Another Touch can get the flat season off and running
SPRINTS and starting stalls return to the turf vocabulary this week, when the flat season proper gets under way at Doncaster with the Lincoln handicap the feature.
Previously the Lincolnshire handicap, from 1860 to 1964, it was then moved to Doncaster and established over a mile, as the season’s first big betting handicap.
In looking for something at a price, there’s a good case to be made for his four-year-old, Another Touch, who is one of 13 entries from Malton trainer Richard Fahey.
A son of Arcano, Another Touch hasn’t been seen since October, when beaten a neck in York’s Coral Stakes, giving weight to the field of 11.
There is no difficulty of having him ready after a break, for last spring he was beaten half a length by Godolphin’s Carrington, over seven furlongs, when he ran out of track.
That was his first run for seven months and with only 15 runs in his two-year career to date, there is every chance of improvement.
It’s possible that the selection won’t need much, if any, for the handicapper has put Another Touch up just another 2lb and he races off 96 on Saturday.
Given that his last victory was at Newmarket last August was off a mark of 92, there is a distinct possibility that Fahey’s runner makes the one-hour drive to Donny, well handicapped.
If he can get his head in front, in his red and green hoops, it will be the trainer’s third Lincoln, having been successful with Brae Hill (2012) and Gabrial (2015).
At 25/1, Another Touch represents a sporting chance in a big-field cavalry charge, that is rarely predictable but will be tense, exciting and, with a little bit of luck, rewarding.
There will be many dangers, including from Fahey himself and it would be folly to disregard Roger Charlton’s Yuften, for whom a steady stream of money is significant.