General Green’s battle plan will see baby platoon turned out with military precision
By Barry Lichter • 16 January 2019
Never mind the Blue Army, the Green Army comes to town on Friday night when Lincoln Farms will line up six of the nine starters in the opening race for two-year-olds.
We’re used to seeing multiple runners in blue from the Purdon/Rasmussen barn but never before has Lincoln Farms had six starters in one race.
And with Perfect Stride, Double Or Nothing, Man Of Action, Copy That, Sir Tiger and Tommy Lincoln it’s hard to see the stable’s myriad of owners not descending on the Alexandra Park winners’ circle after the race.
Trainer Ray Green … marshalling the troops for a six-strong assault on the opening race at Auckland. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.Trainer Ray Green has been busy working out a battle plan and will summon all his troops and artillery for the night ahead, when they will start 10 runners in all.
Drivers have all been sorted - as well as the stable’s own Zachary Butcher (Perfect Stride), Andre Poutama (Sir Tiger) and Andrew Drake (Tommy Lincoln), he’s roped in Tony Herlihy (Copy That), James Stormont (Man Of Action) and David Butcher (Double Or Nothing).
They’ll bring the team in with three transporters, eight in their big Lincoln Farms’ truck and two each in separate floats to be driven by Poutama and Green’s wife Debbie, and will even give an outside passenger, Alta Venetia, a ride for trainer Ian Moody.
Green will bring in their four race carts from Pukekohe and borrow two more from fellow trainers on the night.
Colours aren’t a problem - Green has laid his hands on five sets of the Lincoln green silks, with Perfect Stride to carry the light blue and yellow diamonds of leading Australian owner Emilio Rosati.
There’ll be enough harness in the truck to start a saddlery and plenty of bodies at Alexandra Park before the night kicks off with stable foreman Craig Sharpe joining the team of drivers to help gear up with Debbie Green preparing her own horse Copy That.
“It’ll be easy enough,’’ says Green. “When I worked with Wolfie (Peter Wolfenden) years ago we’d often have runners in nearly every race, sometimes two and three, and we’d handle it all ourselves.
“And you know what the say, the more people you have the more chance of mistakes.’’
Thankfully, Green will have a couple of races afterwards for all the ungearing and cleaning up, with the stable’s two-year-old fillies Hilary Barry and Beaudiene Blinkz not due to run until the fourth race.
* Check out our separate upcoming story for Green’s in-depth comments on how he rates each of his contenders.
More news in Harness
Johnny Lincoln’s big ticker will stand to him in the States and Lover’s also sold to Aussie
No Jumals to beat this time at the Park so Ray’s looking for Lincoln Wave to roll in
Lincoln Linda best of the night at Cambridge - she has the engine to cross Soul Artist
Cheapie Johnny Lincoln a “proper” racehorse who can foot it with the Million bluebloods
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Ray’s comments
Thursday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Rivergirl Bella
5.44pm
“She did well here last time as she had to do a bit to get to the lead and she dug in and fought on. She’s certainly a chance if she repeats that effort.”
Race 4: Lincoln Linda
7.09pm
“I thought she went super last time after doing a lot of work. She can do that because she has an engine and is tough. She’s a bit one-dimensional - you have to turn her loose early - but from the two draw she should be able to lead and that’s where she does her best work.”
Race 5: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.34pm
“I think he’s a bit stronger after his spell. It’s not a great field - most will die on that mark - and I don’t see a problem with the standing start as he’s nicely gaited. He could be marginally unfit after three months out but he’s done quite a bit of work and I can see him going a half-decent race.”
Race 6: Lincoln Maree
7.59pm
“She had every chance last time but I can’t see why she won’t go well again. She’s as honest as they come and tries like hell.”
Race 7: The Night Fox
8.29pm
“You’d think he’d lead easily from the inside. He’s had bad draws and still got the money, so I’m sure he’ll go another good race. I’m surprised they sold him so cheaply. He’s better than people think.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 1: Lincoln Wave
5.09pm
“With the trip he got in the Harness Million I thought he’d have run on a lot better. But he was still a bit short on fitness and sometimes we can expect too much of these horses, he was racing the best, after all. It’s a big drop in grade here and he’s a pretty fair horse.”
Race 1: Leo Lincoln
5.09pm
“He’s an honest sort who’s in a good space but he won’t get a wonderful trip from the outside of the gate this time so I’m not holding my breath.”
Race 3: Sammy Lincoln
6.04pm
“He’s training down well but you never know what he’s going to do. You think you’ve got him sorted and he does something silly. But we know if the real Sammy turned up, he’d be very hard to beat as he’s got a lot of speed.”
Race 5: Prince Lincoln
7.05pm
“He’s another where you don’t know which one will turn up but we’ve gelded him since his last run, so we’ll see if that helps. He trained well the other day.”
