Charlie Appleby is optimistic that Charming Thought can make up for lost time by developing into a useful sprinter when he makes his return to action in the spring.
Having missed all of last season, the Group One-winning four-year-old is reported to be back in full work by the Newmarket handler.
After recovering from the knee injury sustained in his build-up towards last year's Qipco 2000 Guineas, the son of Oasis Dream, who has not been seen since winning the 2014 Middle Park Stakes, was forced to miss his intended reappearance at Doncaster in September.
Appleby said: "Charming Thought is in great nick and is back in full exercise. He picked up that knee injury last spring then unfortunately in the autumn he got a very nasty scope before he was going to run in the Park Stakes at Doncaster.
"As he was going to miss that he was not going to go straight to Champions Day without a run in him. It was just one setback after another, so we decided to call it a day and look towards a spring campaign.
"He has got over the knee injury well. He has strengthened up very well and physically he looks great. What I've seen so far I've been pleased with.
"He stands up to looking like a sprinter at the present time. We will try to get him out in April as he won't mind a bit of juice in the ground, he won with ease in it at Newmarket on his last start. What he wants is genuine good ground."
While welcoming back Charming Thought, the Moulton Paddocks handler is set to be without the services of Pretend for the foreseeable future after revealing he will not be back until the summer at the earliest.
He blitzed his rivals in the final of the Unibet All Weather Sprint Championships at Lingfield on Good Friday, but the five-year-old turned in a disappointing effort back on turf when finishing down the field in the Leisure Stakes at Windsor in June.
Appleby said: "Pretend has suffered a leg injury and is going to be out of action this spring. It is a just a niggling injury that he had back in his two-year-old days. He is not out of the game completely and we will maybe look to the summer time to get him back.
"I am fully confident he will act on the turf. For a sprinter he is a young horse so there is plenty of time for him and he is a horse we don't need to rush back.
"It would be pie in the sky to start saying we are looking to go here and there. We just want to get him back first."