Lincoln Handicap Kick-Starts Flat Season

The Lincoln Handicap is the first big race that kick-starts the new flat season in the UK and is run at Doncaster over the trip of a mile.

The favourite for the race this year is the William Haggas-trained Fury. Connections are confident that their runner is well handicapped and can run well in his opening run of the season at the Yorkshire track. Haggas last won the Lincoln in 2010 when Penitent was well back into 3/1 favourite in the horse racing betting on the day and obliged with a time of 1:43:31.

Eton Forever who has not won since scoring at Doncaster at the start of last season in the Spring Mile is also prominent in the market. The five-year old seems to enjoy running at the track where he finished second on his last appearance in September in a handicap race over one mile behind the Godolphin-owned Man Of Action.

Start Right’s preparations for the Lincoln have begun in Dubai. The Saeed Bin Suroor-trained runner has already raced three times this season at the Dubai World Cup Carnival at Meydan. His first run of 2012 was in January when finishing third on the opening fixture of the carnival. On Thursday the five-year old went off 4/1 favourite when stepping up in trip to 1m2f in the Jaguar XF Trophy with Kieren Fallon in the saddle. The pair finished just over a length behind winner Zain Shamardal and Jardim in second place.

Edinburgh Knight goes into the race after winning his last two races. His latest outing was a neck victory on the all-weather surface at Kempton back in November.