The Flat is Back!!! Owen’s huge 25-1 Lincoln tip who will relish the ground

After months of waiting, the flat season finally returns on Saturday. There’s plenty to look forward too, including a new crop of stars announcing themselves alongside old favourites. Doncaster is where it all begins, with the feature contest being the ultra-competitive Lincoln Handicap. There’s plenty of pattern racing too, including a pair of Listed contests, the Cammidge Trophy and Doncaster Mile.

We’ll have horse racing tips for all the action, but I’ll be focusing on the Lincoln here. Finding a horse who is effective on the ground is a must in such a competitive heat and I believe I’ve done that with an outsider in this year’s Lincoln. You can find all the details below, and make sure to also check out my other outsider picks for meeting, including another 50-1 chance in the Lincoln.

3.10 Doncaster – Johan (25-1)

Despite some rain on Friday, the going at Doncaster remains “Good”, which will be great news for William Haggas’ Johan. He’s run eight times on the turf, with “Good” being in the description for all four of his victories. Twice on truly “Good” ground, a pair have also come on “Good to Soft” going, so any further rain overnight would be of little concern to him either.

He was a rapid improver last season, winning three of his six outings. His most impressive performance came at Chelmsford, where he quickened clear of a smart field off a mark of 99. He was subsequently well beaten in a Listed race at Kempton, but it’s easy enough to forgive that performance.

It’s ultimately early days for him and having won first time up last June, it seems he’s best caught fresh. If he’s able to build on last season’s heroics, he could well develop into a pattern performer, and this is the perfect way to announce himself as such.

He’ll be hoping to continue a trend of four-year-old success in the Lincoln, with the last four winners sharing his age. He’s 25-1 for this race and that should actually make you smile, as 12 winners of the Lincoln since 2000 were priced 10-1 or bigger. A win for Haggas would also make him the outright most successful trainer in the race, so all the trends are seemingly pointing towards this son of Zoffany too.

If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.