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By Ray Hickson

Jockey Chad Schofield has done a good job of monopolising the saddle on unbeaten colt Libertad’s back and is well aware he’ll need to use all that experience to keep their unbeaten record intact at Rosehill on Saturday.

Chad Schofield (Pic: Steve Hart)

The Annabel Neasham-trained three-year-old is held in high regard by Schofield and neither trainer nor jockey are shying away from the task with an outside barrier in the Group 3 $250,000 Smithfield RSL San Domenico Stakes (1100m).

Both concede it’s a challenge for Libertad but Schofield will head out on track confident he has the horse underneath him to cope.

“Like any good horse he’s very fast but he can relax wherever you ask the horse to,’’ Schofield said.

“If I wanted I could jump and press forward but it’s a nice thing to know heading into a race you’re on a horse who can be wherever you need him to be and still be hard to beat.

“I think I’m pretty much the only jockey to have ridden him so far and I’m pretty thrilled about that. I hope it stays that way.

“He’s an improving horse, when I was riding him as a two-year-old I thought he’d be better at three and it’s a big year for him.

“He’s got a lot of races in front of him I think he can grasp and I’m hoping he can get it done for myself, Annabel and Trilogy.”

Libertad crunched his rivals on debut back in March on the Kensington track and backed it up with a tough win in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m) at The Championships.

The son of Russian Revolution, $7 with TAB on Friday, has trialled twice in the lead up to his return, plus completed an exhibition gallop, but Schofield said while the trials have been pass marks or better it's his work this week that tells him he’s ready to go.

“The first one he needed and his second one he took nice improvement but he’s really come on from that second trial,’’ he said.

“His work on Tuesday was of a standard you’d expect from the high class horse that he is.

“We’ve had no favours from the barrier draw and he’s definitely going to improve from the run but he’s got the class to get the job done if we have a bit of luck.

“I’d love to stay unbeaten with him so hopefully he can get all the way to the Golden Rose with a picket fence.”

Libertad is on the $26 line in TAB’s all-in market on the Group 1 $1 million Golden Rose (1400m) on September 23.

John Sargent’s stayer Casual Connection pleased Schofield with his first-up performance two weeks ago and looks forward to stepping up in distance in the Midway Handicap (1800m).

While finishing ninth of 11 he was only beaten three lengths and warmed up noticeably in the closing stages of the 1500m event as he clocked the fastest last 200m of the race in 11.68 (Punter’s Intelligence).

Libertad runs third in a Randwick trial on August 15

“He ran very well. He was first-up, a staying horse, over a trip that was very unsuitable,’’ Schofield said.

“He got really badly outsprinted on the turn, they left us for dead and I thought we were going to get lapped, but he got going late.

“His last 200m and especially through the line was strong.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting