Unbeaten Ombudsman has Brigadier Gerard starting point this season

Ombudsman, unbeaten in four outings as a three-year-old last season, could tee up a run at Royal Ascot in the Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on Thursday evening.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, he is owned by Godolphin and signed off last year by winning a Group Three in France.

He will carry a penalty for that success on his comeback but Thady Gosden reports that this race has always been the plan ahead of a potential run in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

He said: “Ombudsman has had a nice break over the winter and the plan has always been to come here followed then by hopefully a run at Royal Ascot, where he holds an entry in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

“He is a horse that we have taken our time with and the Brigadier Gerard Stakes is a good spot to start his season off on.

“Although his Group Three win last year was on soft ground, he is relatively versatile when it comes to ground. Like most horses he wouldn’t want extremes.

“He has been on target for this all spring and he has been training well. He has made good progress in his work this year.

“He seems in very good order with himself and hopefully this will bring him forward nicely.”