Spear supplemented for another crack at 'tip-top' Ribchester

Ribchester will face a maximum of seven rivals in the Qatar Prix du Moulin at Chantilly on Sunday, with old sparring partner Lightning Spear added to the lineup on Thursday morning.

A three-time winner at Group 1 level, Ribchester's crown slipped a fraction when coming off second-best to Here Comes When in a Sussex Stakes run in monsoon conditions at Glorious Goodwood.

However, Richard Fahey has seen no ill effects from what appeared a visibly hard race and he feels he has Ribchester ready to go again at Chantilly.

Fahey said: "If I didn’t get excited by this there would be point in training. I'm really looking forward to running him."

With conditions unlikely to be anywhere near as testing as in the Sussex, the son of Iffraaj is around the even money mark, with Inns Of Court – who went down narrowly in the Prix Jacques le Marois – next best at 4-1.

"The Sussex is history gone by," said Fahey. "You can talk about bad ground and this, that and the other but it's finished and I'd rather move on. He is in tip-top shape."

Lightning Spear was three quarters of a length behind Ribchester in the Sussex and has since gone on to land a second Celebration Mile, denying Zonderland on the line and prompting spectacular celebrations from Oisin Murphy.

"We had originally thought this might have been a bit too close to Goodwood but looking at the field and the wellbeing of the horse, we decided to give it a shot," said trainer David Simcock, who will need no reminding that Lightning Spear has come off worse five times previously against Ribchester.

"We’d love to race on good ground but he is quite comfortable when it is on the easy side, as he is when it is fast."

Robin Of Navan is set to drop down to a mile for the first time since his two-year-old career, though Harry Dunlop's standard-bearer did come within a neck of defeating Mekhtaal in the Prix d'Ipsahan over an extended nine furlongs here in May.

Prix du Moulin card