Channon yard sustains 30-year tradition of landing major races at Doncaster

In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to impossible handicaps, most of which are over fences, from Uttoxeter to Sandown, by way of Ayr and Aintree. This was the weekend when Flat racing got a look-in, via the SBK Lincoln, which duly delivered a 28-1 winner, while the front three in the betting finished unplaced.

Those punters who cheered home Johan may have been encouraged by the fact that he was making his debut for a new yard, a system that has now worked twice in five Lincolns. Bravery, who had been fourth in an Irish Guineas, bagged the 2017 race after joining David O'Meara from Aidan O'Brien, while Johan was scoring on his first outing for Mick Channon.

Even now, it would be a stretch to describe Johan as well handicapped, but the race suited him. "He's a straightforward horse who lengthens and lengthens," said the trainer's son, Jack, in the course of delivering a backhanded compliment to winning jockey Silvestre de Sousa. "That is Silvestre's bag – if he can just shovel the coal on, there's no-one better."