WHEN the staff at the Bathurst Harness Racing Club sit down to enjoy Chinese dishes for lunch on Thursday they may very well offer a toast to Prince George as well.
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Not Prince George of Cambridge, but an excitable three-year-old gelding who's stable name is George. His real name is Lincoln Cullen.
"He's out of Royal Cullen so he's George after Prince George," strapper Marianne Donnelly said of the moniker.
As to why George might get toasted over lunch, well that's because he finally won a race for Barry trainer Neville Donnelly, Marianne's husband.
"I said to everyone here at the club that if George ever wins a race we're having Chinese," Marianne, who is a member of the BHRC staff, laughed.
"There was a time we thought he would never get to the races, so we're having Chinese on Thursday for lunch on George."
Lincoln Cullen has long been a handful for his trainer-breeder, not because he is a bad-natured horse - he loves a pat - but rather because he gets excited.
Gets excited at inopportune times and has dramas as a result.
"He's been a very difficult horse. He used to get so excited at the start, I don't know how many trials he had before he could even start to qualify because he just used to spin at the start," Marianne said.
"He's been in the drain, he's been in the fence, the boys have had to come and rescue him a few times. He's always shown ability, but he's always been a bit highly strung."
On October 9 at the Bathurst Paceway Lincoln Cullen showed that ability as he came from sixth on the bell to post his first career win.
"I thought he might have been a bit too far back, but he came home well," Marianne said.
"If he gets launched he's normally right and he got launched. I think we were pretty lucky the mobile kept going, after the false start it kept going around.
"I think if the mobile had pulled up he may not have launched, he may have been a bit excited, yeah, he would have thought twice about going up.
"Neville was very happy he finally got a win out of him."
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On Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway he will get another chance and the Donnellys are hoping its a princely George rather than a loose Lincoln when it comes to the start.
He will go from barrier eight as a $41 chance in the Village Jolt at Lochend Stud Pace (1,730 metres).
"It [barrier eight] probably suits him at the moment until he learns a bit more how to settle coming out of the mobile. He's much safer for everyone out there," Marianne laughed.
"Once he gets going he's normally right, it's just getting going."
The meeting starts 6.14pm.
