Lincoln Moonlight to give them a haircut in Singapore on Sunday

Everything points to Lincoln Moonlight winning at Kranji on Sunday.

Lincoln Farms’ most promising horse in Singapore lines up in the second race at 6.40pm NZ time and

• Gets the 1400 metre trip he needs
• Drops in weight
• Jumps from a perfect gate and
• Meets a comparatively weak field.

Leading Singapore trainer Shane Baertschiger rates Lincoln Moonlight one the best of his 20 runners this weekend, natural improvement expected to see him too strong in the S$85,000 race for two and three-year-olds.

The set weight conditions means the son of Alamosa is carded to carry just 52kg, down from the 57kg he has lumped to two impressive thirds to open his career.

The light weight has forced a change of jockey -John Powell is unable to ride under 55kg - but Baertschiger says in Matthew Kellady he has one of the best local riders in Singapore.

Kellady rode Lincoln Farms’ recently retired Lincoln Road to two of his six wins and on Sunday has the luxury of jumping from barrier two.

“He should be able to sit third or fourth behind the leaders and from there he should just be winning.’’

Lincoln Moonlight has powered home in both his runs over 1200 metres in restricted maiden class and on Sunday extends to a much more favourable 1400 metres.

Baertschiger expects Lincoln Moonlight to excel at trips even further than that and long term is aiming at Singapore’s lucrative Three-year-old Challenge series which starts in March.

Lincoln Moonlight will again wear blinkers, gear which helps his tendency to lay in, a habit he shows even in trackwork, says Baertschiger.

Laying in cost him vital ground last start when, after moving out three horse widths off the rails turning in, he was blocked for a considerable distance and didn’t hit top gear until shifted wider out into clear air, taking ground late off rated pair Mach and Hugo.

“This is a much easier field,’’ says Baertschiger who as usual gave the horse an easy time in trackwork on Wednesday, with a moderate 38.4 sprint home.

“That’s all my horses ever do. They don’t need much here in the tropics (because of the heat). They keep themselves fit.’’

Singapore tipsters are all over Lincoln Moonlight, three of six putting him on top, with minor mentions for Super Win, Monte Nerone and Nadeem Sapphire.