Nakeeta is set to kick off his season in the 188Bet Chester Cup for the third successive year on May 11, with a defence of his Ebor title likely to be his main aim later in the campaign.

The seven-year-old was beaten just a short head by No Heretic in the Chester feature in 2016, but could finish only 10th behind Montaly last year before going on to claim the £177,000 first prize in the Ebor at York in August.

Nakeeta was last seen finishing a fine fifth in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington, and trainer Iain Jardine is looking forward to getting his stable star back in action.

He said: "We will probably be aiming for the Ebor, but the plan is to run in the Chester Cup and we will see where we go from there.

"He's run in the race a couple of times now, he's not had the best of draws but he did well from a bad stall the other year and it's a good starting point.

"Obviously his handicap mark will make it more difficult this year, but we will see what happens after Chester and there might be a Listed race for him along the way. The Yorkshire Cup closes soon but I think that would be a bit tough for him, so we'll give it a miss.

"We'll work towards the Ebor, but we could look again at Melbourne after that.

"It was a great experience, they looked after us so well. It was good racing and they make a big deal of it, rightly so given how good the prize-money is there. That was a real eye-opener.

"He ran a great race there and it really suited him."