FOLLOWING a standout year in 2024, Rossa Ryan kicks off the 2025 British flat season with a strong chance aboard the Tony Martin-trained Orandi in the William Hill Lincoln Handicap worth £150,000.

Successful in the Irish equivalent earlier this month, Orandi bids to become the first horse to win both ‘Lincolns’ in the same season, and the first Irish-trained winner of the race since Saving Mercy scored for Dermot Weld in 1984.

“He’s got a good chance in what looks a very open Lincoln compared to previous years,” Ryan told The Irish Field. “He’s got an extra week to get over winning the Irish race, compared to horses in the past. I don’t think Tony would be coming over if he didn’t think he had a right chance of going close.

“He’s drawn low, and I know most of the top of the markets are middle to high draws, but the winner last year came from stall two as well. So, hopefully with a bit of luck and a good gallop to aim at, we will hopefully be very competitive.”

British defense

Karl Burke, who has yet to win the Doncaster feature, has two market leaders in Thunder Run and. The former won the valuable Clipper Handicap at the York Ebor Festival and has since sold to Scandinavian owners, the JC Organization.

The progressive four-year-old was previously owned by Steve Parkin’s Clipper Logistics, as was Native Warrior, whose best run for Wathnan Racing was a Britannia Stakes third.

Ahead of the race, Burke commented: “Native Warrior is working very, very well – he’s definitely stepped up for being gelded at the end of last season. He’s getting 7lb off the other horse and I don’t think there will be a lot between them.

“Thunder Run saves a fair bit for the racetrack and I think if everything stays right with him he’s at least a Group 3-type of horse, that’s the way he works, and the other fella is not far behind him.”

Doyle’s pick

Wathnan Racing’s retained rider James Doyle has chosen to partner Midnight Gun, who placed in a valuable Goodwood handicap after switching from Ed Walker to Hamad Al Jehani.

On the grey’s chances, Wathnan’s racing adviser, Richard Brown, said: “He’s done very well over the winter. We gelded him and he has really strengthened and thickened out, which doesn’t happen to most horses when you geld them.

“James rode him in a piece of work at Chelmsford last week and was very impressed, but it wasn’t a straightforward decision for him to choose Midnight Gun, as Native Warrior won his side in the Britannia and I think James actually thought he’d won that day before looking over and realising he hadn’t.”