
Prince Lincoln and Harrison Orange are well clear and flying on Friday night. PHOTO: Therese Davis/Race Images.
Prince Lincoln finally shows what he’s made of - and, wow, was that a blazing demolition!
Punters might have been surprised by Prince Lincoln’s sizzling 1:53.6 mile rate in winning at Auckland on Friday night, but not co-trainer Ray Green.
Green, who trains the up-’til-now frustrating three-year-old with Nathan Delany, knew he was capable of much more than he was showing - in his previous 18 starts he’d saluted the judge only once.
“I’ve always said he was a nice horse and I knew that if the real Prince showed up he could do that. The full blinds have certainly inspired him as he’s now put two good ones together.”
Green acknowledged Prince Lincoln hadn’t been a favourite around Lincoln Farms’ Pukekohe stable - “No one likes the ones that don’t put in when you know what they can do.
“But he did his own thing on Friday night - they weren’t going to kick sand in his face. Harry (driver Harrison Orange) said he did it easily, he was just coasting.”
What Green said pre-race about Prince Lincoln who was at $10 on opening.After heading straight to the lead, Orange kept Prince Lincoln running, clear by several lengths throughout, and he even extended in the run home to score by six and a half lengths.
The Always B Miki gelding stopped the clock at 2:00.13, a white hot mile rate of 1:53.6, with closing sectionals of 55.4 and 27.2, exceptional going for an R35-rated horse winning only his second race.
To put that into perspective, he ran four and a half seconds faster than when second to Mick Konstantin at Auckland last month.
And his time was marginally faster than the 2:00.48 that his highly regarded stablemate Lincoln Wave paced when winning on March 27.
Even more impressive is a comparison to the 2:00.09 time that The Lazarus Effect ran when beating Sooner The Better and Merlin in the Lincoln Farms’ Founders Cup in March.
Prince Lincoln’s time was just 13 one-hundredths of a second outside the Alexandra Park three-year-old colts and geldings’ record set by Greased Lightning in February, 2025. Lincoln Farms’ former star filly Debbie Lincoln set the outright three-year-old track record of 1:59.9 last October.
HRNZ records show that only four years ago the New Zealand three-year-old colts and geldings’ record for 1700 metres was set by Republican Party on the much faster Ashburton track and at 1:59.9 was only two tenths of a second faster than Prince Lincoln’s time. It has since been bettered by Hadron Collider (1:59.5 at Cambridge) and Dreams Are Free (1.59.2 at Ashburton).
Green noted Prince Lincoln had first use of the Alex Park surface on Friday night, which was in beautiful order before the rain came, but says he’s now hopeful the horse can stay focussed and keep his new-found form intact.
Prince Lincoln certainly has the pedigree to improve his CV, being out of Cullens Princess, a half-sister to New Zealand Trotting Cup winner Thefixer (12 wins, $660,771). His grand-dam was the swift Great Northern Oaks winner Tosti Girl (7 wins).
Prince Lincoln is raced by Lincoln Farms’ owners John and Lynne Street, their business manager Ian Middleton and a big team of loyal stalwarts in Lance Myocevich, the Green Machine Racing Syndicate, the Excell Syndicate, Brad Baine, Alana Rabbitt, the estate of Margaret Rabbitt and the Athenry Syndicate.
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Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 2: Spirit Of God
5.48pm
“She’s got a bit of lick but I’ll leave it up to the driver (Matthew White) to decide whether to leave the gate. Barry Purdon’s horse Dino looks the one to beat.”
Race 5: Lincoln Maree
7.12pm
“Her race last time was a non-event, the silliest race I’ve seen for a long time, with a middle half in 66.6. It shouldn’t be legal. In the US they’d fine you for going that slow. She tries hard but looks up against it here.”
Race 5: Angelic Copy
7.12pm
“She was out for a long time but has had three runs back now and should be close to being ready to rock. The wide draw makes it tough in a big field.”
Race 7: Prince Lincoln
8.20pm
“It’s always difficult for any horse off a draw like this, let alone one like him, as we know he doesn’t race as well from off the pace. We just have to hope his big demolition job woke him up a lot. His form eclipses anything else in the race but whether or not he’ll bring his best is anyone’s guess.”

