Angus “The Kid” will need to show all his silky skills to land Tommy from wide gate

Angus “The Kid” Garrard has been set a big task to win on Tommy Lincoln at Albion Park on Saturday night after Lincoln Farms’ speedster drew wide on the front line.

But if anyone can pull it off, it’s the state’s junior champion, says new caretaker trainer Mark Dux.

“He’s done a terrific job, driven 300 winners in a short time, and I’ve already had a bit of luck with him,” says Dux.

Garrard, while 17 and still at school, became the youngest driver in Queensland to rack up 100 winners in a season.

Dubbed “The Kid” in a promotional campaign to support drivers wearing their own colours in races, Garrard shared the Kevin and Kay Seymour Queensland Young Achiever Award at the 2020 awards earlier this year.

This season he leads the concession driving list and also sits third on the open state premiership with 94 winners behind only Pete McMullen and Nathan Dawson.

Dux engaged Garrard for Tommy Lincoln, his junior claim enabling him to contest the same grade race the horse won last Saturday night.

Tommy Lincoln goes all-the-way again for Anthony Butt at Albion Park last Saturday night. PHOTO: Dan Costello.But while each of Tommy’s three wins over the Brisbane carnival came from the two gate, he finds himself out in six on Saturday night.

“That’s his biggest problem,” says Dux. “He’s been really good this week, there have been no dramas, but it’s definitely a tricky draw for him and I don’t think he’ll get across to lead from there.

“Jumping Jack Jimmy, who has drawn inside him at four, is quick out and normally wants to hold.”

In 11 starts since arriving in Queensland, Jumping Jack Jimmy has had seven front row draws and led seven times.

Tommy Lincoln has run faster times than Jimmy but from the front end, not parked where he races too fiercely.

“I can see him parked early but whether he gets cover afterwards, we’ll have to see. He’ll just need a bit of luck.”

Two of the rivals Tommy beat last week face him again, Mach Da Vinci (fourth) drawn the pole and Crunch Time (third) on the inside of the second row.

“If they sit off us and we have to sit parked, they’d beat us,” says Dux. “But if Tommy leads, he’s going to take an awful lot of catching.”

Two of Tommy Lincoln’s win at Albion Park were at 1660 metres, his latest in a swift 1:52.7 mile rate, but he showed he could also handle 2138 metres on July 9 when he trounced Bettor Call Me by 5.9 metres in a 1:55.4 mile rate.

In the first of his Queensland wins, Dux took the reins himself, rating the horse perfectly for a 1:53.8 mile rate win.

Co-owner Debbie Sparks introduces her niece Lara to the docile Tommy Lincoln at Alexandra Park.In his sole defeat, he started from the second row, worked forward three wide to the death seat, where he pulled himself into the ground and weakened to seventh.

Tommy Lincoln has been one of the recent success stories for Lincoln Farms and its special partnership scheme.

A $10,000 weanling he has now earned $97,515 in New Zealand and A$24,233 in Australia, boasting a winning strike rate of 33.3%, his 11 wins coming from just 33 starts for Lincoln Farms’ owners John and Lynne Street, Ian Middleton, Shannon and Brenda Flay, Ian, Kathy and Daniel Parkinson, Debbie Sparks, Ray Menzies and Denis Ebert.