Red clouts killer punch at Pakenham

Red Liberty put a string of minor placings behind him to break through for his maiden victory in emphatic style at Pakenham on Thursday.

At his ninth career start, the Danny O'Brien trained gelding produced a withering run from back in the field for jockey Damian Lane to score a soft win in the 1400m maiden event.

"He won well today," Lane commented following the win.

"He has promised doing that on Raceday for a little while now, as he has always travelled well in his races but he has probably lacked that killer punch in the end, so it was good for him to do it here today and hopefully now he gains confidence and goes on with it."

Red Liberty had placed five times from eight starts before this triumph which included a running second in maiden grade to eventual Group 1 Australian Guineas winner Grunt back in December.

Lane was confident the son of Iffraaj would get out further in trip in the future, however he said there was no rush given the turn of the foot the four-year-old showed over the seven furlongs.

"I will it up to Danny where he goes next but I would be confident he would run well off the back of this dominant performance."

Pic by Racing Photos