The Confessor

The Confessor was put up here after a highly encouraging return to action two weeks ago at Sandown, seemingly disadvantaged by coming widest of all down the straight when the winner stayed over on the far side, and he ran another race full of promise in the Paddy Power Sprint over six furlongs at the Curragh on Sunday. There had been a deluge during racing on Friday evening and the ground turned soft, which persuaded Henry Candy to let The Confessor take his chance, but the ground had dried out considerably by Sunday, it was officially good ground, but race times indicate it was even a bit quicker than that.

That wouldn’t have suited the son of Piccolo who, according to his trainer, is at his best when there is dig in the ground. On top of that, he was drawn out wide in stall 3 of 28, which was a definite disadvantage, you really need to be close to the stands rail on the straight course at The Curragh, and it meant that he had to race in the group of seven that were isolated from the rest down the middle. His group were some way off the leaders down the stands side at half way as they started to merge, and The Confessor was stuck right out towards the outside, away from where the action was developing right under the near rail. It looked like he would weaken inside the final furlong but, to his credit, he stuck on well to finish seventh, second best of those who had raced out in the centre behind Rock Jock who ended up coming right over to the near side.

The Confessor was a progressive horse last season, and he has put up two likeable efforts on his first two runs now this term. A feature of his performances has been how well he has stuck on having looked in trouble, he is a gritty horse, and this run came over a trip that would have been on the short side for him. He should be better over seven furlongs and he looks like he should even get a mile. The Henry Candy yard is not going as well as it was going at the start of the season, but The Confessor still ran up to form here given the circumstances. He can be marked up a fair bit on the bare form of this run, he is still on an attractive mark and is definitely one to keep on the right side of for the rest of the season, particularly when there is cut in the ground and when he is stepped back up in trip.

26th June 2011