David O’Meara hopes to have four runners in the Unibet Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday week, including new recruits Orbaan and Tinandali.
The former was a 55,000 guineas purchase from Andre Fabre’s yard in the autumn having last been seen finishing fourth behind Barney Roy at ParisLongchamp in May. He is second favourite in many bookmakers’ lists.
“Orbaan is a lightly-raced horse who was deemed good enough to run in the Sussex Stakes a few years ago. He was out of his depth in there and had a history of being quirky in France but up to now his preparation with us has gone very well,” the trainer said.
Tinandali was bought for 45,000 guineas having won two of his races in Ireland while with Dermot Weld.
“He's rated 100 having won a big field maiden at Leopardstown and then beat a horse we now train called Invasion Day by 11 lengths in a three-runner race at Navan. That might be where he gained the mark but it remains to be seen if he can win races like this from it,” O’Meara added.
Better known to the master of Willow Farm, and British racegoers, are Baltic Baron and Waarif.
“Baltic Baron has a great knack of finishing second but we’ve had his wind done since the Cambridgeshire and hope that helps.
“Waarif is very solid but I wouldn’t know whether he has enough in hand to win a heritage handicap like this. He often wins small field 0-105 handicaps in the summer but ran a blinder to finish fifth in the Balmoral at Ascot in the autumn which give us hope,” the handler added.
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