Libertad has gone from midweek maiden grade 10 days ago to take out the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes at his next start in the opening race of The Championships at Randwick.
The two-year-old colt was very impressive on debut at Randwick in a two-year-old maiden, and in conditions that both trainer and jockey thought wouldn't suit him, he turned in another top level performance at his second career start.
With Introducing slowly but surely crossing the likes of Libertad, Saltaire and Barber, to take up the lead, Chad Schofield on the eventual winner took his time and stuck the closest to the rail.
As the field hit the home turn, they looked to be well off the fence which gave Schofield and Libertad plenty of room to take a run, but Saltaire got up on his outside and clearly put half a length on them by the 150m mark.
However, when Schofield pushed the button on the son of Russian Revolution he fought back to finish the better and record a nice win by a half-head.
2023 Kindergarten Stakes Replay – Libertad
Annabel Neasham has taken out the first race of The Championships for 2023, and she spoke post-race about her colt's strong win.
“She's a really good filly, Saltaire (runner-up), and she got her head in front and he fought back. It's a sign of a horse with a good heart on him,” Neasham said.
“I just love the way he knuckled down and fought back. He was only having his second start against a reasonably good field, so loads of upside.
“We rolled the dice, we knew we had a quality colt.
“He hit the front a little way out and got headed by what I thought was very much the main danger.
“I wasn't sure he'd like the wet, his gallop Tuesday on the wet track wasn't as good so I wasn't liking the rain that I saw but he's very classy.”
Chad Schofield echoed similar thought to Neasham in his post-race interview about the track.
“I must be honest I was a little bit concerned about the track after he won on a good track on debut, but he handled it really well,” Schofield said.
“He handled it quite well. It feels pretty heavy.
“The second horse (Saltaire) quickened a bit sharper and put a margin on us, but to my guy's credit he came through his gears nice and he was strong late.
“He's a really nice horse.”