Muhaarar goes for third straight stakes win in Prix Maurice de Gheest

Muhaarar can win his third consecutive Group 1 race, and second against older horses, in Sunday’s $383,950 Prix Maurice de Gheest for sprinters at Deauville, France.

Muhaarar, a 3-year-old trained by Charles Hills, won the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds at Royal Ascot on June 19 and followed with a debut win against older horses in the Group 1 July Cup at six furlongs at Newmarket’s July course on July 11.

The Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest is run on a straightaway 6 1-2 furlongs and will be Muhaarar’s first start outside of England since an eighth in the French 2000 Guineas at Longchamp on May 10. A colt by Oasis Dream, Muhaarar has won 5 of 9 starts for owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum of Dubai.

The Prix Maurice de Gheest drew a field of 12. Other notable runners are Gordon Lord Byron, a multiple Group 1 winner who was third in the 2013 Prix Maurice de Gheest; Esoterique, a 5-year-old mare who was second to Solow in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 16; and Ivawood, who was third in the English 2000 Guineas and Irish 2000 Guineas in May.

The Royal Ascot winners Buratino and Washington DC meet for the first time in Sunday’s $274,250 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes for 2-year-olds at The Curragh in Ireland.

Buratino, trained by Mark Johnston, has not raced since winning the Grade 2 Coventry Stakes at six furlongs at Royal Ascot on June 16 in his sixth career start.

Washington DC, trained by Aidan O’Brien, won the 27-runner Windsor Castle Stakes at five furlongs on June 16.

The Group 1 Phoenix Stakes drew a field of eight, including Air Force Blue, a Kentucky-bred War Front colt who was second in the Coventry for O’Brien; and Most Beautiful, who won the Group 3 Grangecon Stud Stakes for fillies at The Curragh on June 28. Most Beautiful is the only filly in the field.

Nutan makes debut vs. older competition

In Germany, Nutan, the winner of the Germany Derby last month, makes his debut against older horses in Sunday’s $191,975 Grosser Preis Von Berlin at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Hoppegarten Racecourse.

Trained by Peter Schiergen, Nutan is an Irish-bred colt by Duke of Marmalade. He is part of a field of eight in the Grosser Preis Von Berlin that includes Ito, a two-time stakes winner in Germany this year, and Second Step, who was second in the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket on July 9.