Former champion miler Electronic Unicorn will return to racing in the Group One Chairman's Sprint Trophy over 1,200m on April 25.
Virtually retired in late October after developing filling in his nearside foreleg, the brilliant gelding will return at the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup meeting - a year since his Champions Mile win on the same card - as one of trainer John Size's team of walking wounded.
The yard will also run fallen sprint idol Grand Delight and Stewards' Cup winner Super Kid in the sprint as Silent Witness attempts his record 11th win. Size yesterday confirmed Electronic Unicorn 'will run provided I'm happy enough with him between now and then', though the eight-year-old's longer term future will depend on how he shapes up.
'His problem was a tendon sheath, which is a serious injury but not a tendon or a ligament and I would not have wanted to persist with him if it was either of those,' Size explained. 'He's had no surgery, the only treatment he's had has been a bit of patience and he feels unrestricted and fine in himself. He had an easy trial today and was OK when he got back to the stable, so he is entered and he'll run.'
But Size cautioned against expecting too much. 'A race over 1,200 metres shouldn't do him any harm but it's now 21/2 long years since he won the Panasonic Cup and broke 1:09 for the same course,' he said. 'If he comes through this OK, he might run in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup over a mile before the end of the season but ultimately how long he goes on will depend on whether he's competitive - and by that I mean capable of earning prize money. It would be pointless going on otherwise.'
Size laid down the same criterion for Grand Delight, last season's champion sprinter which failed to find form earlier in the season.
