VETERAN harness racing trainer Neil Cameron was rewarded for his patience when Liberty Niadh scored a courageous win on debut a The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston on Sunday night.
With experienced reinsman Rohan Hillier in the sulky, the well bred juvenile proved too strong for race favourite House Haunter ($2.70) and his stablemate Feral Tracy in the Launceston Belmont (1680m), which was the feature race on the mammoth 11-race card.
It was a game win as the filly faced the breeze for the last 600 metres but had the stamina and will to eventually forge to the lead and defeat the favourite by eight metres with Feral Tracy 1.8 metres away third and just in advance of her stablemate Freyde hat lost valuable ground when she galloped for a few strides nearing the home turn.
Cameron had the filly ready to race early in the season but had to abort the campaign due to illness.
“She was probably the first two-year-old to trial back in October last year but she developed a respiratory infection so I couldn’t go on with her,” Cameron said.
Liberty Niadh trialed brilliantly a week prior to her first race assignment and that gave connections and punters cause to back her in from $4.50 to start the $3.20 second favourite
“We just had to be patient and we have been rewarded.”
Cameron explained that Liberty Niadh is the result of a purchase he made about five years ago.
“I bought this filly’s mother Maggie Adreaming down from Queensland with the intention of racing her,” he said.
“But she’d had E I (Equine Influenza) and, when I got her stated, I could pick something was wrong.”
“So I had her checked out and discovered she had a problem with her heart that had been cause by the E I.”
“So I opted to breed wit her and Liberty Niadh is her first foal,” he said.
Cameron is unsure about her immediate future.
“I’ve got nothing special planned for her but we might take her to Hobart next Sunday night.”
“I’ll wait and see how she comes through this race and make a decision later in the week,” he said.
Picture courtesy of Greg Mansfield.