John Gosden compared supreme stayer Stradivarius to an "old prize fighter" ahead of his Yorkshire Cup hat-trick bid on Friday.
The eight-year-old, who is 4/6 to win the York Group 2 event, is in his seventh season in training with Gosden and his son Thady and will attempt to win his 18th Group race under Frankie Dettori, which would be a record for a horse in Europe.
Impressive CV
Owned by Bjorn Nielsen, Stradivarius has won three Gold Cups and his campaign will be geared towards a return to Ascot, while he is also expected to contest the Goodwood Cup, a race he has won a record four times and was withdrawn from last season.
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Speaking about his prized asset ahead of Friday's outing, which you can follow on our Sports Live Streaming platform, Gosden said: "Yorkshire Cup, Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and Goodwood Cup was always the plan for this year.
"He still enjoys his training but he knows it all backwards now. Rather like an old prize fighter coming back into the ring, it's the getting fit and up for the fight - it's not as easy as it used to be when he was younger. So, I would expect him to be benefitting from the race."
Gosden hoping for positives
He added: "I'm certainly not giving him hard work at home - he's too old for that. To that extent I don't want everyone there thinking he's going to necessarily go and win another Yorkshire Cup.
"I'd just like to see him run a race that acts as a platform going forward and chose this race because it's closer to Royal Ascot rather than going to the Sagaro Stakes, which we did last year."
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