John Gosden believes Ombudsman will improve for his reappearance in the Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on Thursday evening but suggested he might have to if he is to beat “exceptional” Arc winner Daryz at Royal Ascot next month.

The Godolphin-owned five-year-old finished second in the Group 3 contest at Sandown 12 months ago before landing the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the royal meeting.

“He’s in good order. As usual with me, the race is going to bring him on to where you want him for Ascot,” said Gosden, who trains alongside his son Thady.

“None of us have failed to be impressed by the Arc winner, who was exceptionally impressive in the Prix Aga Khan IV the other day and in the Ganay before that.

“To that extent, it (Prince of Wales’s Stakes) looks nearly the race of the meeting (at Royal Ascot).”

As well as the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, Ombudsman also won the Juddmonte International at York and was second in the Eclipse and the Champion Stakes last season. He made a successful start to his five-year-old campaign when landing the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in late March.

Gosden admitted he has eased off the son of Night Of Thunder since his win in the UAE but reported him in decent shape ahead of the summer season.

He added: “I think when you train him in the winter, you’ve got to hit the pause button when you get home, because it’s quite tough training them through January, February, to run in March, and then you’ve got the whole summer season coming, so we deliberately backed away afterwards.

“But he seems happy and well in himself.”

Ombudsman is odds-on to land Thursday’s Sandown feature and his closest rival in the betting is Gethin, bought by Wathnan Racing after a comfortable win in the Listed Magnolia Stakes at Kempton in early April.

Trainer Owen Burrows has always believed the four-year-old belongs in top company and feels now could be a good time to strike with the exciting grey before the Gosden runner is fully tuned up.

Burrows said: “I am hoping this horse should be in these sorts of races and if Ombudsman is not fully wound up – and he’s got a 7lb penalty – so if we can’t get close to him now we are probably a bit off getting close to him when he is on-song and with no penalty!

“You can’t run away from one obviously and I would rather he wasn’t there but if our horse is as good as we hope he is, he is going to be running in these decent races where he has to take on the best, so we may as well get on and see where we sit.

“He always excited me at home even as a three-year-old and while it has been all very routine work until now – we are just on the all-weather so nothing out of the normal – he does his work fine and we are happy where he is.

“It will be good to get him back out again.”

Godolphin will be represented by two further runners in the royal blue silks, with Charlie Appleby saddling both Arabian Light and Bedouin Prince.

“Arabian Light and Bedouin Prince are prepping for Royal Ascot, and it’s obviously a tall order taking on Ombudsman,” the Moulton Paddocks handler told www.godolphin.com.

“Both are coming back from a break and there will be improvement to come as we are building towards races like the Wolferton Stakes and Duke of Edinburgh Handicap.”

Andrew Balding’s Almeric attempts to improve on third place behind Saddaad in the Gordon Richards Stakes over the course and distance in April, while James Owen’s Wimbledon Hawkeye makes up a six-strong field.

Henry II Stakes

Sweet William follows a tried and tested route to the Gold Cup in the Star Sports Henry II Stakes at Sandown.

John and Thady Gosden’s popular stayer won this Group 2 prize two years ago before picking up the bronze medal in Royal Ascot’s feature event the following month, while last season he took in the Yorkshire Cup en route to placing fourth at the summer showpiece.

His stablemate and nemesis Trawlerman completed the Henry II-Gold Cup double last season, but as he has not yet returned this term and his Gold Cup participation remains uncertain, Sweet William heads to Sandown on the back of a thrilling comeback victory over subsequent French Group One winner Caballo De Mar in Ascot’s Sagaro Stakes four weeks ago.

Robert Havlin, who has been ever-present in the saddle during Sweet William’s 22-race career, said: “He won this race two years ago and obviously has a penalty this time. A couple of years ago we went the same route of Sagaro/Henry II and then he was third in the Gold Cup, so it seems to be a good run into the Gold Cup itself.

“I’m obviously looking forward to riding him, he’s come out of the Sagaro well. He and Caballo De Mar had a good old ding-dong up the straight that day and I’m sure if Trawlerman had been in the Sagaro he’d have gone past George Scott’s horse by about three lengths, but he was quite happy to keep him company.

“He’s never won first time out before and he’s in great form – he’s bucking and kicking and really well in himself.”

