One for the Memory

After Newmarket-trained favourites obliging at 3/1 and 100/30 there were two victories for the north at 16/1 and 25s and this year's William Hill Lincoln has a very similar look to it with Nine Realms heading the market.

As usual in Spring, but seemingly more so than ever this year, the unpredictable weather will be a factor and officials at Doncaster - where the ground is already soft - have reported an uncertain forecast for the week ahead.

William Haggas won this race twice in a four year spell earlier with Penitent (2010) and Very Wise (2007) and his runners clearly have to be feared but underfoot conditions could be a major concern for his colt whose three runs to date have come on good, good to firm and Kempton's polytrack.

One half-brother, Aqlaam, failed to handle conditions with cut and, although another in Curacao did win in the mud, there has to be concerns about the son of Green Desert's ability to cope with soft ground.

With such conditions likely it's easy to see why Captain Bertie has been well supported and he, along with the unexposed runners Tandem and Lahaag, jump off the page.

The four year old winners usually have sexy, progressive profiles and are usually priced accordingly so, at this stage of proceedings, I'd rather take a chance with one at a price and two of Brian Ellison's runners take my eye.

Global Village is the shorter of the two following an encouraging run in the Lincoln Trial at Wolverhampton in which stablemate Memory Cloth finished last.

The last winner of the Lincoln aged older than six was the eight year old Hunters Of Bora back in 1998 and before that it was the seven year old Star Of A Gunner in 1987 so perhaps we are due one and Global Village is hardly your archetypal eight year old having improved by over two stone in the last 12 months.

A strongly run seven appears to suit him best, however, so preference is for his two year younger stablemate who was beaten 21 lengths at Dunstall Park.

Hardly the most auspicious prep but the Cape Cross gelding posted a similarly dismal performance on his only other visit to the West Midlands which also happened to be the first start of his last campaign.

That season, he left the form behind on his second outing to go close at Southwell before winning at Ripon and he went on to enjoy further success with a defeat of last year's Lincoln winner Brae Hill (who, coincidentally, is back down to last year's winning mark) at Newcastle.

Raised to a rating of 101 for that victory in the north east, he's dropped to a perch of 95 and has shown his best form over a mile on soft ground; conditions which he should get at the weekend.

Brian Ellison has his string in good order and knows exactly what it takes to win this type of race and it's worth noting that the canny handler spoke of last season's Cambridgeshire for Memory Cloth, describing him as that 'type of horse'.

He looks overpriced at 25/1 and is worthy of an interest.

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