Mugatoo hasn’t been in competitive action since he suffered a serious tendon issue in the Group 1 Doomben Cup in the winter of last year.
So significant was the injury that the son of Henrythenavigator was ruled out of the entire Spring Campaign as well as drawing a line through any sort of title defence of the world’s richest mile race in March.
Lees is keeping a close eye on his prize asset and after easing him back into the fold at his Newcastle training base the Champion Provincial trainer is now feeling like not all the Autumn will go to waste for his start import.
“He is back at Broadmeadow and while we haven’t put any pressure on him yet, he looks great,” Lees said.
“Touch wood the tendon is where it needs to be but he appears to be good at this early stage.
“Hopefully we can see him back on track in the late autumn or early winter but we’ve got no set plans with him.
“He is going to tell us when he is ready to race.”
Mugatoo was a multiple Group 3 winning horse before being hit with injury.
He was in strong form at the start of 2021 which was demonstrated by the release of The Longines World Horse Rankings where he rated as high as 119 a figure only bested by Nature Strip, Verry Elleegant, Incentivise, Masked Crusader, Eduardo and Zaaki.