Trainer Henry Dwyer will wait until the 11th hour before confirming which jockey will partner Lucky Liberty in Saturday’s Group 1 Darley Goodwood (1200m) after the first emergency secured a start in the $1 million feature at Morphettville.
While it’s understood Michelle Payne, Joe Bowditch and Dom Tourneur are among those in the mix to ride the five-year-old on Saturday, Dwyer will wait until scratching time to declare a rider for the son of Statue Of Liberty.
In any case, the Caulfield horseman is confident the lightly-raced gelding can get the right run to be in the finish of Saturday’s Group 1 contest.
“We haven’t worked it out yet and we don’t need to declare a rider until scratching time on Saturday morning so we’ll just see if there are any other scratchings and decide then,” Dwyer said.
“He is drawn perfectly out a bit wider of midfield because he is going to get back regardless but if he can be back and maybe in the three-wide line with cover, he’ll get his chance to get to the outside and have a crack at them.”
Lucky Liberty hit the line well when third behind Rich Charm in the VOBIS Gold Sprint (1200m) last month before winning a Cranbourne trial over 990m on 8 May and while his 89 rating is dwarfed by rivals Black Heart Bart (115) and Malaguerra (112), Dwyer is confident his charge won’t be disgraced on Saturday.
WATCH: Lucky Liberty’s Cranbourne trial
The gelding’s only other Group 1 assignment in his 12-start career came when he was unplaced behind Wandjina in the 2015 Australian Guineas (1600m), while his sole black-type win came in last year’s Christmas Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
Dwyer also confirmed that he would personally float Lucky Liberty to Adelaide ahead of Saturday’s race, which is expected to be his final lead-up run for the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on 10 June.
“He meets a lot of horses poorly at the weights but in fairness to him he should probably be rated higher than what he is,” he said.
“He is a very good horse and he is going particularly well so I’d expect him to run a really good race.
“He is based down at St Leonards so it’s a bit tricky getting commercial trucks to take them over like we usually do from Melbourne so I’ll take him over early on Friday morning and get over there by lunch time.”
Lucky Liberty secured a start in the Goodwood following the scratching of UBET Stakes (1200m) runner-up Viddora due to a foot abscess.
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