Partners and pedigree made Johnny Lincoln’s win special - but where was everyone?

John Street enjoys nothing more these days than to share his success on the racetrack but Friday night’s weather bomb and distance kept his partners away when Johnny Lincoln saluted for the first time at Alexandra Park.

Street and his wife Lynne race the promising two-year-old colt with some of their most loyal supporters but when he won the Lincoln Farms Pace, he comically had to present the trophy to himself.

“I couldn’t believe none of them were there,” said Street who has won more than 1000 races in the last four decades.

Included in the partnership are Street’s business manager Ian Middleton who was overseas, co-trainer Ray Green, regular attender Margaret Rabbitt, the eight-strong Waikato Four Legs syndicate, Christchurch’s Athenry Syndicate, comprising Addington racing secretary Brian Rabbitt, his wife Christine and daughter Alana, and the now southern-based Duncan Chisholm and Kathy James.

Carl Officer, second from right, at his stag do in 2019 with his mates from the Four Legs Syndicate.Four Legs’ spokesman Carl Officer, who was at the Park the previous week to see Johnny’s unlucky second, told Street over dinner how much racing horses with Lincoln Farms, for not a lot of cost, had enriched his life. Officer’s last good performer, Northview Hustler, ended up winning 32 races and A$530,000.

“I get a real kick out of feedback like that,” said Street who bought Johnny Lincoln cheaply as a weanling..

“This little horse has had his troubles so it was good to see him win.”

Street wasn’t just referring to the racing bad luck which Johnny Lincoln had endured in his first four starts, when placed each time.

“He’s had a hard time the poor little bugger. He got a bad eye infection early on and we thought he’d lose his eye, but the vets saved it.

“Then one day on the track he crossed his legs and hit his knees.

“All I said to Peter (Ferguson) on Friday night was to keep him out of trouble.”

That, Fergy did, moving up to take the lead 1200 metres out and rating the horse beautifully to score, untested, by one and a quarter lengths.

“He was going to knock off 50 metres from home but one touch and he picked up again. Peter said he did it easily.”

Green, who trains the colt with Nathan Delany, put the improved performance partly down to a change of gear.

“We took the pacifier off him and he was 200% better. We put it on originally because he was shying at everything.

“Fergy said he shied a little at the winning post but otherwise was perfect. He steered much better and is getting better all the time.

“He smashed them and on paper so he should have. It’s hard to know how far he’ll take us but I’m happy with what he’s done so far.”

Lather Up … has now had six individual winners in New Zealand. PHOTO: Woodlands Stud.Woodlands Stud trifecta

The finish proved a triumph for Woodlands Stud and in particular new kid on the block Lather Up, who led home a stud trifecta with runner-up Move It Lou by Sweet Lou and third-placed It’s Not Kathy by Bettor’s Delight.

Johnny Lincoln was the sixth individual New Zealand winner for Lather Up, from only his second crop racing, taking the sire’s tally to 11 wins from just 49 starts.

Green, not surprisingly, likes the 1:46 world record-breaking stallion, having already produced the unbeaten Debbie Lincoln for three wins.

There’s also another reason why Green and Street have a soft spot for Johnny Lincoln - he traces directly back to the stable’s best horse, Sir Lincoln, winner of 21 races and $663,000 in stakes.

Johnny’s dam Ima Megastar is the only foal that Sir Lincoln’s sister Lincoln’s Megastar left before being killed when a tree fell on her in a freak storm at Woodlands.

Lincoln’s Megastar won six races, including a nine-and-a-half length trouncing on debut at Auckland, and according to Green “could really fly.”

There’s another relation eating grass at Lincoln Farms too - Street, Green and Middleton paid just $4000 to buy Ima Megastar’s fourth foal, a Downbytheseaside filly, as a weanling.

Green will study the programmes before deciding whether to now rest Johnny Lincoln.

“He might have a bit of a break as the two-year-old races are few and far between.”

Street, however, says there are half a dozen other capable two-year-olds going through their paces, who could be unleashed in the next few months.