While Sweet William has been placed in more big races than he has won, he has been unfortunate to run into the likes of Trawlerman and brilliant stayer Kyprios on multiple occasions and he was also not beaten far by Scandinavia and Rebel’s Romance in big races last season.

“There’s no stayer in the country that’s more consistent than him and he holds his form to a high level every time he runs,” Havlin continued.

“People call him names, but I’m sure they’d all love to own him.”

On whether a third Gold Cup tilt is on the cards, the rider added: “That is always the plan, but the horse comes first. If he’s well enough and able to have another crack at it then that’s probably where we’ll go.”

One of the biggest threats to Sweet William appears to be the long-absent Lazy Griff, although his participation is ground dependent.

Charlie Johnston’s charge was placed behind Lambourn in the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh last season and while injury scuppered his St Leger participation, he is ready to make his competitive comeback as long as underfoot conditions in Esher are deemed suitable.

Tim Palin, managing director of owners Middleham Park Racing, said: “Charlie walked the track on Tuesday and at the moment he’s happy to run, so the plan is to send the horse down and walk the track again ahead of racing before making a final decision.

“The horse is in great shape, but he will just need the run – he’s not fully primed and fully revved up.

“He’s got a Group 1 entry over a mile and a half (Coronation Cup) and he’s got a Group 1 entry over two and a half miles in the Gold Cup. We felt the Leger distance (mile and three-quarters) would be perfect for him and tee him up lovely, but he picked up his injury, which is holding up perfectly well so far.

“Everything is on the table. If he hasn’t quite got the pace for a mile and a half we can look at races like the Irish St Leger, but if we can stretch him out to two miles and further for some of those Cup races that could be even sexier.”

David O’Meara’s Epic Poet and the Andrew Balding-trained Furthur renew rivalry after finishing third and fourth in the Yorkshire Cup two weeks ago, while Saeed bin Suroor’s Dubai Future will need to raise his game having finished a well held fourth behind Sweet William in the Sagaro.

With Beylerbeyi declared a non-runner, Alan King’s Paradias and Duke Of Oxford from Michael Bell’s yard complete the line-up.

Heron Stakes

Yazin faces a step up in grade to the highest level if he passes a Royal Ascot audition in Sandown’s Listed Star Sports Heron Stakes.

Joint-trainer John Gosden has used the Esher contest as a stepping stone to the St James’s Palace Stakes at the royal meeting in the past, with Without Parole completing the double in 2018.

And while Yazin has still to show he is at that level, winning at Redcar and Newmarket at two and landing an all-weather conditions race at Southwell last month, connections are hoping to head down the same path.

“Is he up to that sort of class? Well, that is what Sandown is going to tell us. But he has done nothing wrong so far in his life and he has overcome a few hiccups along the way,” said Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell.

“He is a very gutsy horse so it is an obvious progression and we will see whether he is a genuine Group 1 horse or whether we need to aim our sights a bit lower.”

Charlie Appleby won this race last year with Opera Ballo and provides the stiffest opposition on paper in the form of comfortable Newmarket winner Talk Of New York, one of four runners for the Moulton Paddocks handler and the owners Godolphin.

Appleby told godolphin.com: “Talk Of New York has enjoyed a little break after the Craven meeting, and we have been working back from here since. This race can produce a St James’s Palace Stakes contender, and we have always felt that he has the potential to run up to that level.

“Maximized will be in the field again to hopefully keep things straightforward.”

Appleby also saddles Nation’s Hope, the wide-margin winner of two all-weather juvenile contests last backend, as well as Horris Hill winner Time To Turn.

“Nation’s Hope is quite hard to place at the moment, so we need to get a run into him to see where we stand. Conditions should suit him but there will be improvement to come from whatever he does here and we want to establish whether to step him up in trip afterwards,” Appleby added.

“Time To Turn has a penalty from his Newbury win in the autumn. He goes into this in good form and we wanted to see where we are before weighing up any potential Royal Ascot races.

“It’s not ideal to have to run all four, but there aren’t that many options and we want to see how they stack up ahead of Royal Ascot.”

With Charlie Pike’s 2000 Guineas eighth Padraig Dawn a non-runner, Gosden second string Wise Prince, Joseph O’Brien’s Irish raider Andab and Ed Walker’s Newmarket novice winner Golden Knight complete the field.