Captain Bertie trimmed in Lincoln betting after favourable draw

The announcement of the draw for tomorrow’s rescheduled Lincoln at Doncaster has seen Captain Bertie trimmed a point to 6/1 with Coral after the Charlie Hills-trained five-year-old landed a cosy stall five berth.

For all the trainers with live chances the hope was to avoid being drawn 15 or higher, with just two of the last 10 Lincoln Handicaps to take place on Town Moor going to runners quartered in 14 or lower.

Those treated harshly by the ballot were Glady’s Gal, Jack’s Revenge, Anderiego, Capaill Liath, Brae Hill, Eshtibaak, Prince Of Johanne and Strictly Silver. Despite being so prohibitively quartered Eshtibaak – chosen over 7/1 shot Lahaag by two-time champion jockey Paul Hanagan – is still among the first four in the Lincoln Handicap betting, at 9/1 with Coral.

When it comes to this heritage handicap, the prime real estate is in boxes one to seven, from which four winners and 15 placed runners have broken in the last 10 Doncaster runnings.

Joining Captain Bertie in the first seven stalls are Global Village, Hit The Jackpot, Levitate, Memory Cloth, Swiftly Done and long time ante-post favourite Lahaag.

If Captain Bertie is favourite for the mile-long cavalry charge then Global Village, an 11/1 shot with Coral, must also have an exceptional chance from stall one on the strength of his length and a half third to the former in Newbury’s 1m Spring Cup on soft ground last term. Conceding 1lb to Charlie Hills’ gelding that day, he races off levels on this occasion. However, Brian Ellison’s runner is now 6lbs above his last winning mark and at the age of eight it may be asking a bit much of him to improve by that margin here.

Declan Carroll’s Swiftly Done teams up with 7lb claimer Luke Leadbetter for the race meaning he’s effectively running from stall five off just 8st3lbs. With a de facto handicap mark of 83 he’s 5lb below his last winning mark. In addition to being well treated at the weights he’s bound to be at home on the expected soft ground at Donny having won three of his four races on going described as soft or worse. The six-year-old must rate as exceptional value at 25/1 with Coral.