Horse Racing
Libertango showing all the right moves ahead of Lowther
Connections cannot wait for Libertango’s return to action in the Lowther Stakes at York after becoming the “very best version” of herself during a recent piece of work.
The No Nay Never juvenile has made a fine start to her career, easing to victory on debut at Leicester before seeing off Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite Sun Goddess by a length in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.
She narrowly suffered her first defeat in the Duchess of Cambridge at Newmarket to Ed and Simon Crisford’s Senorita Bonita, but Rob Speers, racing manager to owner Ibrahim Araci, is adamant Libertango will be force during her Group Two assignment at the Ebor Festival.
“I was with George Boughey on Tuesday and she did her first piece of work back following Newmarket,” Speers said.
“Maybe her preparation on that day, it just didn’t go right. It is one of those things.
“She was beaten by a very good filly, we can all see the the Queen Mary form is very good and I don’t think we quite ran our race in the Duchess of Cambridge.
“She’s been training away nicely, it’s given George a nice break between Newmarket and the Lowther and it’s given him and the team enough time to get to know her.
“She went from the breeze-ups pretty much straight to her maiden, from her maiden to Ascot and then after Ascot it was just three weeks into the Duchess of Cambridge.
“She worked beautifully on Tuesday. She’s physically done very well, she’s much stronger and it might be a blessing in disguise that she didn’t win the Duchess of Cambridge as if she had won, we’d have to take on the boys in the Prix Morny like the winner Senorita Bonita is.
“At least we can stick against her own sex at York and as long as it all goes well, if she runs well or wins, we will be looking at the Cheveley Park and probably the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint as her options for later on in the year.”
He added: “I’m very pleased having seen her and George said to me that it’s the very best version of her that we’ve seen, both physically and maturity. It’s the best we’ve had her, so that’s really encouraging.”
