
Opie Bosson on Lincoln Raider after one of his super impressive wins at Trentham. PHOTO: Peter Rubery/Race Images.
Lincoln Raider back home today recovering from surgery to remove bone chip
Exciting galloper Lincoln Raider is back home today after successful surgery to remove a bone chip from his knee.
And trainer Lisa Latta expects the operation will see the four-year-old right back to his best when he resumes in the autumn.
Latta had the horse checked out after he was mildy lame after finishing second at Trentham at his last start on January 19, when he made up a huge amount of ground against a strong leader’s bias.
And on detecting swelling in his right intercarpal joint vet Tim Pearce referred the horse to Massey University’s equine hospital in Palmerston North.
Pictures of arthroscopic carpal chip surgery similar to that carried out on Lincoln Raider. The probe is against a loose bone fragment and cartilage surfaces are rough when they should be extremely smooth.Using arthroscope (keyhole) surgery, surgeons removed a bone fragment, removed damaged cartilage and debrided a kissing legion on the third carpal bone.
Latta says the procedure went like clockwork so it is hoped the horse might get back to the track sooner than anticipated.
Lincoln Raider will now be confined to a box for a month. If no infection sets in, Pearce will remove the horse’s sutures in two weeks, after which he will be hand walked for 10 minutes twice a day.
He can then be moved to a small paddock and, all going well, resume training in 10 to 12 weeks.
Latta says it’s hard to know when the injury occurred - bone chips can move around and affect horses intermittently.
But the significance of Opie Bosson’s report on the horse after his disappointing run in the Dunstan Final at Ellerslie on Boxing Day cannot be ignored.
Bosson revealed after the race that Lincoln Raider had struck the running rail several times early in the race and trotted gingerly back to scale.
“He seemed fine when we got home but sometimes it’s hard to pick up these things.’’
Latta noticed the horse changing legs at Trentham, a likely sign that he was being worried by something.
She is hoping she can put Lincoln Raider back into work in eight to 10 weeks given how straight forward the surgery was.
Lincoln Raider has been one of the most exciting of Lincoln Farms’ gallopers this season, alongside Lincoln Falls, his two explosive wins at Trentham in October and December prompting big money talks with overseas buyers.
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Lisa’s comments
Friday at Awapuni
Race 8: Lincoln Towers
4.53pm
“He needs two more scratchings to make the field and, because it’s the first day back racing at Awapuni and they’re running only 12 horses, that looks doubtful. I decided to run him over 1400 metres as I think leaving him at 1200 wouldn’t be the right thing to do. He has continued to work well and had a really nice gallop on the course proper this week.”

Stephen’s comments
Saturday at Te Rapa
Race 7: Billy Lincoln
3.37pm
“He’s bounced out of his trial (third on the Cambridge synthetic) very well and it’s time to kick him off. I wouldn’t expect him to win at 1200 metres but it will bring him on nicely. Then we’ll step him up to a more suitable 1400 and second-up he can be very competitive. Rihaan Goyaram rides and claims 3kg down to 53.5kg.”