Liberty Island's win in the Group 1 Oka Sho (1000 Guineas) was special, coming from a seemingly hopeless position at the top of the straight to mow them down and record her second Group 1 from just four starts.
She's aiming to win the second leg of the fillies' triple crown at Tokyo on Sunday in the Oaks and will be deservedly short in betting, with Japanese markets predicting her to start around $1.30.
She ran to 111 winning the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (1600m) at two and returned with a big 119+ rating in the Oka Sho, just one pound shy of Gran Alegria in 2020, and five pounds shy of Japan's best ever mare Almond Eye, who ran to 124.
The manner in which she did it was incredibly exciting and she doesn't have to get nearly as far back here from barrier 5 at 2400m, having shown the pace to sit midfield over a mile prior.
She's got lengths and lengths of class on her rivals, the only query is the trip. It's interesting scheduling in Japan for the fillies, who go straight from the mile of the Guineas up to the mile-and-a-half of the Oaks before then dropping back to 2000m in the Shuka Sho, the third leg of the triple crown.
If you were going to try and knock her, you'd have to lean pretty heavily on her being too brilliant for 2400m. Liberty Island is out of Australian mare Yankee Rose, who was the first filly to win the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) but never really had the chance to prove herself a stayer.
Still, she's by the ill-fated, Derby winning Duramente who has sired plenty of stayers and last year's Oaks winner Stars On Earth so any claim against her stamina would be without basis and must apply to most of the field here.
Obviously $1.30 isn't going to get me, or anyone but the real thrill-seekers involved, but it's tough to see anything beating her. Kona Coast is the main danger I think again, having run second to her in the Oka Sho after sitting on the pace. She's by Kitasan Black and should relish 2400m. Damian Lane rides and she can give a sight.
The absolute blowout might be Golden Hind, who brings some different form. She was an all-the-way winner of the Group 2 Sho Flora Stakes (2000m) at Tokyo last start and while she got things her way there, she draws well here and will run out the trip well. She was holding So Dazzling by 1.3 lengths comfortably on the line there and the market has her a fair bit longer at 35-1. If there is to be a major upset, she might be it. Otherwise, I can't see us getting a backable price about Liberty Island who looks like an absolute star of the future and should confirm that on Sunday.
