Lincoln King’s staying prowess crucial in wide-open Australian Hurdle on Sunday

Trainer Kathryn Durden believes any one of the 10 horses in Sunday’s A$125,000 Australian Hurdle can win - and that includes Lincoln Farms’ nine-year-old warrior Lincoln King.

Lincoln King will be having only his fourth hurdle race but Durden says what he lacks in jumping experience he makes up for in staying ability.

“He’s a genuine stayer who rests in his races and the 3900 metres really suits him.

“Some can get 3200 metres and even 3500 metres but not 3900 metres.”

By Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, Lincoln King proved his staying ability long before crossing the Tasman, winning the 2022 Wellington Cup (3200m) for Lincoln Farms’ owners John and Lynne Street, Ian Middleton, Wellfield Lodge, Stephen Marsh and Peter Gillespie.

And under the care of Durden and her husband - former champion jumps jockey Craig - Lincoln King has steadily improved his jumping skills.

While he will never match the Durdens’ former triple Grand National Steeples winner Wells, Lincoln King is shaping as a worthy big race contender.

“The jumping races here are all very competitive and, while he’s only lightly raced, and this will be a learning curve for him, I think he’s in with a chance to do well.

“There’s not one of the 10 horses on Sunday you could count out.”

Kathryn Durden … “There’s not one of the 10 horses in the field on Sunday you could count out.” PHOTO: Racing Photos.The market agrees with Durden, with the top seven fancies all under $10, from co-favourite Galleywood winner Chains Of Honour at $5 to Lincoln King at $9.

Durden elected not to race Lincoln King again after his unlucky and late-closing second in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Warrnambool on May 2.

Carried back by a tiring runner before the turn, Lincoln King picked himself up bravely and swept home under jockey Arron Lynch to be beaten little more than two lengths by jumps find Affluential, whose picket fence form line has him one of the favourites for the fourth race on Sunday.

“I didn’t want to give him a flat race after that and his hurdle option was at Casterton which is a tight and turning track. He can come off the bridle so in a nippy race he would have come under pressure.”

Instead, Durden trialled the horse in a 2400 metre jumps heat at Warrnambool a week ago where he ran fourth of five under Richard O’Donoghue.

“He was only there for the jumping practice. He was a bit sticky for the first couple of jumps but got better and finished only two lengths from the winner.”

Durden is sure she made the right decision, given the horse’s preference for going into his races fresh, and his demeanour in recent days when he’s been squealing and bucking like a two-year-old.

“He’s happy and bright and bubbly, very cheeky.”

The Sandown Hillside track is 2097 metres in circumference with a 491 metre run home.Durden doubts Lincoln King will get his favoured better track conditions - in New Zealand when trained by Stephen Marsh he scored four times on good tracks and twice on soft ground.

“The jumping track at Sandown was a soft 7 today and they’re forecasting some rain.

“But a slower tempo can help horses who are a bit suspect in really heavy ground and there doesn’t look to be a lot of speed in the race.

“Now that he’s up in distance, good speed is not as important as in his flat races and it’s a nice big track, with plenty of room which will suit him.”

The Sandown Hillside track has a circumference of 2097 metres with a 491 metre home straight.

Durden believes Lynch’s style really suits Lincoln King and he will get his chance in a race that has been dominated in the last five years by two trainers, Cairon Maher (Chains Of Honour) having won three times and Eric Musgrove (El Diez) twice.

Frankenstar raced, and won, only yesterday at Hamilton. PHOTO: Racing Photos.Durden has a second Australian Hurdle starter in Frankenstar who firmed today from $11 to $8.50 after winning a 3200 metre hurdle at Hamilton only yesterday.

Durden isn’t worried about a three-day turnaround for the seven-year-old.

“He was going to run a couple of weeks ago but had a bit of a setback. But he’s fit, he’s a good jumper, and he’s bred to stay all day.”

Also by a Melbourne Cup winner in Fiorente out of a Galileo mare, Frankenstar has scored over 3200 metres on the flat as well as twice at the trip over hurdles, once in heavy 10 ground.

Ironically, there’s another Wellington Cup winner in Sunday’s Australian Hurdle - principal Te Akau trainer Mark Walker lines up Leaderboard, who scored at Trentham in 2023 at odds of $50.

Leaderboard, who will be ridden by Will Gordon, won a maiden hurdle at Warrnambool the same day Lincoln King ran second in the Champion Novice Hurdle.

Lincoln King races at 4.40pm NZ time at Sandown in Melbourne on Sunday.