'He's made his money for the year, and for next year as well!" - topweight Migration defies history to land Lincoln

Trust the French to ignore British customs and traditions. They have no respect for the history of one of the country's oldest races.

You don't win the Lincoln Handicap with a topweight. The burden of running off a higher mark than all the others in the field had been too much for every horse who had tried since 2004.

Nor do you win it with an older horse. Big handicaps are all about unexposed youngsters improving past their elders – the last Lincoln winner above the age of six was Hunters Of Brora in 1998.

Enter David Menuisier from Lorraine in the north east of France, a former assistant to Criquette Head in Chantilly and to Richard Mandella in California before coming to Britain.

A subsequent spell assisting John Dunlop in Sussex did not teach him what you cannot do, and the trainer proceeded to rip up the Lincoln rulebook here as the seven-year-old Migration defied 9st 12lb, less Benoit de la Sayette's 3lb claim, in the £150,000 showpiece on the opening day of the turf season.

This was no narrow squeak home either. Migration was fancied and travelled like a horse poised to justify his trainer's confidence, weaving his way through to lead well inside the final furlong for a ready victory by a length and a quarter.

Menuisier had been aiming Migration at this since the autumn, and said: "We felt he was so unlucky in the Balmoral at Ascot, he went along the rail and got 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.

Migration (Benoit de la Sayette) are led into the winners enclosure after the Lincoln

Migration (Benoit de la Sayette) is led into the winner's enclosure after the LincolnCredit: Edward Whitaker

"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 be expected to take its toll on a topweight, but Menuisier said: "He's a mudlark, he absolutely loves it, so when the others stop he 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."

Weight-carrying records are likely to be out for Migration now.

"I think this is the end of handicaps and I hope he can go to the next level," Menuisier said. "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!"

As in the Dubai World Cup last week, Simon and Ed Crisford suffered the agony of being mown down late on with a big prize at stake.

Algiers could not cope with Ushba Tesoro at Meydan and stablemate Awaal was unable to resist Migration seven days on.

"It's the name of the game," Simon Crisford said. "You've got to take it on the chin.

"Awaal has run really well, I'm very happy with him. We've got a lovely horse for the rest of the season ahead of us. He likes that ground and we might step him up in distance."

Nor was George Boughey at all despondent that he had to settle for third place with Kevin Stott's mount Baradar.

"I'm very happy," the trainer said. "He's run a big race and I think seven furlongs is his ideal – he bolted up here over seven on this ground. Kevin said he just didn't quite see it out as well as possibly stouter-bred horses."

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