Charlie Johnston is looking forward to Ancient Egypt renewing his rivalry with Causeway in Tuesday evening's Grand Prix de Paris.
Only a neck split the colts when Aidan O'Brien's charge came out on top in a hard-fought battle to the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last month and the pair of them feature among seven horses declared for the Longchamp Group One over 12 furlongs.
Ancient Egypt, a son of Frankel owned by Amo Racing, had won the Listed Newmarket Stakes on his seasonal return and was bouncing back to form last month having failed to cope with the ground at Epsom in the Betfred Derby, where he finished eighth of the 14 runners behind O'Brien's Christmas Day.
Speaking on Sky Sports Racing on Monday, Johnston said: "This has been on our radar ever since Ascot. It's a small but select field, you can't really rule out any of the seven I don't think. We felt this was the obvious race for him off the back of such a good run in the King Edward.
"It was great to see him bounce back from Epsom, we left Epsom with some degree of confidence that he'd moved into the race very well and rounding Tattenham Corner I wouldn't really have swapped him at that point. Obviously, he faded in the straiugh but we were hopeful that was purely down to the ground.
"He confirmed that by bouncing back at Ascot. It was a big ask for the horse, turning around 13 days later, and I can't help but wonder that maybe an extra week might have made a difference. But on the plus-side it gives us a little bit more time between Ascot and tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to renewing that rivalry with Causeway, we obviously haven't got a huge amount to find with him.
"That Ascot run shows us that a mile and a half on fast ground is ideal conditions and he really does warrant being in these sort of races."
In regards to the horse's character, the trainer added: "He's been easier this year. As a two-year-old he could be a little bit of a boy but through the winter he really grew up from two to three and - touch wood - he's actually been very straightforward to train this year."
Derby runner-up Maltese Cross represents the Newmarket yard of William Haggas, while as well as Causeway, the flag of Ireland is flown by Queen's Vase winner Limestone for Joseph O'Brien.
Alam (Mikel Delzangles), Space Waltz (Andre & Lavinia Fabre) and the unbeaten Varandir from the Franic-Henri Graffard stable make up the three-prongled home team in a warm-looking edition of the famous race.
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