• Horse Racing

Levitate wins Lincoln thriller

2012 winner Brae Hill finished a well but could not find more to beat Levitate © PA Photos

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Levitate won The Lincoln at Doncaster after a blistering finish to the one mile race, finishing ahead of Global Village and 2012 winner Brae Hill.

The John Quinn-trained gelding went off at 20/1 and was quick to make the final strides under the stewardship of Darren Egan to edge Global Village by a short head and take the opening feature race of the British turf flat season.

Richard Fahey's Brae Hill, who won The Lincoln last year, looked strong to retain his crown but could not find anything in the closing yards to match Levitate or Global Village and finished third by a neck.

Justonefortheroad, also trained by Fahey, placed fourth ahead of the George Baker-trained Jack's Revenge.

In a fast-paced race that could have been won by any of the front three, it was Levitate who got up in the final strides and edge victory ahead of the impressive Brian Ellison-trained Global Village, which finished very strongly under Martin Lane.

Levitate is a new addition to the John Quinn yard, having previously won at course and distance for Alan McCabe last year.

The well-backed Eshtibaak, trained by John Gosden, looked to challenge before fading in the final furlong to finish ninth.

Stablemate Lahaag went off at 13/2 favourite but could not keep up with the strong pace, eventually finishing well behind in 17th.

"My instructions were to get him [Levitate] across just behind the leaders," said winning rider Egan. "I got a bit of luck when he picked up and he stuck his head out to the line. I was pretty confident (on the line), but you couldn't be 100% sure."

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