Sweet, says Al, I’ll buy Joey who just needs another six months to build up his confidence

Joey Lincoln will go round in Al Barnes’ colours at Albion Park on Tuesday afternoon, the trainer showing his confidence in the three-year-old by buying him from Lincoln Farms.

The Sweet Lou gelding was originally shipped to Queensland last year because he looked limited and was a long term project.

And Barnes has done the right thing by the horse, not rushing him, only recently taking him to the races for a fourth and sixth.

But with Lincoln Farms now responding to the post COVID-19 low stakes landscape, and likely to send more horses to Australia, it wants Joey Lincoln off its books.

And Barnes is only too happy to take over Joey Lincoln, whom he believes can develop into a nice little racehorse in time.

“The beauty of buying him is I don’t have to rush him to get a result,” says Barnes.

“I really like him and he’s a good little investment for me because I think he’s capable of winning races. My goal is to hopefully sell him for a profit in six to eight months’ time when the United States market opens up again.”

It’s a tactic which Lincoln Farms has successfully employed with a number of horses it has sent to Barnes, notably Trojan Banner, Billy Lincoln, Lincoln’s Girl and Vasari.

Al Barnes … Joey will make it in time.“I’m prepared to be patient and put in the time,” says Barnes.

“He’ll definitely make it in time. There’s nothing wrong with the horse, he’s still green but he just needs more time. He’s been a bit of a slow learner but he just needs to keep going round to learn.”

While Billy Lincoln galloped on debut when lying second on the home turn, Barnes says that was his first mistake for many months, since his initial few trackwork sessions.

“We just rushed him a bit and were too confident ourselves.”

Last start, Barnes and his driver son Hayden took an ultra conservative approach, not bustling the horse out from the pole and never putting him under any pressure three back on the pegs.

“Hayden held him together the whole way and at no stage asked him to push up. He just let him do what he wanted and run home under his own steam.”

Sixth and 10.6 metres from the winner, Joey Lincoln gained a lot of much needed confidence, something which Barnes says is all he really lacks.

On Tuesday, Joey Lincoln again has to tackle opposition which have already won races - The Hammer winner of two of his three starts - because maiden races haven’t been getting off the ground at Albion Park, most maidens electing to start at Redcliffe instead.

But from the pole again, in a small six-horse field over the longer trip of 2138 metres, Barnes says Joey Lincoln will be well suited.

“It will give him more time to get balanced. It doesn’t matter if he sits last, hopefully he’ll run on and beat a couple home.”

Joey Lincoln races at 3.18pm NZ time at Albion Park on Tuesday afternoon.