Aussie bookies running scared of Lincoln Farms’ pair for Brisbane winter features
By Barry Lichter • 1 May 2019
Northview Hustler hasn’t even arrived in Brisbane yet and he has the Aussie bookies running scared.
Lincoln Farms’ flagship pacer has opened third favourite at just $5 in the bookies’ early futures market for the winter Queensland feature, the $A200,000 The Blacks A Fake Championship (2680m) on July 20.
The bookies are likely taking note of the success of stablemate Trojan Banner, who is unbeaten in five starts since arriving in Queensland and has also opened third favourite for the $A100,000 Queensland Derby (2680m) the same night.
Trainer Al Barnes was surprised to see his stable star as short as $4.50 for the late season feature given he has yet to tackle the leading local three-year-olds.
And Hustler’s high rating is also a shock as he has won only one of his seven starts this season.
Bookies have him clearly ahead of 2018 Miracle Mile winner My Field Marshal ($9), who failed in both the Sunshine Sprint and Blacks A Fake in Brisbane last year and Tim Butt stablemate Let It Ride ($11), who won the Blacks A Fake in 2018 but hasn’t been at his best since.
Former Lincoln Farms’ pacer Lincoln Road, who has won nine races in Brisbane for Barnes since arriving five months ago, is also on the fourth line of betting at $11.
Lochinvar Art, who is a $3 favourite for the derby, has yet to miss a place in 19 starts, winning 10 of them.
Third in both the Victoria and New South Wales Derbies, he has not raced since winning the Gold Chalice Final (2260m) at Bathurst on March 29.
Second favourite Max Delight has not been seen since March 16 when he won the Tasmanian Derby.
He was a sensational winner of the New South Wales Derby two starts back at Menangle when he beat Malcom’s Rhythm and Lochinvar Art, clocking a mile rate of 1:51.5 for the 2400 metres.
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Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 2: Jessie Lincoln
5.25pm
“This is her first run back and first at the Park but I’m expecting her to be very competitive. She ran a nice trial and she seems pretty good. I think she’ll be in the money. She’s a much stronger individual after her break - the big ones tend to take a little longer to make. I like her. She’ll be winning races for sure.”
Race 4: Johnny Lincoln
6.16pm
“We’re testing the water with him but he’s a proper racehorse and, drawn one, he won’t be far off them. I can’t see him beating those others but he’s a little tradesman who is a worthy candidate for the race.”
Race 4: Lincoln Wave
6.19pm
“You just have to forget about his last start because of the puncture and assess him on the previous two runs. We’re not expecting a huge effort from him - he’s on his way back up after a five-week break and there’s a fair bit of improvement in him. But I think he’s a very nice horse and I’m not afraid to front up to the good ones with him. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got into it, even from five. We still don’t really know what we’ve got with him. But whatever he does on Friday night will tidy him up for the next one.”
