Lincoln Wave a big show at Alexandra Park tonight

By Michael Guerin

What used to be one of the most despised letters in a horse’s form line is becoming the secret weapon of harness punters.

And it could point to a winning standing start debut for Lincoln Wave in the handicap feature, the IRT.Your Horse.Our Passion Pace (7.22pm) at Alexandra Park tonight.

Few things strike doubt into a punter’s mind like a “P” in a horse’s form line, symbolising it was recently pulled up in a race or trial.

“F” for fell is always bad and “R” for ran off doesn’t do a lot for punter confidence either but pulled up suggests something went really, really wrong in a race or trial. But not any more.

A recent rule change by Harness Racing New Zealand means all horses must qualify from a standing start in a trial before being allowed to start in a standing start race.

That ends one of the great mysteries of racing when horses who had raced in mobile starts their whole careers would often go to standing start races with no standing start trial and punters, or even those closest to the horses, had no idea what to expect.

The requirement of the trial is for horses to step cleanly but cover only a few hundred metres and then they can be pulled out of the trial.

Which is why Lincoln Wave has two recent “Ps” in his extended form line.

He went to one standing start trial at Pukekohe and galloped, failing to secure his standing start certificate and was pulled up.

So co-trainer Ray Green took him back the next week, he stepped away safely and after 300m was pulled up again. Two trials, two pulled ups but ultimately mission accomplished.

It will be a routine repeated hundreds of times a season now, horse steps away, horse gets pulled up but punters at least have some video reference of what said horse may do in a standing start race.

“The first time he did it he blew it,” Green says of Lincoln Wave’s standing start trials.

“So we put hopple shorteners in the next week and he was great and Maurice [McKendry, driver] told me he thinks he will become a really good stand horse.

“He is a very talented horse and with the shorteners in on Friday if he steps well again he is going to be hard to beat.”

Lincoln Wave is a Sires’ Stakes Semi Final winner who has raced in Jumal’s Northern Derby since and with tonight’s handicap being 2200m if he can stay handy he and fellow front markers will take catching as the best horse in the race, Little Spike, faces a daunting 35m handicap.

Green and training partner Nathan Delany also have key chances in tonight’s $35,000 Metro Pacing Final with the talented Sammy Lincoln and the enigmatic Prince Lincoln.

Prince Lincoln was dazzling leading all the way to win three starts ago, over-raced the next start and was driven conservatively last Friday.

“But the blinkers go back on him this week and we will be trying to lead and stay there,” says Green, suggesting that race will be hard on those coming wide.

The favourite Hillbilly faces coming wide in the Metro Trot Final which hasn’t been his usual modus operandi in a race that could set up for an upsetter like The Four Aces (R7, No.4), Memories (No. 6) or Mad Mary (No. 7), all at big odds.