Liberthine's title honouring a legacy built to last for Robert Waley-Cohen
Tom Peacock speaks to the owner-breeder about his Cheltenham heroes and heroines
Cheltenham’s newest race, the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, has clearly been named by bookmaking’s sharpest self-promoter with the objective of some immediate brand recognition.
In its formal title the event commemorates Liberthine, whose feats are far longer-lasting. A horse with her own success at the meeting which could yet be replicated as a broodmare, she was the catalyst for the Corinthian racing story of this century and the source of incalculable paternal pride for Robert Waley-Cohen, himself part of Cheltenham’s fabric as a former chairman.
Bred in 1999 by French veterinarian Benoit Gabeur, Liberthine was one of a handful of mares bought by Waley-Cohen as he was assembling the equine foundations for his Upton Viva Stud on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border.
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