The 4-year-old filly Curran Chan won her fourth consecutive race, and first Group 1, beating males in the $2.4 million Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan on Sunday.
Nahrain remained unbeaten after four races, and earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf next month, with a nose victory in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Sunday.
The German 3-year-old filly Danedream burst to the lead about three furlongs from the finish and easily won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday at Longchamp in Paris.
Goldikova lost a thriller to upstart Dream Ahead on Sunday at Longchamp, going down by a head in the Prix de la Foret, her final start in France before being retired later this year.
Byword won his second consecutive Group 2 stakes and Rajsaman won his first Group 2 stakes since May in stakes at Longchamp on Saturday, the first program of the two-day weekend Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe festival.
Arc weekend in Paris begins on Saturday at Longchamp with a program that features four Group 2 races, and a few races that could produce runners for the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4-5.
Two races after the Arc on Sunday's card at Longchamp, Announce, the winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville in August, will be well-backed against 10 rivals in the Prix de l’Opera, which is run over 1 1/4 miles on turf and is worth $470,750.
Goldikova makes her 20th and final French start Sunday in the Prix de la Foret, attempting to win the 15th Group or Grade 1 race of her career in her Paris finale. Before being retired, Goldikova is expected to race once more following the Foret when she tries for a fourth straight Breeders’ Cup Mile win Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.
The 2011 renewal of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has such depth that 2010 winner, Workforce, is nowhere near the early betting favorite for Sunday’s race.
Two fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs next month are at stake for the winners of Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Prix de l’Opera on the undercard of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe program at Longchamp in Paris.
