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Moonlight Cloud won the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville for the third successive year as she sprinted past Lethal Force inside the final furlong.

Clive Cox's grey lost nothing in defeat, conceding 3lb to the Freddie Head-trained mare, but he simply had no answer to Moonlight Cloud's finishing burst and went down by a length and three-quarters.

Adam Kirby attempted to make most on Lethal Force, but he had to work quite hard to get over to the rail and once there, he tried to wind it up from the front. But Thierry Jarnet always looked confident, and once he asked Moonlight Cloud to go and win the race the response was immediate and the five-year-old was able to come home alone.

Gordon Lord Byron made late headway to finish third, a further three-quarters of a length away, while Gale Force Ten showed up well for a long way before fading close home.

Head intends to send Moonlight Cloud back to Deauville for the Prix Jacques le Marois as long as she bounces out of the race well.

He said: "She's a very special filly and that was one of her best performances. There were four Group One winners. It was a tough race, but she broke the course record. She gave her everything. She's not a horse you can hit much, she gives her all without the whip, so that is maybe why it looked like she won easier than maybe she did.

"The plan remains the same, to run in the Marois next week, but as she has given everything I'll just see how she is over the next two or three days. A race against Intello (the French Derby winner) would be great."

Cox said of Lethal Force: "He's lost nothing in defeat, he's run very well and I'm very pleased with him. It was run in a course record time and the ground was only just good, so he's run a very brave race. At the end he was just beaten by a very good filly who was winning the race for the third time.

"Adam just felt he wasn't quite as good as he was at Newmarket. We were happy to come, don't get me wrong. We're very pleased with him, but obviously we'd have preferred to have won. We'll just see how he comes out of this before making any plans, we'll get him home and take it from there. The winner is a special filly."

Lady Cecil's First Mohican had to settle for a close third in the Group Three Prix de Reux. Tom Queally set out to make all and appeared to have done enough approaching the final furlong, but he was passed on either side, with Montclair forcing up his inside and Henri Alex-Pantall's winner Tres Blue on the outer, eventually powering through to the line under Fabrice Veron.