The Truant

Those conditions, it turns out, involve a bit of moisture in the ground. On wet or slightly soft ground, The Truant has won 2 of its 6 races — that is a 33% win rate, more than three times its overall average. In racing, horses that suddenly improve when the weather turns are genuinely useful, because wet days come around often enough and the competition thins out when conditions get tricky. The Truant is the kind of horse that benefits when others are struggling.

The most striking number in its record is the Sligo figure: 2 wins from just 4 races at that track. Winning half your races somewhere is extraordinary at any level — for a horse with a 10% overall win rate, it suggests Sligo suits something specific about how The Truant travels and competes. Its very first career win came there on 3 August 2022, and it has gone back and won again since. That kind of course form is not a coincidence.

Trained by Michael Attwater at Epsom in Surrey — a yard that has already sent out 27 winners this season, which speaks to a confident, well-managed operation — The Truant is ridden most often by Kevin Sexton, who has partnered it in 7 races for 1 win together. Its most recent victory came at Punchestown in October 2025, around seven months ago. Since then the recent form reads 8-4-7-4-4, a sequence of placed efforts and mid-field finishes that suggest a horse still competing without quite finding the winning thread again.

What is notable is that The Truant raced just yesterday and is clearly still in active training. At nine years old, still placing regularly, still being pointed at races by a yard with real momentum this season — this is a horse that has earned its place on the track. It may not win often, but it tends to be somewhere in the mix, and on the right day at the right course on the right ground, it has shown it can still get the job done.