Liberami (NZ) (Turn Me Loose) opened up more options for his trainer Robbie Griffiths when he stretched out beyond 1600m for the first time in his career and took out Saturday’s A$130,000 Murray Cox Handicap (1800m) at Flemington.
The New Zealand-bred gelding brought a rich vein of autumn form into the Benchmark 84 handicap, with his four previous starts producing second placings over 1300m and 1500m at Sandown, a third over 1600m at Bendigo, and a last-start Benchmark 70 victory over 1600m at Sandown. He looked well placed at the bottom of the weights for the final race on Saturday’s Flemington card, where he lived up to expectations as the $2.40 favourite.
After settling in 11th among a strung-out 15-horse field, Liberami and jockey Jye McNeil began to improve their position coming up to the home turn. By the top of the straight, they had closed to within five lengths of the leader.
McNeil released the brakes and Liberami quickly bounded into contention, hitting the front 250m from the finish and going on to win by a length and a quarter. Mathew (NZ) (Tavistock), Trosettee (NZ) (Jimmy Choux), and Le Zebra (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle) completed a clean sweep of the first four placings for New Zealand-breds.
“He went straight to sleep for me, which is always important with him,” McNeil said. “But the further we went in the race, the more it was hard to see in those conditions. He started towing me up through the field and had got to within about five lengths by the time I changed goggles at the home turn, so he’s done a pretty good job riding himself.”
The four-year-old Liberami has now had 16 starts for four wins, six placings and A$283,675 for an enthusiastic group of connections named the ‘Rami Army’.
“They pulled their caps out before the race, so I was a bit worried and it put me under some pressure,” Griffiths said. “But it didn’t stop him from winning today.
“Watching the race, the most worrying part was seeing Jye pulling his goggles down. I was just hoping he could see.
“But once he angled out in the straight, he looked the winner a long way from home. He did the job very well in the end, so it was great.
“This performance has given us a bit of confidence that he’ll run 2000m. We could be cheeky and back him up for another 1800m race at Sandown next Saturday, or there are some other options over the next few weeks. We’ll let him tell us as we go. But he’s a developing horse that’s coming along really nicely.”
Liberami was bred by Lindsay de Souza, who was a part-owner of the gelding’s multiple Group One-winning sire Turn Me Loose. Standing at Windsor Park Stud for a service fee of $7,500, Turn Me Loose is the sire of 105 winners, including eight at stakes level.
Liberami is the first named foal out of the Nicconi mare Loose Goose, who herself won three times in an 18-start career. Loose Goose is a half-sister to the seven-race winner Fuerza (Snippetson), who placed in the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick. Loose Goose has made several return visits to Turn Me Loose in recent seasons, producing colt foals in 2021, 2022 and 2023.