Conduit returning at Sandown Park

Conduit, winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf, returns to the races at Sandown Park on Thursday evening in the $103,000 Brigadier Gerard Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile, Group 3 contest in which he will spot his 12 rivals between four and seven pounds.

A son of an Arc de Triomphe winner, Dalakhani, and trained by Michael Stoute, Conduit brings a three-race winning streak into the Brigadier Gerard. He will, though, be running at a considerably shorter distance than he did when taking the 1 1/2-mile Gordon Stakes, the 1 3/4-mile, 166-yard St. Leger Stakes, and the 1 1/2-mile BC Turf. He has won going 10 furlongs, however, by six lengths in a handicap at Epsom last June. Regular rider Ryan Moore has the call.

John Gosden will saddle the dangerous Arlington Million nominee Pipedreamer. Second by a short head to the highly regarded Tartan Bearer in the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes over the Brigadier Gerard course and distance on April 25, this Selkirk 5-year-old will carry seven pounds fewer than Conduit with Jimmy Fortune aboard.

The Godolphin-owned Campanologist is a threat off his second to Pipedreamer in the Group 2 York Stakes last summer, but the defending title-holder, Smokey Oakey, looks outclassed this time around.

In the Group 2, $159,000, Henry II Stakes at two miles, current Ascot Gold Cup favorite Patkai meets Geordieland, runner-up to Yeats in the last two runnings of that 2 1/2-mile Royal Ascot marathon.

* At Saint-Cloud on Thursday afternoon, the very consistent Shemima will try to build upon her victory in the Group 3, 1 1/4-mile, Prix Allez-France in the Group 2, $181,000, Prix Corrida at 1 5/16 miles. German invader Guantana, a daughter of Dynaformer who won a 1 3/8-mile listed race at Cologne last time, may have the best chance for an upset.