Oakey leads Lincoln contenders

Smokey Oakey heads 87 confirmations for the William Hill Lincoln on the opening day of the Flat turf season at Doncaster on Saturday.

The five-year-old, trained by Mark Tompkins, will attempt to carry 9st 10lb to victory, having won with 8st 9lb 12 months ago.

John Quinn's Blythe Knight, second last year and successful when the race was run at Redcar in 2006, also stands his ground in a race for which there will be a maximum field of 22.

Ante-post favourite Expresso Star, trained by John Gosden, and his stablemate Charm School, are already guaranteed a place in the line-up but the strongly-fancied Fireside from Michael Jarvis' stable, still needs several to come out.

Others prominent in the betting who have yet to make the cut include Extraterrestrial and Mangham, but well-backed horses with no worry on that score include Swop, Huzzah, Flipando and Zaahid.

There is also the William Hill Spring Mile on the same card as a consolation for those that miss the cut.

Blythe Knight is reported to be in fine shape as he makes his fifth consecutive appearance in the mile feature, having also finished sixth in 2005 and ninth in 2007.

"He hasn't been hurdling this year because we said unless he was Champion Hurdle class, it wasn't worth it," said Quinn.

"After the Lincoln, we'll go and try to win the Diomed Stakes again. He's a big price but he's in good nick and we know that he loves the track, but now we need a good draw.

"He's rated 108 now and not many horses win handicaps off that sort of mark, so we're thinking of claiming off him again, but we just haven't decided on who it will be.

"I know the stats are against him as no nine-year-old has ever won the race, but he is in really great nick."