Liberty Island is ticking all boxes as trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida eyes a return for his star filly in the Group 1 Tenno Sho Autumn in Tokyo on October 27.
Liberty Island took out the Japanese triple crown last season but has only raced once this year, placing in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic in March before succumbing to a suspensory tendon injury.
“She’s coming along quite well,” Nakauchida told Idol Horse. “She had the suspensory injury, which wasn’t too serious so she’s back riding and is going uphill already. I’m very happy with her progress.
“I think if she can get ready for the Tenno Sho, that will be ideal, but we still need to see how she progresses through this month and next month, then we’ll know if she can stand the harder training she will need for the race.”
Meanwhile, with the Tenno Sho in eyeshot for Liberty Island, it looks like a Cox Plate tilt is firming for stablemate Prognosis, with jockey Damian Lane in line for the seat on the Japanese superstar.
“It all depends on how he runs in Sapporo, but I’m pretty confident he will perform well in the Sapporo Kinen, whatever the ground condition,” Nakauchida said.
“That will give us the option to go to the Cox Plate or the Tenno Sho, but I’m leaning towards the Cox Plate more than the Tenno Sho because he’s a good traveller and the level of his performance doesn’t change when he goes overseas.”
Prognosis has had three trips to Hong Kong, where he placed runner-up in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2023 and 2024 and fifth in the 2023 G1 Hong Kong Cup, each time facing the biggest of the big guns in 2023 Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior.
“I think the easiest way to line him up is that he has been very competitive against Romantic Warrior and probably should’ve beaten him at the latest match-up,” Jockey Damian Lane said.
“Romantic Warrior won the Cox Plate last year and Prognosis should have beaten him in April; that is the simplest way to put it. So he should hold his own in Australia.”
