Notable Speech will drop to six furlongs for the first time in his career when he takes on fourteen rivals in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup at Newmarket on Saturday.

The four-year-old Dubawi colt has raced over exclusively over a mile to date and established himself among the very best of his generation in 2024 with top-level victories in the 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes.

After finishing fourth in both the Lockinge Stakes and the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot this season, connections made the call to supplement for the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai July Cup on Monday at a cost of £36,000.

"He has only ever raced over a mile. He is a high-class miler and very speedy, which the good milers usually are," said Buick, who recently became the latest active jockey to ride 2,000 winners in Britain.

"I have always felt that he could drop back in trip, certainly to seven furlongs. I know Charlie (Appleby, trainer) had earmarked the City Of York Stakes as one of his possible targets.

"We won't know fully until we try dropping back to six furlongs for the July Cup, but I think it's worth a try. He is a horse with loads of speed and if he can adapt to that early pace and be within himself, I think he'll be there with a very good show.

"He was a bit unlucky in the Queen Anne. It was such a nightmare of a race, and they went so slow. We were in a pocket. It was just one of those races where you couldn't really take too much out of it – we just had to put a line through it and move on. Once the dust settled, Charlie and the team thought long and hard about this race for him and here we are."

Charlie Appleby will also have a second string to his bow as the progressive gelding Symbol Of Honour bids to complete a high-class hat-trick following wins in the six-furlong Carnarvon Stakes and Sandy Lane Stakes.

Appleby said: "On their homework they're chalk and cheese, but Symbol Of Honour has always been like that and when he gets on the racecourse, he's just tough – he gets out on the pace and grinds it out.

"Notable Speech, without stating the obvious, is the class horse going into the race.

"When Will (Buick) got off him at Kempton last year he said the English Guineas might be a bit stiff for him, but obviously he went and won the English Guineas and from there on he's only ever run over a mile.

"But from what I saw in the Lockinge and although it was hard to assess Ascot because they went steady, he is a supreme traveller, and I felt he's got plenty to gain by running here on Saturday and nothing to lose."