Libertarian gears up for Ladbrokes St Leger

Libertarian on his way to the start of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby in which he disappointed by finishing second-last of the nine runners. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

The last Classic of the season, the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday 14 September, is now very much on the horizon and the Investec Derby runner-up, Libertarian, is on course for the one and three-quarter mile contest, race six in the Long Distance division of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

Bought by Godolphin after his Investec Derby second, when he gave best only to Ruler Of The World, he remained under the care of Elaine Burke for his next start in the Irish Derby.

That proved a big disappointment as he could only finish eighth of the nine runners behind Trading Leather whom he had beaten when winning the Betfred Dante Stakes at York in May.

He has now moved to Godolphin’s Newmarket stables where he is trained by Charlie Appleby, who has taken over from the disgraced Mahmood Al Zarooni.

"Libertarian has had a nice break since the Irish Derby," Appleby said.

"We spoke about going to the Voltigeur (at York last week) but we wanted to give him more of a break.

"With the way the ground was I am glad we didn’t go. He’s progressing well and coming on nicely for the Leger."

Amongst his opponents is likely to be the horse he finished a short-head in front of in the Investec Derby and who then ran second in the Irish Derby, Galileo Rock.