Ryan Moore Chooses Confucius for Coventry Stakes
ryan moore has chosen Confucius for the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, putting the No Nay Never colt into one of the meeting’s most watched juvenile races. The pick lands in a market with two Ballydoyle colts at the top, and Confucius arrives with form that has already moved him forward from April to the following month.
Confucius and Millisle
Confucius is out of Cheveley Park Stakes winner Millisle, and his recent runs give Moore a reason to stay with him. He was a fast-finishing second over 5f at the Curragh in April, then won a 6f maiden at Naas the following month, hitting the line strongly when he got there.
That sequence puts him among the better-profiled runners heading into the race. He has shown he can finish strongly over 5f and then stretch that effort to 6f, which leaves him with two useful pieces of form at the trip range that matters most in a juvenile contest like this.
Great Barrier Reef at the Curragh
Great Barrier Reef gives the market another Ballydoyle option after following his debut success with victory in the Listed Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh. He won by a wide margin on bad ground on debut, but had to work harder to reel in stablemate Carry The Flag last time and took a while to pick up.
His route matters because it sits in the same Ballydoyle pattern that has turned out major Coventry Stakes runners before. Aidan O’Brien-trained winners have taken six of the last 15 renewals, and his last four Coventry Stakes winners all headed the market, even though the race has also produced 80/1 and 150/1 winners since 2020.
Coventry Stakes market
That mix leaves the Coventry Stakes with a familiar split between proven yard strength and the sort of price shocks that have already hit the race in recent years. War Command won it for O’Brien in 2013 at 20/1, and the current picture still points back to the Ballydoyle pair at the head of the betting.
For Moore, the choice narrows the race down to a colt who has already shown progression in two starts and whose profile fits the stable’s recent pattern in this event. For everyone else, the market still has to weigh that against a race that has not always gone to plan for the favourite.
