Eight-year-old Blythe Knight remains as the strongest contender for the William Hill Lincoln. The winner of the event in 2006 did not offer a good performance last week in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. On the other hand, Sir Michael Stoute’s Lang Shining and Mick Easterby’s Atlantic Story have held their ground.

Zaahid will be part of the Lincoln field as well and so will be Escape Route, representing John Gosden. Also, 2004 and 2007 winners of the William Hill competition Babodana and Very Wise have been confirmed.

Trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam has signed up with Don’t Panic while Rio Riva, Stevie Gee, Another Bottle and Plum Pudding are also part of the list of 90 contestants. Anticipating a good result, trainer Karl Burke will give last year’s fourth Raptor another chance to confirm his qualities.

“He's a lovely horse with a lot of ability but he's not the most straightforward of horse to train at home,” Burke commented. “We bought him out of Germany at the end of the year before last. Consequently, going into last year's Lincoln, I didn't really know the horse and he'd had a lot of problems all the way through. He wasn't anywhere near the condition he's in now.”