Huzzah can get Hills off to a flier

THE turf Flat season gets under way at Doncaster tomorrow and punters who have piled into Expresso Star for the £125,000 William Hill Lincoln Handicap will be keeping their fingers crossed that it rains enough to allow the hot favourite to take his chance.

Trainer John Gosden says a decision will not be made until shortly before the race, but his concern over the going and the fact that Expresso Star has been winning over two furlongs more than tomorrow’s race are strong enough factors to push me in another direction.

The one I like is Huzzah who runs well fresh, could be well drawn in stall 17 and comes from the Barry Hills stable which always has its horses primed for this meeting. He will be ridden by trainer’s son Michael in preference to fancied stable companion Zaahid.

Don’t Panic, drawn alongside Huzzah, bolted up in the Spring Mile on this card last season and would be a big danger if the rains came.

Talking of the Spring Mile, I like the look of Jonjo O’Neill’s Spectait, who was a top handicapper for Sir Mark Prescott before joining his current stable to go hurdling.

The seven-year-old never really took to jumping, but has been revitalised by a recent spell on the all-weather tracks and could be the one for this race from stall 22.

Fireside, a lightly-raced colt with lots of potential, could be a blot on the handicap, but his lack of experience is a worry for a race of this nature.

For the nap, I go for Gosden’s London Bridge in the Bob Beevers Maiden.

The son of Beat Hollow, one of my 20 to follow on the Flat, shaped really well on his only outing at Newbury last season and is expected to win this en route to much better things.

Michael Jarvis has his string in good nick for the start of the season and could land a double on Kempton’s all-weather surface with Cape Express and Meshtri.