Krug rears high for Blair Orange before his workout at Auckland. He looks the one to beat in the opening Young Guns heat on Friday.
Ray down to only two guns but both Platinum Stride and Captain Nemo have bullets to fire
By Barry Lichter • 11 December 2019
A slight sniffle will keep Bondi Shake out of the first Young Guns’ heat at Auckland on Friday night but trainer Ray Green expects Platinum Stride and Captain Nemo to be right in the fight.
Green had been aiming for a three-pronged assault on the opening two-year-old contest but he treated Bondi Shake for a minor virus earlier in the week.
However, with Platinum Stride ($41) in gate two and Captain Nemo ($41) in five, Green suggests there’s even a chance his pair could lead and trail.
Platinum Stride has shown any amount of zip in his preparatory workouts and, with leading horseman Anthony Butt in the cart, will get his chance to set the tempo.
Captain Nemo also surprised driver Zachary Butcher with the amount of early gas he had in a special workout on the course last Tuesday, declaring he could have led by anything had he asked the horse to run.
“Obviously it’s different in a race - there could be three or four with designs on the lead - but both have the ability to lead,” says Green.
“I expect them both to be very competitive. The two-year-olds look a pretty even bunch this year, there’s no real standout yet.”
Lined up across the track near the finish of last week’s workout it’s, from the inside, Platinum Stride, Bondi Shake, Captain Nemo and Vincent Van Gone.While the Lincoln Farms trio bowed to southerner Vincent Van Gone in their latest workout at Auckland, Butt reported Platinum Stride was only just getting warmed up at the line.
The Captaintreacherous colt, who cost big spending Australian Emilio Rosati $82,500 at NZ Bloodstock’s Christchurch yearling sale, has been one of the most precocious of the Lincoln Farms babies from the start.
Captain Nemo, also by Captaintreacherous and a $110,000 buy for Lincoln Farms’ John Street, looked a little green last week, Butcher reporting his hopples needed tightening up and that he didn’t seem to know what to do after cruising to the lead in the run home.
Krug rushes home wide out for third in his workout at Auckland.Their main rivals trialled three days later and while the first two home were the All Stars’ pair of First Class and It’s All About Faith, the eye-catching run came from the Cran Dalgety and Nathan Purdon-trained Krug who thundered home for third.
Krug demolished the other pair at the cup trials at Addington last month and, even from gate seven on Friday night, is the one to beat.
Green will give new recruit Classie Reactor his chance in the opening race on Friday, where he lines up the highest equal rated runner for his first race in the north.
He gets the worst draw of eight in the rating 47 to 59 event, not an easy task over a mile at Alexandra Park.
The winner of two of his five starts, Classie Reactor will be having only his second run for owner Merv Butterworth after a spell of 16 months and Green says “whatever he does, he will improve on.”
Classie Reactor looked a likely type, however, when he powered home for a close third to star pacer Self Assured at the weekend workouts.
“He could have pulled up a bit better that day but he trained not bad yesterday,” says Green.
“He feels like he’s got a bit of speed but we’ll find out on Friday.”
More news in Harness
Prince Lincoln spearheads record-sized team for Lincoln Farms at Cambridge on Friday
Ray cautions punters with no lead this time for Jekyll and Hyde colt Prince Lincoln
Two (not so) secret weapons help Lincoln Farms to $29,287 payday at Cambridge
Deb dresses her latest ‘Copy’ weanling in white and he delivers a Major coup
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Spirited Belle
4.46pm
Delany: “I saw she’d been punted but somebody must know something we don’t as I’ve been working her myself and, while she feels all right and hasn’t put the boot in like at Auckland, I think she’ll need the run. She hasn’t got any high speed but feels like she will stay. She has improved a bit but I’d be surprised if she won.”
Race 1: Lincoln Maree
4.46pm
“It’s always hard from these draws but she’s a tough mare who will make her own luck at some stage. She’s going well enough - her drivers have all been happy - and she’s a little warrior who tries like hell.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.12pm
“He’s only two and very inexperienced but he feels like a good colt and there’s a lot of improvement in him. He certainly caught a lot of people’s attention last time. I don’t know how good he is yet but he’ll be right there.”
Race 2: Prince Lincoln
5.12pm
“If he can lead without having to do too much work I can’t see anything beating him. I thought he went great last start. He pressed the winner hard ’til the corner then just flattened out in the run home, but he had every reason to do that after all the work he’d done.”
Race 4: Spirit Of God
6.12pm
“She’s been undone by bad draws. If she led easily from three she’d be hard to beat as she’s a good front-runner.”
Race 4: Spirited Peggy
6.12pm
“We’ve had her for only two weeks but she’s seven now and has had her chance to win one. She has a bit of speed but I think she gets pulling so we’ve got the Hidez (compression) hood on her and plugged her ears up.”
Race 6: Copy N Paste
7.10pm
“We won’t see the best of him for another six months. He’s been a slow developing horse but is improving all the time and getting stronger.”
Race 6: Jessie Lincoln
7.10pm
“If I was having a bet on one of them in the race it would be her. She deserves to win one. Her last two have been really good - she just ran into one who was a bit slicker last time in Major Copy.”
Race 6: Lincoln Dealer
7.10pm
“He’s a bit one-dimensional - you’ve got to feed him track and let him run - so the second row draw is a big handicap. To his credit I was surprised he finished so close last time after all the work he did. When he gets a decent draw and crosses them they’ll know they’re at the races. He’s got a big motor and tries hard.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.08pm
“She clawed her way to the front last time but had nothing left at the finish. That won’t happen this time and she should lead easily from one.”
Race 8: Angelic Copy
8.08pm
“She’s had terrible draws but has been going good races. The others last time were just better than her but this is a big drop in class. With the right trip she could get some of it at huge odds.”
Race 9: Sugar Ray Lincoln
8.35pm
“He’s not quick away from a stand but he won’t muff it completely. He steps from the front line and Peter Ferguson was quite happy with his last run.”
Race 9: Lincoln Wave
8.35pm
“He bombed the stand the first time but to be fair all those horses were rushing up at him from the back and that panicked him a bit. He’s on 10 metres this time so that won’t happen.”
