Moonlight Cloud could clash with top colt Intello next weekend after mowing down Lethal Force to win the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville for the third successive year.

Clive Cox's grey lost nothing in defeat, but he simply had no answer to Moonlight Cloud's finishing burst in a blistering time.

Adam Kirby attempted to make the running on Lethal Force, tactics which had worked so well in the Diamond Jubilee and July Cup, but he had to work hard to get over to the rail.

Once there Kirby tried to wind it up in 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.

Trainer Freddie 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.

"She's a very special filly and that was one of her best performances," Head said.

"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."

Moonlight Cloud famously came close to destroying Black Caviar's perfect record when she lunged at her in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot to miss by a head.