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Third in the G1 Investec Oaks and now runner-up in the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot marks Fleeting out as a very smart filly.

Inside the two-furlong marker the Ryan Moore-ridden Fleeting  (7/4f) fleetingly looked as if she might win, but Star Catcher (4/1), who had taken up the running, kept galloping and stayed on strongly to score by one and a half lengths. The winner was Frankie Dettori's third winner of the day and fifth of the week, taking him further clear of Ryan Moore in the QIPCO Royal Ascot leading jockey award. Moore has ridden three winners.

A further length and a quarter back in third was Sparkle Roll (11/1), trained, like Starcatcher, by John Gosden.

Aidan O'Brien, who trains Fleeting, said: "I'm very happy with that run, but I think she's probably a nice ground filly. It was better at Epsom and it's tough going out there today.

"On soft ground a mile and a half is far enough for her - she certainly wouldn't want to be going any further. She is in the Irish Oaks [July 20 at the Curragh], but we'll see how she is, how she comes out of this race and what the weather is like nearer the time."

Sparkle Roll is owned in a partnership involving Qatar Racing, whose racing manager, David Redvers, said: "Ground is the key to her, and she found the ground too quick at York [when seventh of 10 in the Musidora Stakes]. The question is whether she wants to go further at this stage.

"She's a big filly and if you look at her stride and the manner in which she gallops you would think it might be worth chancing it, but she is by Kingman [a miler]. 

"She could run in the Park Stakes [at Doncaster] and she'll have an autumn campaign, but there's not a filly we own who I'm more looking forward to running as a four-year-old. She's still such a big baby."