LIBRISA BREEZE, Group One winner of the 2017 Champions’ Sprint at Ascot has an entry in this year’s Doncaster Unibet Lincoln on 27 March and this is his early season target.
The 9yo grey gelding, owned by Tony Bloom has been kept in training at Harper Lodge Farm and although he hasn’t raced since February of last year, he still retains plenty of natural ability. Once rated 119 after his Ascot Champions’ Day success, he is now rated 107 but despite being one of 99 entries for this historic heritage handicap, first run in 1883, he will definitely get into the race.
He’s not been an easy horse to train as the gaps between his races would indicate. He only ran twice last year and four times the year before but he’s won six of his 28 starts and over £700,000 for his owner. While his finest hour came over 6f at Ascot, he has won over a mile and has good form over the trip. Having won over 1m 1/2 furlong on his debut for the stable in April 2016, he went on to be second in the Royal Hunt Cup over a mile next time out at the royal meeting. In fact, in his early days when trained by Jeremy Noseda, he won over a mile and a quarter.
The son of Mount Nelson likes cut in the ground and the Lincoln is often run in those sort of conditions. In the last nine runnings, it was run on Soft ground four times and once on Good To Soft. Rarely is the ground quicker than Good.
It’s just over five weeks until the first of the Spring Double and currently Librisa Breeze is 66/1 in a market headed by Brentford Hope at 9/1. It would be a tall order for the 9yo to defy 402 days off the track to win one of Britain’s most competitive handicaps but you can be sure he’ll be giving it his best shot and as the old adage goes, “Form is temporary, class is permanent.”