The Premier Raceday meeting today is at Doncaster. The South Yorkshire track hosts an eight race programme featuring the William Hill Lincoln Heritage Handicap (17h35), traditionally the start of the UK Flat season.
Karl Burke sends out Thunder Run on Saturday (Pic – British Champions Series)
22 runners contest the Lincoln, run over the straight mile on ground forecast to remain good to soft.
Thunder Run, purchased prior to this race by Swedish connections from Clipper Logistics, could prove to be a wise investment with a victory here.
The Karl Burke trained four-year-old has always been well thought of, winning a competitive handicap at York in August before a commendable fourth out of twenty in the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot. Stable jockey Clifford Lee sides with the Night Of Thunder gelding ahead of Native Warrior, who is not out of it either, and he is the selection.
James Doyle, retained by Wathnan Racing, could also have ridden Native Warrior but rides Midnight Gun instead for the same owners, trained by Hamad Al Jehani.
Whip Cracker and Irish raider Orandi complete the shortlist.
Earlier on the card Marshman could provide Karl Burke with another winner in the listed Willaim Hill Cammidge Trophy Stakes (16h25). A classy field of nine contest over six-furlongs including Spycatcher and James’s Delight who fought out a Deauville Group 3 last August.
Clifford Lee was successful aboard Spycatcher that afternoon but is now aboard Marshman who could go one better than his runner-up finish here last season.
At 17h00, course and distance winner Liberty Lane makes his seasonal reappearance in the listed William Hill Doncaster Mile Stakes for the Burke and Lee combination. An easy winner of the 2024 Cambridgeshire on his penultimate start, he could form the second leg of a stable treble.
Front-runner Point Lynas has had a run this season and should be thereabouts, but the lightly raced five-year-old Botanical with young Billy Loughnane in the saddle looks a bigger threat.
