A four-win horse in a special conditions maiden is a rare sight, and rapidly improving mare Lux Libertas (NZ) (Almanzor) proved to be as dominant on the Te Rapa track in Saturday’s Three Wise Birds (1400m) as she was on paper.
The $65,000 race was restricted to horses that were maidens on July 16. At that stage, Lux Libertas had recorded a fifth and a seventh from her only two starts.
She then recorded a stylish maiden win at Te Rapa on July 27, followed by another three straight victories on August 10, September 4 and September 15. In her only appearance since then, the four-year-old Almanzor mare finished third behind My Lips Are Sealed and Keegan at Te Rapa on September 27.
Lux Libertas was sent out as the hottest favourite of the day on Saturday at $1.30, and she lived right up to those high expectations.
Ridden patiently by Warren Kennedy, Lux Libertas settled at the back of the field and could still see all of her eight rivals as she came around the home turn.
But then Kennedy angled her into clear air one from the outside, and Lux Libertas produced an explosive turn of foot and bounded to the front with 100m remaining. Lightly raced three-year-old On The Town chased hard and kept the margin to less than a length, but Lux Libertas was never in any danger of defeat.
“She’s just getting better and better, and she’s learning her craft more with every race,” Kennedy said.
“She finished really strongly today and just switched off a little bit once she hit the front, so she still has a bit more to learn. But she was a deserving favourite for this race and she’s won it as she liked.
“The reason for taking her back the way we did today was that we need to teach her to relax if she’s going to get up over a bit more ground. She has such a huge action, she was always going to make up that ground quickly.
“Her connections will probably have bigger plans in mind for her from here, and likely up over more ground as well.”
Lux Libertas has now had eight starts for five wins, with all of those victories coming from her last six starts. She has earned $119,045 in stakes.
Part-owned by Kylie Bax’s Goldeye Trust, Lux Libertas was bred by her parents Graham and Helen-Gaye Bax in partnership with Lib Petagna’s JML Bloodstock. Lux Libertas is by Almanzor out of the stakes-placed Makfi mare Miss Fi, whose three foals to race are all winners including the Malaysian stakes winner Trigger Pegasus.
Lux Libertas completed a winning double on the Te Rapa card for Kennedy and trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott. They had previously joined forces to win the Dan Looker – Celebrating 100 Years (2000m) with Sassy Lass (NZ) (Staphanos).
