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Wathnan jockey James Doyle
Wathnan jockey James Doyle

Wathnan Racing's Richard Brown on their hopes for the Lincoln and horses to follow


Wathnan Racing are a growing force in international racing and Richard Brown is hopeful that they can get their season off to a flying start at Doncaster.

Two runners from Wathnan Racing dominate the betting for Saturday's Lincoln at Doncaster with Midnight Gun sharing 6/1 favouritism with Thunder Rock at Sky Bet with the latter's stablemate, Native Warrior, an 8/1 chance.

Midnight Gun is trained by Hamad Al Jehani and is the chosen mount of retained rider James Doyle while Karl Burke could run Native Warrior.

Midnight Gun won two of his four starts for Ed Walker before joining Al Jehani for whom he progressed well without winning, signing off with a second-placed finish over Saturday's course and distance.

The operation's racing advisor, Brown said: "It's very exciting, everyone looks forward to this meeting, getting the season started so it's great to have a couple in there with, hopefully, live chances.

"James has had a bit of a conundrum. He rode Midnight Gun in a racecourse gallop at Chelmsford last week and he thought he'd done particularly well over the winter and so he had to make his choice and he's gone with him.

"I do think he's made the right choice but Karl is very sweet on Native Warrior, his work has been very good he reports."

Timeform Horses To Follow

The team will also have their eyes on Kempton where Crimson Advocate could be a surprise runner in the Snowdrop Stakes.

A speedy juvenile for US trainer George Weaver, Crimson Advocate won the Queen Mary Stakes before finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup behind Big Evs. She made her debut for John and Thady Gosden at Royal Ascot last year, finishing down the field in the King Charles III Stakes over five furlongs and could have her first start since over a mile on the polytrack.

"We've had some niggles with her, a few soundness issues that took a while to get over," Brown explained.

"She's not just showing electric speed so this is a bit of an experiment and we'll obviously know a lot more after the race."

Last season was something of an experiment for Al Jehani who only moved to the United Kingdom in April but Brown was delighted with how the campaign turned out.

"The whole plan for last year was to get Hamad over," he told the host of Nick Luck Daily.

"Obviously he's moving country, he's got a young family, he's come to Newmarket, completely different way of training and it was really just about having a feel of things, getting to know Newmarket Gallops and getting to know living in England and everything he and his team did last year exceeded every expectation.

"Oli Tate, who is well known in our organisation for setting high targets, he managed to exceed all of those. So he's done brilliantly and there will be a natural growth this year, he only had 10 or 12 horses last year. There will be a few coming back from Qatar and I'm sure we'll be adding some to his string over the coming months."

SBGB10G40CF


When asked by Luck to nominate some of the Wathnan Racing string to follow this season, Brown responded: "Kind Of Blue with James Fanshawe, he's wintered very well.

"Fallen Angel, Karl's filly, she hasn't won for us yet but she's one we're very much looking forward to.

"A colt in France called Map Of Stars who won last weekend, he looks like a very progressive horse; he'll run in the Prix Harcourt next. He's one we're looking forward to.

"We've got a three-year-old who has run once called Damysus who James rode work at the weekend and was very pleased with him. He's got a Derby entry but there's a lot of horses in that category - run once won once - but he's a horse who the Gosdens are quite sweet on and James was taken with when he won.

"He's something to look forward to but whether he's a Derby horse who knows? We're dreaming like many others at this stage of the year."


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