Big Diesel’s back and he’s in the mood for some fun at Ruakaka on Saturday

From winning the City Of Auckland Cup on Wednesday to getting the best out a green maiden at Ruakaka - that’s the double which Lincoln Farms is hoping rider Leith Innes can achieve on Saturday.

Innes, hero of Platinum Invador’s New Year’s Day triumph, climbs on board the outsized Lincoln Springs in the fourth race for Nigel Tiley, giving the trainer plenty of confidence.

“Leith’s my go to man,” said Tiley. “After he’s gone 100 meres he’ll know what he’s got under him and he’ll rate him well.”

Leith Innes salutes after winning the City Of Auckland Cup on Platinum Invador.Tiley makes no secret of the fact that he likes Lincoln Springs and, while he says the fresh-up run will improve him, he says Innes will quickly find out the horse “has some gears.”

“Hopefully Leith can get him away cleanly as it’s an advantage to be on speed at Ruakaka.

“He’s normally first out of the gates but he stood there in his first start and then got over-racing.”

That debut, at Avondale in October, saw Lincoln Springs out the back and wide, unable to make ground on the leaders.

But Tiley forgave the horse for that run as he’d been quite tough on him in the lead-up, training him to even want to put his large frame into the gates, and adjusting his feed to keep him calm.

“I think he was a bit over the top by the time he raced but he’s back now with fresh legs.”

Jockey Michael McNab also gave Tiley plenty of encouragement despite that first lacklustre run, predicting that if he was planted on the speed over 1400 metres he’d be a different animal.

“He’s such a big boy that he needs a bit of room to gallop and he’s best when he pops out and free-wheels.”

Tiley scratched Lincoln Springs from Te Aroha on Friday after he drew barrier 16 and says the Ruakaka option looks perfect as he can kick off on a track that won’t be too hard.

Tiley has been surprised at how quickly Lincoln Springs has come up this prep and says the way he worked this morning with his two stablemates Zakalicious and Qiji Olympia, who are rivals on Saturday, augured well.

“They only went quietly but he worked best of the three.

“Zakalicious is a bit fitter than he is, and has more ringcraft, but I think he’d have lengths on the other one.”

Whatever he does on Saturday, Tiley and his stable workers won’t condemn Lincoln Springs, or Diesel as he is known around the stable because of his size.

“He’s got a lot of character and we’ll get to know him a bit more with this run.”