MONITOR CLOSELY returns to the scene of his finest hour when he runs at York in the Group 2 Sky Bet York Stakes today.

The Oasis Dream colt recorded the biggest win of his career last August when he took the sportingbet.com Great Voltigeur Stakes on the Knavesmire.

He subsequently finished third in the following month’s St Leger, the last time he was seen on a racecourse.

Monitor Closely switched yards to join trainer Michael Bell in the winter and is only now ready for his seasonal bow after injury niggles.

The four-year-old faces seven rivals this weekend and will be ridden by Jimmy Fortune, who booted him home to that 28-1 success over two furlongs further at the 2009 Ebor Festival.

Bell said: “He has shown that he is effective on Knavesmire, having won the Voltigeur. It’s no secret that we’ve had problems with his knees this summer.

“But we have had a very good run with him in the last month and he is as fit as we can get him at home without a run.

“I am hopeful that he can run a good race but, given that we have had to be quite cautious with his training programme, he may just need it.”

The yard will be hoping to land the lion’s share of their third six-figure sum at York following success in the 51st John Smith’s Cup with Wigmore Hall and in the totesport.com Middleton Stakes courtesy of Sariska.

The £100,000 Sky Bet York Stakes is staged over an extended mile-and-a-quarter and should also see Allybar in action.

The Godolphin colt will be ridden by top jockey Frankie Dettori, while Godolphin’s other runner Balius will be partnered by Alan Munro.