Horse Racing: BLOODSTOCK DESK - National hope Inca heads list.

Byline: Rachel Pagones and Amy Bennett

GRAND NATIONAL entry Inca Trail highlights a catalogue of 155 horses in training set to sell at Doncaster Bloodstock Sales' Lincoln Handicap Sale on March 22, two weeks before the race at Aintree, writes Rachel Pagones.

The brother to Best Mate, who has been allotted 10st 7lb for the John Smith's-sponsored showpiece, was purchased by Susie Chown and Kathy Stuart for 30,000gns at the 2004 DBS Spring Sale, through David Minton and Anthony Bromley's Highflyer Bloodstock.

Of the reason for the ten-year-old gelding's sale, DBS managing director Henry Beeby said: "The owners bought him to have some fun, and they've decided that now's the time to cash in."

Inca Trail won his last start, the Royal Artillery Gold Cup Chase at Sandown, under the ownership of Major A M J Shaw, and he is entered in a similar race, the Grand Military Gold Cup, at Sandown on Friday. Race rules for both amateur riders' events require that horses be owned by past or present military personnel.

Inca Trail is currently in training with Paul Nicholls' prior to his sale in 2004, he was handled by Best Mate's trainer Henrietta Knight, for whom he won his first hurdle race, at Ludlow in 2003. He was trained by Edward O'Grady to win his debut in a bumper for his breeder, Philip Myerscough.

The one-day Lincoln Handicap Sale features horses with form under both codes, but one of the most eyecatching lots is a horse with no form: Ethihaad, a Dubai Millennium colt offered by his breeder, Shadwell Stud. The unraced four-year-old, who entered training with Godolphin two years ago, is a half-brother to 1999 Dubai World Cup winner Almutawakel. The latter has had some notable successes in his early seasons at stud, most recently when his son Wahid won the New Zealand Derby on Saturday.

Another well-bred four-year-old, this one a Cheveley Park Stud homebred, is National Trust. The son of Sadler's Wells, out of a half-sister to Barathea, won a mile-and-a-quarter maiden for Sir Michael Stoute last year.

Other horses with form include Notin Happened, a point-to-point winner on his only start to date, and Champage A Gogo, an eight-length winner of a Killaloe point.

On the Flat side are several recent all-weather winners. They include the James Given-trained pair Subsidise and True To Yourself, both successful at Southwell last month, while Kevin Ryan sends up Blue Patrick, who scored his sixth win at Wolverhampton in January.

Also catalogued is Devil's Island, a three-quarter brother to multiple Group 3 winner Gateman. The four-year-old gelding won at Wolverhampton in January and was second and fourth on his two most recent starts, at Lingfield and Wolverhampton, for Sir Mark Prescott.

The auction includes drafts from trainers Ed Dunlop, David Elsworth, William Haggas, Nicky Henderson, Mark Johnston, David Nicholls, Paul Nicholls, Jamie Osborne, Sir Mark Prescott, Kevin Ryan, Sir Michael Stoute and Nigel Twiston-Davies, among others. Darley and Juddmonte also field consignments.

Catalogues are available online at www.dbsauctions.com or by post. For more information, call the DBS offices on 01450 372222.

Doncaster Bloodstock Sales Limited has appointed Shigehisa Tanabe of Desk Valet Co. Ltd as its Japanese representative.

Tanabe, who was office manager at Shadai Farm from 1992 to 2005, was involved in the first Japanese purchase from a DBS sale, when Shadai bought a Danzig colt from the 2003 breeze-up sale for 140,000gns.