Linton is an exceptional talent

Every now and again you can witness a horse win a lowly bush maiden and know you are watching something special.

The day Schillaci powered over the top of Mavournae to win his maiden at Kyneton in October 1992 was one of those – Linton’s win yesterday at Cranbourne is another.

Saturday’s Lightning Stakes meeting at Flemington was a wonderful feast of racing hat produced some outstanding performances – Nicconi confirmed that he’s as good as any sprinter in the land; Star Witness is a brilliant juvenile whose talent overcame his inexperience; Tallow is an Oaks filly; and Our Aqaleem, after 30 months on the sidelines, is a high-class import in the mould of trainer David Hayes’ 1994 Melbourne Cup winner Jeune.

But none of Saturday’s racing stirred the emotions more than Linton (gr g 2006, Galileo (IRE)–Our Heather (NZ), by Centaine) charging to the line to win by seven lengths, with jockey Nicholas Hall sitting quietly.

The sight of Linton, who turned for home in sixth place, sweeping clear of his rivals with a beautiful, long, low action, reminded me a lot of his sire Galileo (pictured at Coolmore Stud) doing the same to his opposition at the end of the 2001 Group 1 Epsom Derby.

It was a performance similar to Weekend Hussler’s first win – also at his second start after a fourth at his debut – by 3.5 lengths at Cranbourne on September 2, 2007. At his next start, Weekend Hussler won a restricted midweek 3YO race at Sandown by eight lengths. By the end of his preparation, he had won two Group 1 races – the Caulfield Guineas and Coolmore Stud Stakes.

Linton is an exceptional talent in a season of 3YOs of great class and depth. Believe me, he could be the best of them all.

We have waited for a long time for Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells), who is rated the best sire in Europe, to leave his mark in Australia. To say he has been a disappointing sire is an understatement, and Linton comes from his second last Australian crop before Coolmore Stud decided he was worth too much in Ireland, and not enough here, to continue to shuttle south.

I first took notice of Linton when he made his debut, finishing a luckless fourth behind Encosta Belief in a 1410m 3YO race at Flemington on January 16. Hall protested unsuccessfully against the runner-up Take The Rap (winner of Saturday’s Group 3 C S Hayes Stakes at Flemington, beating Encosta Belief), and I have little doubt that Linton would have tested the winner with a clear run.

I wrote about Linton on The Breed after that – “Linton looks an efficient prospect” – and looked at his pedigree through his dam, the Centaine mare Our Heather. Linton’s third dam is the top broodmare Vedo Bay, the dam of the high-class Group winning mares Balmacara and Vedodara.

It’s interesting the co-owner Lloyd Williams, who paid $200,000 for Linton at the 2008 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Ready To Run Sale, elected to go for the much softer option of the Cranbourne maiden rather than the Group 3 race at Flemington, despite the fact Linton was competitive with that class of horse in his debut run.

Williams also hasn’t entered the gelding for next month’s Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington, when clearly, the horse has the talent to be competitive. It’s likely Williams has big long-range Melbourne Cup plans for his new star, and the aim may well be to get him into the 150^th Cup in November with the lowest weight possible.