Victorian trainer Lee Freedman's travelling foreman Scotty Magee says Emblem Of Liberty is at least as good a chance in tomorrow's $200,000 NZ Bloodstock Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha as last year's winner and stablemate Dane Julia.
Magee should know. He brought Dane Julia here a year ago andhas been riding both in trackwork.
Magee is a New Zealander who has worked for Freedman for 20 years.
"They're both very, very well and they've travelled a treat," said Magee after breezing the pair up separately in solo efforts at Cambridge yesterday.
Emblem Of Liberty has had only four Australian starts since being bought from South Africa, where she won the same group one event that fell to Dane Julia before she was similarly bought out of South Africa earlier.
"They are very similar types of mares and, if anything, Emblem Of Liberty's form back in South Africa was a bit better than Dane Julia's.
"At her last start for us she made up a lot of ground in a sit-sprint race and Lee said we'd better send her over to New Zealand for that race, she'd be very competitive on that run."
Magee believes Dane Julia is in slightly better shape than when she won the race 12 months ago.
"She's probably in the best shape since we've had her. She just loves travelling and neither mare has put a foot wrong since they left home.
"Dane Julia is a bit better this way [right handed] around than she is the Melbourne way of going [left handed].
"The other mare has only raced the Melbourne way around for us, but her South African form is right handed, so I don't see a problem for her."
* Good-class stayer Red Ruler was yesterday withdrawn from his campaign in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Red Ruler was due to be flown to Hong Kong on Sunday for the Queen Elizabeth Cup and then on to Singapore for the International Cup.
However, Matamata trainer John Sargent received veterinarian advice yesterday that the horse was not fit enough to travel. "He's been off his feed since he raced at Manawatu last weekend. There's not much we can do, that's horse racing."
