Nigel taking it slow with Thunder and Springs but they’re having a run along on Tuesday

It’s too soon to tell if Lincoln Farms’ newest trainer Nigel Tiley has a headliner among the two three-year-olds he is educating.

But with one of them big on presence and the other big on size, he is very happy with how they are progressing.

Lincoln Thunder and Lincoln Springs, bought from Wellfield Lodge’s draft at the ready to run sale last November, will both trial at Avondale on Tuesday.

But Tiley says he’s in no hurry with the pair who have been getting through some nice pacework.

Pukekohe trainer Nigel Tiley … doing the right thing by Lincoln Farms’ pair. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.“With the weather the way it is I’m doing the right thing by them. I’m reluctant to push them when the tracks are so wet. It looks like we’ll be getting a wet spring but I’ll have them ready to go as soon as the tracks get better in September.

“They both look like they’ll make nice spring three-year-olds. But how good they are, I don’t know. I haven’t turned any screws on them yet.”

Tiley says Lincoln Thunder is a striking black horse with three wide feet and a white blaze.

“I remember seeing him as a weanling when he was at Wellfield and he had a lot of presence about him even then.

“He’s more a staying type.”

A strong, deep coloured horse, he won Wellfield manager Peter Didham over when he chased him as a yearling in Australia.

“Every time someone else bid on him I came straight back. I really wanted him. And after I bought him Kelly Schweida sat down beside me and said he was underbidder. He reckoned the colt was the closest thing he’d seen to his father, whom he trained. “He’s a gorgeous horse.’’

By More Than Ready’s son Better Than Ready, who won eight of his 16 races, he is out of a Thunder Gulch mare Brilliant Thunder who is a three-quarter sister to seven-race winner Shot Of Thunder.

Brilliant Thunder has had seven foals and six of them have won, including the 10-race winner Monching. Lincoln Thunder is her eighth foal.

Lincoln Thunder, nearest camera, and Lincoln Springs walk back to their Pukekohe stable. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.At 586 kilos, Tiley says Lincoln Springs is huge for a horse who has only just turned three.

“But he’s not a clunker. For such a big boy he’s quite athletic and light on his feet. Big horses normally take time but with him I don’t think we’ll have to wait until he’s four or anything.

“He’s actually had a jumpout and we took him to the trials but he wouldn’t go in the gates.”

Didham echoed Tiley’s thoughts about how the horse’s size didn’t slow him down.

“Everyone who has ridden him has been very complimentary about his action. As well as being a good mover, he has an attitude to match.”

By Foxwedge, a son of Fastnet Rock, he is out of Fountain Joy who has had five to the races, all of whom have won.

With Danehill blood close up on both sides of his pedigree he is closely related to dual Sha Tin winner Bumble Baby.

It is the family of dual Group winner and now sire Happy Giggle.

Lincoln Farms was delighted to secure the services of Tiley, an accomplished horseman who holds the distinction of having ridden a New Zealand Derby winner, Ring The Bell in 1980, and trained one, Look Who’s Talking, in 1994.