1300m maiden win at Echuca on June 13 and a second placing in heavy ground at Sandown on July 10. Griffiths and de Kock saw enough in those performances to give him an opportunity in Saturday company at Flemington, and he rose to the occasion in style.
Sent out at $21 odds with horse racing bookmakers, Liberami was taken back to the tail of the field by jockey Michael Dee within the first 100m of the race. He remained there until the home straight, when Dee began to warm him up and started looking for a path through the pack.
Liberami was still last at the 300m mark and had nowhere to go, but Dee finally found an opening and asked his mount to quicken. Liberami launched a brilliant burst, sprinting past eight horses in the final 150m and getting up to win by a neck.
“If we didn’t win, I dare say we would have been a certainty beaten,” Dee said. “It was just a matter of trying to pick a path in the straight.
“He definitely appreciated the big, long straight here at Flemington. He’s got a long stride. I was impressed with how well he picked up and sprinted to the line once we found a way through.”
Liberami, whose name is an Italian translation for Turn Me Loose, has now had seven starts for two wins, two placings and $128,775 in stakes.
“That was sensational,” Griffiths said. “He was outstanding today.
“We’ve always known that he had a lot of talent, but we’ve just struggled to get him to relax in his races. We finally got him to switch off at Sale and saw a nice horse in the making that day. I’m not sure he liked the heavy track last start, but Brad Rawiller was very positive about his performance.
“We just told Mick to switch him off today. He doesn’t know much about middle gears at the moment – he’s either too on or completely off. But he was very good, and he was going to be unlucky if he didn’t win.”
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