Ed Bethell happy to be in the hunt for Doncaster honours

Trainer Ed Bethell expects Old Cock to give a good account of himself having crept in at the bottom of the 22-strong field for the William Hill Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday.

The four-year-old won three of his five starts during his debut campaign last season, with an initial victory at Ayr followed by two triumphs at Haydock.

Bethell said: “Hopefully the ground’s not too soft and he should run a nice race, but it’s a Lincoln and they’re difficult to win.

“He’s ready to start his year off, he’s by no means fully tuned up for the day but we’re hopeful he should run a nice race if the ground is not too soft.

“I think there’s definitely more to come and we’re looking forward to getting him started.”

The Charlie Hills-trained Galeron and Jamie Osborne’s Sean head the weights on 9st 12lb, with that pair just 1lb ahead of the well-fancied Midnight Gun from Hamad Al Jehani’s yard.

Karl Burke has two major players in ante-post favourite Thunder Run and Native Warrior, with Julie Camacho’s Lattam and Tony Martin’s Irish raider Orandi also prominent in the betting, the latter having already won the Irish Lincolnshire at the Curragh this season.

Seventeen juveniles have been declared for the first two-year-old race of the season, the Brocklesby Stakes, while a maximum field of 22 will go to post for the Lincoln consolation, the Spring Mile.

Likely contenders for this £75,000 contest include the prolific Myal from Steph Hollinshead’s yard, Tom Clover’s recent Southwell scorer Surrey Shadow and Bethell’s Naepoint, who won over the course and distance last summer and rounded off 2024 with back-to-back victories at Redcar.

“He’s a tenacious little horse and I hope he’ll run well, but the Spring Mile looks even more competitive than the Lincoln,” Bethell added.

“There’s plenty in there that have either run up sequences or are looking like they’re very well handicapped, so we’re just hopeful for another good run.

“He’s ready to start off and the ground is not an excuse for him, but Saturday won’t be the be-all and end-all.”

Burke’s Marshman tops nine runners declared for the Cammidge Trophy, with stablemate Spycatcher and Clive Cox’s James’s Delight two of his biggest threats.

Burke also saddles the likely favourite for the Doncaster Mile in Liberty Lane, who faces George Boughey’s Botanical and Roger Teal’s stable star Dancing Gemini among others.