move over almond eyes , Love Only You And tactical daring and make room on the podium for another Japanese star, freedom island.
UN. TO BE. LIE. VA.BLE.
What an absolutely overwhelming win from LIBERTY ISLAND in G1 Yushun Himba! 🇯🇵#リバティアイランド #競馬 #優駿牝馬 pic.twitter.com/badsoe9tKe
– World horse racing (@WHR) May 21, 2023
The stiffness colorfully performed in Yushun Himba (Japanese Bee-G1) on May 21 at Tokyo Racecourse, beating 17 competitors to win the historic 6 races while pulling for the first time up to 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) long.
Now she’s ready to chase the dirty Triple Crown in Shuka Sho (G1) in the fall and, like her predecessors, international challenges are also likely to appear on the dance card. hers.
Jockey Yuga Kawada’s main role is to keep Liberty Island calm and focused, then let her run at the right time. It was a change from the chubby girl’s last race, Oka Sho (Japan’s One Thousand Guineas-G1), when she missed halftime and needed an intense long run to get her way. Cross the entire field and get to the finish line first.
The Oaks is a relative dream trip. Liberty Island starts off smoothly from stall 5, races comfortably in the middle of the field, and has plenty of daylight to enter the steep climb in the stretch. She also has plenty left in the pot and quickly finds another gear, surpassing her opponents and owning the final 200 meters. The last time was 2:23.10 on a pitch rated as good to sure.
The winning margin is the largest since 1975 and more than one length over the five length advantage posted by Gentildonna in 2012 on her way to winning her Triple Crown.
Harpersecond favorite behind Liberty Island, second in Oaks, just slightly more than 103-1 . long shot Dural. Kona CoastMonday is the favorite in Oka Sho, reported Saturday.
Kawada said his work got off to a good start before the race, during the long parade qualifiers leading up to the major Japanese races.
Kawada said: “After running Oka Sho and being transferred here to Tokyo for another big race, he was quite nervous about participating in this race. “So I had to work hard to reserve her energy and help her calm down before the race.
Liberty Island after her victory in the Japanese Oaks
“She settled well into the gate, allowing us to start safely and we were able to race to a good rhythm while I still had the duty of controlling her until the important stages.”
Kawada admitted he was helping Liberty Island make a statement in the last few hundred meters.
He said: “I knew that we were ready to finish ahead of the other horses when we took the lead. “But I wanted her to finish the race strong on the rope so I kept pushing her towards the lead to the big lead.”
Kawada also rode Gentildonna to win her 5 long runs in Oaks.
Liberty Island, from All Americans mare Yankee Rosesbred by Northern Racing and bearing the familiar colors of Sunday Racing Co. She was coached by Mitsumasa Nakauchida, who took her seventh Japanese group 1 win.
Nakauchida said before the race he wasn’t too worried about adding distance to the Freedom Island mission.
“She moves well and is a horse with a lot of ability, especially when it comes to the finish line of a race,” added the coach, “She is probably sharper now than she was in the races. Oka Sho family.”
Liberty Island won her first start at Niigata Racecourse in July 2022. She suffered her only loss in the next race, coming in second place. Ravel in Artemis Stakes (G3) in Tokyo in October. Ravel finished fourth in Oaks.
She recovered from that defeat with a 2 and a half win in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) match in her 2-year-old final, then won at Oka Sho after a four-month break. All races before Oka Sho were at 1,600 meters (about 1 mile).
