SUNDAY: October 1, 2023: ON a day of upsets galore, Hawkesbury debutante Confess Our Dreams was the solitary shining light for favorite punters at Newcastle yesterday.
Even then, she nearly didn’t make it in time to clinch a winning debut in the Maiden Handicap (900m).
Leading Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup was at Royal Randwick, but watched anxiously as his three-year-old filly, confidently backed to start at $2.45, overcame a troublesome passage in the straight before scrambling home in a gutsy performance.
And he could not have been more pleased for her Melbourne owner Akram Younan, who cheered home his team Colllingwood in yesterday’s gripping AFL grand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“Akram bred Confess Our Dreams, and unfortunately lost the filly’s Dam The Beautiful Wife, who died earlier this year,” Brad said today.
“Confess Our Dreams has been a work in progress, but has shown ability right from the start.
“She won both her trials at Wyong and Kembla Grange last month, and I was pretty confident she would run well on debut yesterday.
“Confess Our Dreams is a fast filly, but I thought she did a good job to come from behind after being held up for clear running between the 400m and 250m.
“I’m not going to push her. I would like to give her one more run, but otherwise she will go for a break.”
The Beautiful Wife won three races; the first two at Hawkesbury and Kembla Grange in 2013, and the third at Alice Springs on Anzac Day 2015.
Confess Our Dreams’ successful debut at Broadmeadow was fitting. Her dam was a daughter of Newcastle’s star international sprinter Choisir, and Confess Our Dreams is her third foal.
The filly was Brad’s ninth winner of the new season, and his career 305th.