Frankie Dettori booked to ride previous winner Ocean Tempest in Lincoln
Wednesday 30 March 2016 17:03, UK
Frankie Dettori will bid to win his first Betway Lincoln on previous winner Ocean Tempest at Doncaster on Saturday.
The first big handicap of the Flat season is missing from the Italian's C.V. but he will get the chance to put that right this weekend on 2014 winner Ocean Tempest, trained by John Ryan.
Ryan is set to be double-handed in the race with Battle Of Marathon also engaged, but he prefers the claims of his former winner and stable star, who won a handicap at Chester off a mark of 115 in August 2014.
The seven-year-old grey has dropped down the weights since then to a mark of 99 following a winless 2015, but that means he's now 3lb lower than when he last won the Town Moor highlight two years ago.
Ryan told sportinglife.com: "Frankie Dettori will ride Ocean Tempest and Adam Kirby will ride Battle Of Marathon.
"We just thought Adam might struggle to do the weight on Ocean Tempest before the weights went up, so he's been riding Battle Of Marathon at home and we thought it made sense for him to stay on him.
"Frankie rides for me at home and he knows the horse so it's a good jockey booking.
"Ocean Tempest had a slight injury last year so we gave him time and decided not to go to Dubai with him over the winter.
"The plan has been to come back fresh for the Lincoln. I did think about getting a prep run into him but none of those races are like a Lincoln so we decided to wait.
"He's won the race off 102 and is now back to 99 and I would say it's a feasible mark. Everything will be in his favour if the ground is soft."
Ocean Tempest is a 33/1 chance for the Lincoln at Sky Bet, with Battle Of Marathon 25/1.
