Over to you, Al, Sir Tiger can’t cut it here but he’ll do a good job in Queensland

Sir Tiger will find it tough at Cambridge on Thursday and that’s the reason it will be his last race in New Zealand.

The three-year-old will be on a flight to Brisbane on Tuesday, along with Billy Lincoln, the first in a fresh wave of Lincoln Farms horses destined for Al Barnes’ Marburg stable.

Sir Tiger’s only two wins have been at Cambridge, but in weaker grade, and from the outside of the second row this week, trainer Ray Green says he’s going to struggle.

His last run aside, when he was hampered at Auckland by a breaker early then got off balance and broke after going round it, Sir Tiger has never really gone a bad race, says Green.

“He’s a good honest horse who always tries hard and hangs tough but it’s just too hard for him here. He’d struggle at Cambridge even if he’d drawn well.

“The opposition is much weaker in Queensland - it’s almost like racing in our unqualified class - and he’ll be treated as a one-win horse over there. I’m sure he’ll do a good job, he’ll get money every time he steps out for a while.”

Sir Tiger is raced by a big bunch of owners which includes southerners Brian Rabbitt, Steve Beckett, Kevin Bell, Michael Brereton and Denis James, long time Lincoln Farms owners who bought into the horse after the high priced sale of Beaudiene Western last year.

The partnership with Lincoln Farms’ John and Lynne Street also includes Napier’s Kim Miller, Margaret Rabbitt and the 10-strong women of the Excell syndicate from Hunua - Christine Stuart, Christine Rupp, Lynda Irwin-Parson, Liz Bilton, Sue Donovan, Sue Wilson, Jackie Taylor, Mary Ingles, Sharon Rack and Shirley Arnett.

Billy Lincoln, pictured here trialling in Steve Telfer’s colours, disappointed in his first campaign.Queensland is also the obvious place for Billy Lincoln, says Green, who has not looked like placing in four starts.

“He disappointed me last time in. I thought he should have won a race given he’d shown so much at the workouts. But he didn’t improve when he hit the racetrack.

“He’s still a bit immature - he’s a big, growing horse - and he’s nicely gaited and does nothing wrong so he’s got every chance of performing over there.

“But Al will have to put a lot more work into him first, we’ve only just started hoppling him up again.”

Green says with the success of their initial venture in Queensland - Trojan Banner, Vasari and Lincoln’s Girl have just been sold to the States - it makes sense to follow through with a second team.

“The two-year-olds we’re training are the most important. We’re looking for super horses not ones who can barely feed themselves so we’ve got to be pretty ruthless in our assessment.

“Our handicapping system buggers a lot of horses quite quickly so we have to place them where they can give the best return for our owners.”

Joey Lincoln … could follow his stablemates to Queensland.Green says the remainder of last season’s unraced two-year-olds might also end up in Queensland.

Larry Lincoln, Joey Lincoln, Super Easy and Cover Boy Pretty were just starting hoppled work again but in a month’s time he should know if they will make the grade here.

“They haven’t shown us any glimpses of brilliance so far but we’ll see how they come up. Now and again you get the odd one that lifts his game with a bit more time.”

Under Lincoln Farms’ special partnership policy, where horses are not put up for syndication until they’ve shown they have the ability to win races, none of the four were offered.