Zucchero stings punters with surprise Lincoln win

Zuccherohad the bookmakers singing as he denied hot favourite Adiemus by a whisker in the #75,000 randombet.com Lincoln at Doncaster today.

It was punters who got stung as the 33-1 shot landed the first major race of the Flat turf season and gave both trainer David Arbuthnot and jockey Simon Whitworth their biggest career success.

Zucchero, himself named after an Italian singer, had not run for seven months but he was always well-placed on the far side of the 23-runner cavalry charge down the straight mile on Town Moor and hit the front over two furlongs out.

Adiemus, sent off 5-2 favourite after four recent wins on the all-weather had left him officially 15lb well-in at the weights, threw down a big

challenge but was unable to reel him in and was a head adrift at the line.

Gambled-on I Cried For You, backed from 8-1 into 5-1 before the off, was another two lengths away in third, with 20-1 shot Thihn fourth.

Runners from the far side group dominated the finish to the race for the fourth year running, with sixth-placed Norton the first horse home on the

stands` side - one place ahead of the winner`s shorter-priced stable-companion Lord Protector.

Explaining Zucchero`s name, owner Philip Banfield said: 'He is named after an Italian singer, who once had a duet with Paul Young which got to

number one.

I have had horses for 21 or 22 years and they are all named after artistes _ I represent a number including Sting.'

Whitworth had phoned Arbuthnot to plead for he mount 48 hours ago, having not partnered the six-year-old since his two-year-old days.

'It is the first time a jockey who has ever personally rung me up and begged me to let him ride the horse!' Arbuthnot said. 'He always said he

couldn`t go round a bend so he was right!'

Reflecting on the race, Whitworth said: 'I was always tracking Adiemus then when a gap came two and a half out I decided to make the best of

my way home.

'He held on well in the end but he will be better on better ground. I have won the Northumberland Plate and some Group races abroad but in terms

of prize money this is my biggest win.'

His share of the prize money will offset a one-day ban for excessive use of the whip which rules Whitworth out of the busy Easter Monday

programme.

Victory fulfilled a long-term plan by Arbuthnot, who was aiming at this race ever since injury cost Zucchero a tilt at the Cambridgeshire last

October.

'He injured himself and we put him away and I said we would have a crack at the Lincoln,' the trainer said.

'I didn`t really expect to get him here as he is a very gross horse and I thought he would need the race. I thought he was a bit short - I was

wrong!

'I suppose we will have to go for the Newbury Spring Cup now. He is improving all the time - in his first three runs as a two-year-old he was tailed

off twice!

Jeremy Noseda put Adiemus`s defeat down to the softish ground and a slow early pace.

'His turn of foot has been nullified by the pace of the race and the underfoot conditions,' the trainer said.

'He`s a much better horse than that. When we get him back on a firmer surface you`ll see a different horse.'

Last year`s Cambridgeshire winner I Cried For You is now likely to step back up in trip.

'We`ll be looking for races over nine or 10 furlongs,' said trainer James Given.

'We`ll be going for Group races abroad and there are things like the John Smith`s Cup - and I`d like to have another crack at the Cambridgeshire.'-PA