Pat Carbery shrugged off a controversial week when he lifted Liwa to an upset win in the Listed Supremacy Stakes (1000m) at Ascot on Sunday.
In an exciting finish, Patrick Carbery was able to extract every possible effort out of the Simon A Miller – trained Liwa who edged out Pixie Chix by a short half head.
Carbery was the toast of Liwa supporters as the daughter of Mulaazem was sent out as a $26 outsider in the 12-horse line-up.
The reaction to Carbery’s victory was in total contrast to last Saturday when social media went into meltdown after his ride on Testing Love in the Ascot 1000 Guineas (1800m).
Carbery’s tactics to send Testing Love forward to sit outside of the leader Solaia came under scrutiny, but he was later cleared by stewards at an inquiry.
Liwa ended a turbulent few days on a high for Carbery, but he admitted it had been a challenging week.
“On the Saturday after the race in question it was pretty tough,” Carbery told Tabradio.
“I had to keep strong and continue on and ride to the best that I could.
“I was always confident the way I had ridden the horse, considering how I believe the pace was.
“It was more the social media part and also getting certain messages and so on from other trainers that have nothing to do with the horse.
“It does make it really hard, but these sorts of things make you tougher.
“I had to keep going and continue to turn up and ride the best that I can.
“A lot of people are talking through their pockets and at the end of the day we are only human out there doing the best that we can.
“I was always confident I had done nothing wrong.
“I had support from 90 per cent of the jockeys and that is a big help.”
Carbery believes Liwa has the capacity to improve and contend for upcoming feature two-year-old races after breaking her maiden status.
Remarkably, at her fourth start, she gave Miller his sixth win in the Supremacy Stakes.
“I think she is a horse that will continue to improve,” Carbery said.
“She is still learning and I thought she took a big step in her pre-race and racing manners.
“She has definitely got improvement and has the right team behind her for two-year-olds.”
Meanwhile Carbery says Reliable Star is on track for the WA Oaks after her gritty 2000m Bunbury win on Saturday.
On the quick seven-day turnaround, the Grant Williams and Alana Williams -trained mare underlined her toughness with a half-length victory.
“I thought it was a good gritty win backing up from the week before,” Carbery said.
“Running against the older horses is a feather in her cap.
“She is a tough little filly.”
Written by Julio Santarelli
