Stephen just hoping to see Lincoln King hit the line hard at Te Aroha on Wednesday

Lincoln King might have gone a bottler first-up but trainer Stephen Marsh isn’t expecting the stayer to be as sharp at Te Aroha on Wednesday.

If the Shocking five-year-old is just hitting the line hard in behind the placegetters, Marsh says he’ll be happy.

The in-form Cambridge trainer has kept Lincoln King to 1600 metres for his second-up run and says he fits the profile of the staying types who excel first-up but fail to flatter in their second runs.

“He was very good running second at Avondale, he went bigger than we expected,” said Marsh.

Fourth last in the running, rider Sam Collett was held up early in the run home before piercing a gap 300 metres out and getting almost alongside leader Ohceedee at the 150, only to peak on his run.

“He’s tightened a touch with the run but is still not perfect in he coat and has improvement in him.

“I’m half expecting him to level out second up. I’d be disappointed if he poked around for seventh or eighth. I’d like to see him run a nice third, fourth or fifth and be getting through the line nicely.”

Lincoln King scored in dead 5 conditions at Avondale in June, but he needs a middle distance.Marsh says a dead 5 Te Aroha track, with its 500 metre long home straight, will suit Lincoln King perfectly. He won in similar conditions at Avondale in April.

“But he’s drawn 14 so we’re not going to punch him out of the gates. He’ll get back. We’ve got no head gear on him yet and it won’t be until we step him up over ground that you’ll see a proper horse.”

Marsh says he’ll be guided by what Lincoln King does at Te Aroha on whether he gives him another run over 1600 metres or not.

“It could be that we’ll walk away saying he definitely needs 2000 metres now.”

Marsh says potentially Lincoln King could find himself in the $100,000 Dunstan middle distance feature at Ellerslie over Christmas-New Year when he will be hoping for some kick in the ground.

“I suspect hard tracks will find him out but I’d like to think he’ll do a good job this season. We’ve given him time, he looks strong, and he should be a handy horse this time in.”