But their numbers are smaller than they once were, following the passing of partner Peter Fisher earlier this year.

Taking Liberties has earned two victories since then, and trainer Gayna Williams said it was a fitting tribute from a horse he had loved.

“That was a lovely win … he was so proud of this mare,” Williams said.

“Peter’s wife Suzanne is here and she’s deputising for him now.

“He’s watching.”

The six-year-old bay mare jumped strongly from barrier six before settling in behind the Justin Stanley-trained Coroglen (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $11) and Yeas and Nays (Ken Dunbar, $14), trained by Dennis Bush at Forbes.

Trailing by more than a length at the 600-metre mark, jockey Grant Buckley began to shift Taking Liberties wide and they were able to run Yeas and Nays down to claim victory in the Daily Liberal Benchmar 66 Handicap (1000m).

The Connie Greig-trained Squared (Wendy Peel, $5.50) surged down the middle to pinch second place from Dunbar and his mount, but a full 1.19 lengths behind Taking Liberties ($5.50).

It’s the fourth career victory for the Statue of Liberty (USA) x Thatch Attack progeny, and her second at Dubbo.

“She’s had quite a few starts and she’s always shown ability but it’s just a matter of funding the key to her in a race,” Williams said.

“And I think the key to her is just, having a shorter race yes, but she needs to have speed on in the race, genuine speed on so she can just take a sit behind the speed rather than making the speed herself.”

“It was very promising,” Buckley said of the ride, his second win on the mare.

“The leaders skipped away from me and I sort of had to do a lot of chasing and that horse, it’s not its greatest fortitude to keep chasing but today she really ran well and strong right through to the line.

“Hopefully the horse can stretch out a little bit further.”

“He rode her well,” Williams added. “Thank you Grant!”

“We just take her step-by-step and hopefully go through her classes.

“It’s really good,” she said of winning the Daily Liberal race.

“We’ve been associated with the Daily Liberal for 30 years in my training career so … it’s an honour actually.”

The day also saw Dubbo jockey-turned-trainer Kody Nestor record victory in the Western Plains Security Benchmark 58 Handicap (2200m) with Perpetual Motion (Anthony Cavallo, $4).

Hundreds took advantage of the fine, long-weekend weather to enjoy the day, with Buckley paying tribute to the good four track.

“It’s great! It’s starting to get a bit of growth to it now, you know a bit of heat in the ground so a bit of growth which is a good thing,” he said.

“All we probably need is a bit more rain!”