McConnell Could Keep Rolling At Roscommon

Island Court ran a better race than his finishing position suggests for us today. He broke decently but got shuffled back towards the rear inside a furlong, and once that happened he faced a tough task to get involved at the business end. He did stay on well enough for 6th though despite looking a bit unbalanced on a couple of occasions, and I think if he had been able to race more prominently from an early stage he may well have challenged for a place.
 

John McConnell has his string in fine fettle.

I always try to tell myself that backing horses on a Monday is a bad idea, but when there is a 40/1 shot that catches my eye I simply can’t resist having a small each way bet. Few trainers have their horses in better form than Meath based handler John McConnell at the moment and I think he has an interesting contender in Liars Corner in the 10f handicap at 8.30pm.

This 3yo son of Zoffany makes his handicap debut off a mark of 59, and when you consider he was beaten a combined total of 62L on his three maiden starts at 7f/8f then that rating does look a tad harsh. However, his two heaviest defeats came as a 2yo and he displayed a fair amount of promise on his first start as a 3yo over 7f on heavy ground at Cork.

He was reined back early by Robbie Downey in that contest and he pulled hard in the early stages. As they swung for home the leaders had already flown and Downey decided to plot a route up the inner. Liars Corner still looked to be travelling okay 3f out, and Downey switched him again to the outer. He kept on well to finish 6th, and if his pedigree is anything to go by then 10f on good ground could bring about even more improvement.

Zoffany’s offspring often relish decent underfoot conditions and Liars Corner’s dam, Abstain, is related to some extremely talented fast ground performers at trips ranging from 7f to 12f. So, for those reasons I think that the step up in trip and better ground will suit, and another big positive is the form of John McConnell.

He has his string in super shape, with form figures of 1113P284 for his last 8 runners. Tom Madden claims 5lb off Liars Corner’s back and he is worth every ounce of his claim. He has a good record for the yard too, with 4 wins from just 17 rides. This gelding obviously needs to step up on what he has shown so far so stakes should be kept small, but at odds of 40/1 there are enough angles to justify a modest each way bet.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 8.30 ROSCOMMON-LIARS CORNER E/W @ 40/1