Libertybelle Midfrew: Champion racemare and star broodmare
By Peter Wharton
The Christian Cullen mare Libertybelle Midfrew was one of the best racemares of her day.
Libertybelle Midfrew as a broodmare in WA
Bred and originally raced by former NZ Standardbred Breeders Association chairman and now Harness Racing NZ Strategic Racing Advisor and NZSBA Canterbury representative John Mooney and his wife Rebecca, Libertybelle Midfrew began her racing career as a two-year-old in NZ, winning the $156,000 Yearling Sales Series 2YO Final and finishing a close second in the 3YO edition of the classic.
Sold to Western Australia as a three-year-old, she took her career to new heights, winning a further 18 races – 17 at Gloucester Park – including the WA Oaks, Golden Nugget, Mount Eden Sprint, J. P. Stratton Cup, WA Breeders Stakes and a heat of the Inter Dominion and finished up with a stake tally of $640,497.
Libertybelle Midfrew is now leaving her hoofprint on the breeding industry on the other side of the ‘ditch’.
From seven foals of racing age, she has left six winners – five inside 1:58 – and a placegetter including Wishing Belle (by Bettor’s Wish), the winner of the $50,000 Champagne Classic and the $35,000 Gold Bracelet and rated the leading two-year-old filly in Perth this season.
Libertybelle Midfrew the Mooney’s and friends following her 2YO Yearling Sales Series win
Others from Libertybelle Midfrew have the NSW Breeders Challenge Regional winner and dual Group placegetter Libby Lou ($143,844), the Melton winner Keayang Kamikaze ($94,485), Goodtime Libby (4 wins), Henty and the recent NSW provincial winner Freedom Art.
WISHING BELLE winning at Gloucester Park
Since producing Wishing Belle in 2022, Libertybelle Midfrew has left a weanling filly by Tall Dark Stranger and is safely in foal to Sweet Lou.
Libby Lou, who raced only at two and three before breaking down, is now being bred from by prominent NSW studmaster Jackie Gibson, of Success Stud, Young, and has been served by Art Major.
Libertybelle Midfrew is a daughter of the Mooney’s foundation mare Lucinda Midfrew, a Live Or Die mare from the noted Lady Irving tribe who won eight races and left five winners and three producing daughters.
Besides Libertybelle Midfrew, Lucinda Midfrew, a Greymouth Cup winner, produced the Gloucester Park winner Loves Me Like A Rock (1:58.8), Lulli Midfrew 1:56.8, who won six, and the Christian Cullen mare Lulabelle Midfrew (5 wins), the dam of four sub 2:00 performers headed up by the NZ Yearling Sales Series 3YO Final winner Luisanabelle Midfrew ($225,919), the good Albion Park winner Letsgotothehop and the recent Cambridge winner Midfrew Lucre ($99,243).
Another daughter of Lucinda Midfrew in Lucasta Midfrew (by Mach Three) became the dam of See Ya Write ($135,885), a Group 3 winner in Perth and now racing successfully in America, and the WA Derby heat winner Eyre Crusher ($127,123).
Meanwhile, the Mooney’s hopes of the ‘Midfrew’ legacy continuing rest with the lightly raced Bacardi Lindy mare Delmara, the dam of the yearling trotting filly D D G Midfrew (by Habibi Inta), who is undergoing her second preparation.
Delmara, a member of the same family as Muscle Mountain, Paramount Geegee and Paramount King, is back in foal to Habibi Inta.
