Whirl and See The Fire are set for a Group One Nassau Stakes (2,000m) showdown at Glorious Goodwood on Thursday.

See The Fire arrived a neck too late behind Aidan O’Brien’s Opera Singer 12 months ago and will need to overcome another Ballydoyle powerhouse in Whirl if she is to break her top-level duck at the ninth attempt.

Andrew Balding’s filly has looked better than ever this season and ran riot in the Group Two Middleton Fillies’ Stakes (2,000m) at York in May, streaking away by a remarkable 12 lengths.

Most recently, she finished third behind Ombudsman in the Group One Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2,000m) at Royal Ascot and comes into the race as the highest-rated in the line-up.

She concedes 9lb to a younger Whirl, but Balding is adamant his filly has unfinished business in the Nassau.

“She’s a very exciting filly and we have always fancied going back for the Nassau,” said Balding.

This will not be an easy task for her, however, with O’Brien’s Whirl looking a class act this campaign.

She won a Group Three at York in May and took a giant leap forward when beaten by just a neck in the Group One Oaks (2,400m) at Epsom.

The winner, Minnie Hawk, franked the form by winning the Group One Irish Oaks (2,400m) on her next start, and Whirl was last seen winning the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes (2,000m) at the Curragh.

The second from that race, Kalpana, ran a huge race to finish second in the Group One King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2,400m), giving further substance to Whirl’s already bulletproof form.

“She [Whirl] was coming back in trip and when you are trying to outstay a rival as good as Kalpana that is very difficult but Ryan (Moore) got it spot on. And as we had seen in the Oaks, Whirl wasn’t for surrendering,” said O’Brien.

Cercene caused a boilover when she won the Group One Coronation Stakes (1,600m) at Royal Ascot and is now moved up in distance by her trainer Joseph Murphy.

She has seven lengths to make up with Whirl on their meeting at the Curragh last year in Group Three company, but Murphy’s filly has evidently improved since that encounter.

O’Brien also runs Group One Prix de Diane (2,000m) second Bedtime Story, who had a torrid trip on that occasion and remains totally unexposed at the distance.

Front runner Running Lion, trained by John and Thady Gosden, is set to go off as the outsider. She has not quite been at her best this campaign and is likely vulnerable to unexposed rivals conceding a huge amount of weight.

Also on the card is the Group Two Richmond Stakes (1,200m), a nine-runner contest that is wide open on paper.

The form standard is set by the Group Two Coventry Stakes (1,200m) third Coppull for trainer Clive Cox, while the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes (1,000m) winner Havana Hurricane is another with a leading chance for Even Johnson Houghton.