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Godolphin challenger ready to face Starman again in Sprint Cup.

As money continues to come for Starman  in the Betfair Sprint Cup, William Buick has high hopes he can challenge the favourite in the Haydock showpiece aboard Creative Force.

The Godolphin-owned gelding met with defeat for the first time this season when two lengths behind Starman in fifth, as Ed Walker's stable star came out on top in the Darley July Cup.

Creative Force subsequently missed out by a neck in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood, while Starman was a close third in the Prix Maurice de Gheest over six and a half furlongs – which seemed to stretch him at Deauville.

Buick said of the Charlie Appleby-trained Creative Force: "We are on course for the Sprint Cup at the weekend, and he has done nothing wrong all season. I'm very much looking forward to riding him again on Saturday.

"Starman is a good horse, and we are having to take him on again, but hopefully we can close the gap a little bit with him this time round.

"It has not really surprised us what he has done this season, because he ran in the Coventry Stakes as a two-year-old. He has always been held in high regard, but he is just a lovely horse to be around."