Sunray Major early favourite to give the Gosdens more success in the Lincoln

Sunray Major has been installed as 8-1 favourite with the sponsors to give John and Thady Gosden a second successive triumph in the Unibet Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster on March 26.

The traditional Flat curtain-raiser, which went to Haqeeqy a year ago, is one of the options under consideration for the five-year-old, who has been restricted to just five career starts.

The son of Dubawi returned from more than a year on the sidelines to score at Chelmsford and Ascot last autumn and may well have had excuses when disappointing as 2-1 favourite on a return to Ascot in the Balmoral Handicap in October.

Lincoln Handicap entries and betting

Forced to come from widest of all in stall 21 that day, Sunray Major was never able to land a blow and trailed in 14th behind Aldaary, who was drawn 11.

John Gosden said: “We put Sunray Major in the Lincoln as it's an obvious race for him at this stage. If he was going to race here at the beginning of the season it would be remiss not to put him in the race.

"He’s just started cantering, so we’ll see how he trains up for that and any other possibilities. If he’s in good shape at that time and we wanted to set him up for a programme in this country, that’s probably where we'd start him off."

John Gosden: 'It's an obvious race for him at this stage'Credit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

On his Ascot effort in October, he added: “He had a bad draw on the stands' side that day and the testing ground wasn’t in his favour. All in all, it wasn’t a race where he could show his best.”

Although it is still early days, Gosden also had some news of potential Classic hope Reach For The Moon, who is 8-1 second favourite to give the Queen a memorable victory in the Cazoo Derby in her Platinum Jubilee year.

He said: “Reach For The Moon is in light exercise at Clarehaven and is building up for the season. He looks very well and is moving nicely.”

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