Ray: Improving Kevin Kline won’t be out of place in the bright lights of Broadway

Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green is looking forward to tackling richer purses over Christmas-New Year with Kevin Kline after his dominant win at Auckland on Friday night.

“He gave them a comprehensive flogging and he’s potentially a really nice horse,” Green said after driver Maurice McKendry speared the two-year-old clear to beat Spirited Peggy by two and a quarter lengths.

“Maurice said he just jogged it. And even though he ran only 2:44.8, if he’d had to go 2:42 or 2:41, no problem.”

Kevin Kline earned a winning stake of $8250 plus an Entain bonus of $6000, Green miffed the two-year-old incentive was halved because it was not solely a race for two-year-olds.

“Most of his opposition were just average horses and I know there’ll be more competition for the better purses over Christmas but I’m not too worried as he’s pretty classy.

“It’s a big transition from winning a race to racing other winners, and it can be quite daunting for some, but he’s a bit different.

“Most of the time you win a race and think: what am I going to do now?, but he could develop into a tidy racehorse.”

Green said even though the Always B Miki gelding could already run a half in 55 he would only get better with time.

“He’s tall, but not big bodied so he has a lot of strengthening to come. He’s actually come a long way quite quickly.

“When we first leased him from (breeder) Pat Laboyrie he had been only very basically broken in. He and Tyson were out of the same paddock and had been in the cart only twice I think.”

Green credited Andre Poutama with doing the early breaking in at Lincoln Farms. And, from a timid baby who didn’t really know what was going on, Kevin Kline now enjoyed his jogging.

“He’s done a good job from a humble start and to win at only his fifth start shows he’s a pretty good horse.”

Kevin Kline is the eighth and last foal of six-race winner Matai Mies, his first two foals the best, Emily Blunt and Happy Place, who both won eight races.

Green said there had been no shortage of people wanting shares in the horse, one of the latest of Lincoln Farms’ special partnerships.

The big team now includes Lincoln Farms’ owners John and Lynne Street, Priscilla Edmunds, Lance Myocevich, Trevor Casey, the Red and Blue Syndicate, Ray Menzies, Dave and Daphne Jones, Margaret Rabbitt, Jason Deane and Brent Mulholland.