Tommy goes all the way, untouched, and there should be more easy kills to come in Brisbane
Tommy Lincoln’s owners can look forward to a few more easy kills judging by the way the horse dispatched his opposition at his Albion Park debut tonight.
Lincoln Farms’ speedster was untroubled to pounce on an early lead and win by 11.5 metres, untouched, in a slick mile rate of 1:53.8 for the 1660 metres.
“He really put the boot into them,” said trainer Ray Green.
“It was only over a mile which suits him, against inferior opposition, and he’s got that big gate speed.
“The good thing is he’s still M0 over here so he can win three or four more before he steps up to open class.
“They’ll get progressively harder but he’s up to it and can run again on Saturday week.”
Tommy Lincoln, who started at the restrictive odds of $1.30 after the late scratching of The Hervey Bay, posted closing sectionals of 54.9 and 27.1 for driver Mark Dux to easily stave off a late run by second favourite Ranger Bomb.
He earned $A4582 for the win, the ninth of his career, taking his bankroll to more than $100,000 for Shannon and Brenda Flay, Ian, Kathy and Daniel Parkinson, Debbie Sparks, Ray Menzies, Dennis Ebert, Ian Middleton and John and Lynne Street.
American Dealer might have finished only 20 metres fourth in his Brisbane opener but his run was full of merit and gained a good pass mark from Green and Dux.
“Mark was very happy with his run,” Green said. “He was first-up since the Jewels and was onto it - when Mark asked him to run he really hooked into it.”
Green said the 54.3 and 26.3 closing sectionals run by the leader, the favourite Ilikemebettor, put paid to the Dealer’s chances, who was stuck one out and three back behind horses who couldn’t improve.
“He’s gone as good as the winner as he was wider (three wide when improving from the 400).
“He also put in a couple of steps on the corners but we’ll be working on that.”
The 2138 metres was cut out in the fast time of 2:34, a mile rate of 1:55.9.
“I thought it was a good run. And tonight wasn’t a target race, it was more like a glorified trial.”
NB: The website result listed American Dealer as having had a gear failure but Green said that was just the horses’ bumper wrap coming off in the run home.
More news in Harness
Kevin Kline a real fish called Wanda fresh-up but he’ll learn from the run for Friday night
Charity horse Kevin Kline looks a good actor and Ray’s pretty hopeful for Friday night
What a Dude! The Big Lebowski bowls ‘em and sets aim for Friday’s $200,000 Free-for-all
Smart trial shows why Ray’s surprised by The Big Lebowski’s big odds for Tuesday
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 9: Kevin Kline
9.55pm
“When Maurice asked him to go at the top of the straight at Cambridge he got lost and didn’t quite know what to do. He wound up well in the end but just left it a little late. He’ll learn from that and should go well again.”
Race 10: Debbie Lincoln
10.22pm
“She has ability but she’s a work in progress. She’s fast but she needs to harness it. She gets a little claustrophobic when they come around her so the mission on Friday will be to get round without her doing anything stupid. She’s a much stronger individual now than when she started off in April.”