Ray: Sam’s simply the best and he’s in good shape to resume at Auckland on Friday night

It’s been a frustrating wait for Simply Sam’s owners but the talented three-year-old finally looks ready to show why trainer Ray Green rates him so highly.

Green believes Simply Sam ($4.20) is simply the best horse in the third race at Auckland on Friday night and expects him to outshine his capable two-year-old stablemates Frankie Major ($4.20) and debutant Colonel Lincoln ($7).

And that’s despite not having raced for two months and drawing the dreaded outside alley.

“He has a lot of ability and he’s in good shape at the moment,” says Green of Simply Sam who will be having only the fourth start of a punctuated career.

“He’s been frustrating. Nothing’s gone right for him. He had lameness issues with growing pains, then he fibrillated, then had viruses but hopefully he’s over all that now.

“I’ve always rated him a horse who, on ability, can compete in the derbies and when he arrives he’ll be a tidy horse.”

Green says punters who sent the horse out a hot favourite when he resumed on February 25 did not see the real thing.

Though he sat parked for the last 1200 metres and was resolute to the line in finishing third, he was obviously not at his best.

“He didn’t seem to run home with much venom. I think he had a few passengers on board that held him up.”

Those passengers came in the form of a persistent bug which laid low the Lincoln Farms camp, along with many other stables in the north.

“They all had a bit of virus. But he’s over that and even though they didn’t go that hard in the workout he won last Saturday, he won easily.”

Used in the middle stages to lead, then trail, Simply Sam exploded up the home straight to reel in the leaders, racing clear of Strength And Honour and Colonel Lincoln to score by one and three-quarter lengths.

His sectionals weren’t eye-popping, home in 60.1 and 28.3 for a mile rate of 2:03.6 for the 2050 metres, but the way he did it impressed Green and driver Zachary Butcher.

“Maybe the draw will suit him in his first run for a while, he can go back and run home. With the right trip, he’ll be right there.”

Zachary Butcher sticks with Frankie Major. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.Frankie inexplicable failure

Maurice McKendry takes the reins on Simply Sam on Friday night with Butcher sticking to last week’s inexplicable failure Frankie Major.

Backed down to the impossibly short odds of $1.25, punters, and Butcher alike, were feeling pretty happy with themsleves when he was allowed to stroll through a quarter in 33.

“Down the back I was giggling to myself,” said Butcher whose only query was by how much he was going to win.

But the two-year-old was quickly swallowed up in the run home to finish 1.7 lengths fourth, which took Green completely by surprise.

“Watching him running in front like that I could have understood anyone wanting to put $10k on him,” says Green.

“What happened was a bit of a worry. I’d like to have an excuse but I couldn’t find anything wrong with him and he trained OK the other day.

“I’ve just got to presume he wasn’t fit enough or strong enough. In training he’s deadly coming off their backs but maybe in front he’s not so tough. We won’t be pushing for the front this time from seven.”

Green says he can’t use an early expenditure of gas as an excuse as when Butcher let the horse slide to the lead down the back straight the Art Major colt did it on his own with ease.

“If they’d gone 2:42 or faster you’d have thought maybe he had the finish taken out of him, but they went only 2:48.

“And he’s done a bit in the running against tidy animals before (parked on debut) and still run well.

“I’m hoping it was just that he needed the run. He hadn’t raced for a while.”

Sale-topping colt Colonel Lincoln is a lovely mover. PHOTO: Trish Dunell.Sale-topping colt debuts

Green believes Colonel Lincoln will develop into a tidy racehorse but says while he has a lot of ability, he’s not overly confident he’s a debut winner.

“One isn’t an ideal draw for a horse like him - he still gets a bit claustrophobic and they can get bustled a bit early on the inside.”

Green says the $200,000 sale-topping colt (Bettors Delight - Jessies Cullen) at Karaka is a beautiful mover but has just been a bit slow on the uptake.

“He’s always felt like he could run, he’s just taken a while to get his head around it. He gets a little worried when other horses come near him. He seems to be getting over that, and is starting to do things correctly, but I still feel like he’s capable of making a mistake.

“He’s a bit like Copy That who kept finding a way out of it.

“He’s always been a lovely moving colt though. He was a beautiful yearling and has matured into a nice, strong animal. Frankie Major has more speed than him but he could end up much stronger.”

Green has entrusted Friday’s drive to Andrew Drake: “Andrew has driven him most at the workouts and he knows what he’s like.”

Colonel Lincoln has caught the eye in a number of his recent workouts, flashing home from the back to finish close-up on April 2, second to Frankie Major a week later and third to Simply Sam last Saturday.

“He’s very capable of beating a field like this but I’d sooner see him nursed round his first couple of times. If he wins, he wins but I’ll be happy just to see him get round safely.

“I’m looking forward to racing him. He certainly looks the part.”