Al’s winning recipe: We’ll just leave Larry alone and let him do his own thing
By Barry Lichter • 29 October 2020
With another good draw, Larry Lincoln can go back to back at Albion Park on Friday night.
“It looks a very winnable race again,” says trainer Al Barnes. “The field’s no harder than the one he beat last week.”
Larry Lincoln was confidently tipped by Barnes as a winner last Friday after brilliant track work during the week and he duly obliged, capitalising on a trailing trip with a telling late sprint.
Part of the reason for the form turnaround was also that Barnes instructed his son Hayden not to burn the horse early, but to let him find his feet.
Barnes also learned last week that Larry doesn’t like to be stressed late with the whip or even have his hood pulled. When that happened in the run home he jammed his tail and went from bolting to not wanting to run.
So this week Larry will be left to do his own thing - not only at the start but also at the finish.
With two Redcliffe level horses drawn inside him, you’d think it would be a given that Larry will cross them from three but Barnes says whether that happens will depend on how fast they leave the gate.
“He can go forward and try to lead but we don’t want to burn him early, we’ll just let him slide forward. He can get a little keen.”
Regardless of where he settles, Barnes says the Sweet Lou three-year-old, with his natural speed, will be hard to beat again over only 1660 metres.
Larry Lincoln races at 8.52pm NZ time at Albion Park on Friday night.
More news in Harness
Tyson KOs rivals but Ray floored by stewards’ post-race song and dance over assistant’s help
Dr Green goes to work on mentally fragile Tyson hoping to pen better script for Friday
Ray tells why he rates Lincoln Lou clearly best of Lincoln Farms’ quartet in the fourth race
It’s all up to Angus - Brisbane’s young gun needs to drive a pearler on Nemo at Redcliffe
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Mark Dux’s comments
Wednesday night at Redcliffe
Race 1: Captain Nemo
7.17pm NZ time
“It’s a reasonable field, they’re not push-overs, but they’re all beatable. It will all come down to who gets the right trip. If we have something go our way we could get some of it as there’s not a lot between them and I don’t think he’s far off now. We’ve got a bad draw again and there’s a bit of speed inside us so I’ll tell Angus to just play it by ear.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 4: Lincoln La Moose
7.32pm
“He’s a pretty good horse. He was still below his best last time at Cambridge - he needed the race - but went very well for second behind King’s Watch. With his ace draw, he should be right up there for Zac (Butcher). He always looked a bit delicate but he’s got tougher.”
Race 4: Obadiah Dragon
7.32pm
“He’ll go a good race but our others look better here. His last run was below par for him so we took a blood off him and he had a bit of a virus going on. He was at the tail end of it but it was enough to stop him.”
Race 4: Lincoln Lou
7.32pm
“Even if he’s half a run short, I don’t think it will matter, he’ll still be too good for this lot. He only had a mild virus which came right with treatment and he’s trained on well since. He feels pretty good and if I was betting man, I’d bet him for sure based on his last run, which was massive.”
Race 4: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.32pm
“He’s in a ‘coming of age’ phase. He rushed up beside them last start and wanted to lay all over them and give them a hug. But that’s normal coltish behaviour. He does that in training as well, rushes up and switches off. He has a lot of ability but also a few little behaviour traits that we need to get on top of.”
Race 6: My Copy
8.24pm
“It won’t be easy from four on the second row but he’s very honest and, if opportunity knocks, he’ll be right there. If he gets a trip, he’s always ready to pounce.”
Race 9: Tyson
9.39pm
“He should be one of the favourites. The raw ability is there and he’ll definitely win races as he has a bit of speed. How far he will take us we have yet to find out but I thought he did really well last time given the run he had.”
