Hughie Morrison's Pastoral Player is on course to make his seasonal reappearance in the Betfred Victoria Cup at Ascot on 12 May.
The five-year-old has always been held in high regard by his connections and looked to have finally come of age when signing off his 2011 campaign with a most impressive performance over the Victoria Cup course and distance.
Morrison feels his charge is stronger than ever heading into the new season and believes he is ready to make his presence felt in some major prizes.
"I'm very happy with him. He did a little bit of work on Friday morning, which went quite well," said Morrison.
"He's definitely getting stronger and all being well he'll have an outing in the Victoria Cup first.
"Hopefully he'll win a big one somewhere along the line. We'll be aiming high this year so if he does win one he'd have run a proper race."
