Karaka Graduate Lincoln Blue (NZ) Does It Again In Salver

Exciting Savabeel colt Lincoln Blue (NZ), a graduate of the 2015 Premier Sale at Karaka and a full-brother to a yearling entered for the 2017 Sale, picked up his second consecutive stakes win when he claimed today’s $50,000 Listed Race 4 Life Salver (2100m) at Ellerslie.

Ridden by Masa Tanaka for trainer Lisa Latta, Lincoln Blue was handy throughout the race before kicking clear of his rivals in the home straight and scored a comfortable win by a length and a quarter.

The win was Lincoln Blue’s third from eight career starts and boosted his prize-money past $86,000. He had won the Group 3 Wellington Stakes (1600m) at Otaki in his previous start.

“He’s a lovely horse,” said John Street, principal of owners Lincoln Farms. “He won well in the Wellington Stakes last time, but he was up against some nice horses here and it was his first time over ground. It was really great to see him do it so well.

“We’ve nominated him for the Derby, so we’ll carry along that way and see how we go. We’ll just hope he can see the Derby distance out. He’s bred to do it, so hopefully he’ll be fine.”

Lincoln Blue was offered by Waikato Stud at the 2015 Premier Sale and sold to Lisa Latta Racing Stables for $220,000. The colt is now owned by Latta’s long-time clients Lincoln Farms.

Waikato Stud will also offer Lincoln Blue’s full-brother as Lot 349 at the 2017 Premier Sale.

The runner-up in today’s race was Redeem The Dream (NZ) (Nadeem) who was secured for $70,000 at the 2015 Premier Sale. A half-brother by Per Incanto will be offered as Lot 786 at the 2017 Select Sale.

Rounding off a Karaka trifecta was third-placed Smiling Touch (NZ) (O’Reilly), who was purchased for $90,000 at the 2015 Premier Sale and returned to Karaka later that year for the Ready to Run Sale where he sold for $220,000.