NEWS adiyat racing plus.com 12 ADIYAT RACING PLUS ISSUE 792 Thursday 6th April 2023 Flat racing returned to the UK on Saturday with the landmark success of Migration who defied top weight in the prestigious Lincoln Handicap, something that had not been achieved since 2004, as a 7yo, the first time a horse older than six had won the straight mile cavalry charge since 1998. Trained by David Menuisier for a Gail Brown Racing Syndicate, he actually won pretty easily under apprentice Benoit de la Sayette who also landed the prize in 2021 aboard Sheikha Hissa’s Haqeeqy. Sussex-based Frenchman Menuisier, a former assistant to the likes of Criquette Head and John Dunlop, was seemingly always confident of a positive result in the day’s £150,000 showpiece and had been aiming at the race since the autumn. Menuisier said: "We felt he was so unlucky in the Balmoral at Ascot, he went along the rail and was blocked. He was running off 109 so I always felt he could win a heritage handicap. We've taken our time with him and I genuinely felt we had him spot on. He's so lightly raced, he doesn't have much mileage and he's been giving us the right signals all the way through. We were actually quite confident." Heavy ground might have been expected to take its toll on a top weight, especially in a race such as this with 21 opponents, but Menuisier said: "He's a mudlark, he absolutely loves it, so when the others stop he just keeps going. "I was with one of the partners during the race and I said 'he's travelling better than everybody else, now it's going to be a matter of getting the luck to get through': And he did. The rest is history really. "I think this is the end of handicaps and I hope he can go to the next level. We'll have to look for some black type now. "We'll be patient because he runs well fresh and he's made his money for the year, and for next year as well!" FRENCHMAN’S MIGRATION TO UK REAPING REWARDS
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