Outside draw won’t stop Robbie from going to Town at Hastings on Thursday

Don’t let the 18 barrier draw put you off Lincoln Town at Hastings on Thursday.

With the rail out 10 metres, the starting limit has been restricted to only 12 horses, not wide enough to prevent Lincoln Town’s excellent gate speed from putting him immediately right onto the front end.

And from there, you can expect he will be very hard to run down, given he will have almost identical conditions to the slow 7 on which he was runner-up on the course last time.

Trainer Lisa Latta’s suspicions that the horse simply failed to handle the inside draw on a bog heavy 11 track at Trentham in his previous start were proved correct when he was run down only by Up ’n’ Gone on June 29, that runner in receipt of 4kg thanks to an apprentice allowance.

Lincoln Town easily beat Veuve Clicquot and Beauty Star that day, two of his main rivals again on Thursday, and meets a very moderate looking field.

Lincoln Town will again wear blinkers, Latta saying race rider Robbie Hannam reported the three-year-old concentrated much better last time.

And while the Tavistock three-year-old is bred to be at his best over a middle distance, Latta says she expects him to be right in the frame over 1400 metres.

“He worked nicely this morning and has continued to hold his condition well.”

Ajay Lincoln … starting to do things right but needs a middle distance to show his best.Stablemate Ajay Lincoln gets 1650 metres in the eighth race and, while that’s an improvement on his last start 1400 metres, Latta says we won’t see the best of the Sebring three-year-old until he goes over ground.

Latta has always fancied the horse as a promising staying type and is looking forward to seeing him run on better ground after he struggled into sixth in heavy 11 going at Awapuni first-up.

Latta says racegoers will see a more switched-on version of the horse on Thursday.

“He’s been a bit dumb but after the experience of all his jumpouts and trials he’s finally starting to do things right.

“He has a nice draw and I’m expecting a better run from him.”