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Mark Johnston has placed Subjectivist among the best three horses he ever trained but confesses it is a “wing and a prayer job” as to whether he will ever return to his very best.

The 2021 Ascot Gold Cup winner will line up in Saturday's Dubai Gold Cup, a race he won prior to his career highlight, but to repeat that success he will need to step up markedly on what he achieved in Saudi Arabia.

Making his first start for 618 days following a tendon injury, Subjectivist was understandably keen early on, giving himself no chance, and Mark Johnston, who handed over the licence to his son Charlie recently, admits that following such a setback it may be difficult for him to return to his best.

He said: "He's just gone round the training track once this morning with Joe Fanning on him. Since he's come back from his injury he's been a bit keen, as you may have seen at Saudi.

"He was too keen for his own good there, as he is on the gallops at home, so the main thing for us is to try and get him relaxed and settled. I don't think we'll work him on the grass at all as Charlie said he got very wound up in Saudi by being on the track every morning.

"It's brilliant to have him back but it's a wing and a prayer job. When you have a tendon injury like he did, you're always thinking 'when does the end come?' – it will come at some point.

"As he was too keen on the night in Saudi and the event and build up proved to be a bit much for him, Charlie was keen to go to the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot and then the Gold Cup. We debated about it with John, our senior vet, and he said just to see really, who knows whether he'll still be going come Ascot Gold Cup time so we thought we'd come here. The money is fantastic and makes a huge difference."

Saturday's contest is a strong one but rather than worry about the opposition, Johnston feels that Subjectivist will take all the beating if he can get back to the form he showed two seasons ago.

He went on: "It's a very good race on Saturday, but there's been no better staying races than the Ascot Gold Cup he won two years ago and it's probably no better than the Gold Cup he won here. It's down to whether he's able to come back and perform as he used to.

"I put him in the category of our best three ever, because with the other two horses I never looked at the opposition. Those two horses were Shamardal and Attraction and it's the same with this horse, we don't look at the opposition.

"We look at whether he can run to his best and if he does that he'll be tough to beat. We firmly believed that in 2021 he was the best stayer in the world and it's just going to be whether he can get back to that."