On 26 August Lightning Spear attempted to repeat his 2016 victory in the Celebration Mile and started favourite ahead of Zonderland with the other four runners being Hathal (Superior Mile), Richard Pankhurst (Hungerford Stakes), Oh This Is Us (Spring Trophy) and Opal Tiara (Balanchine). After racing towards the rear of the field, Lightning Spear produced a strong late run in the straight and caught Zonderland on the line to win by a nose. Murphy commented: "I made no secret about how tactical the race was going to be. It was impossible to know what was going to happen, but you have to have confidence you have chosen to do the right thing and thankfully I just about got it right... It was a good performance today".
