Valixir taking class drop into Group 3

Valixir will make an unconventional drop-down at Maisons-Laffitte on Sunday in the Group 3 Prix Messidor, a $91,000 one-mile race in which he must spot five rivals eight to 16 pounds after his Group 1 victory in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 14.

Trainer Andre Fabre feels that Valixir needs a race before tackling Divine Proportions and Dubawi in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Aug. 14. So Valixir, who beat Rakti in the Queen Anne, will go in this lesser event. He will be tested by recent Group 3 runner-up Special Kaldoun and listed winner Nid d'Abeilles.

* Trainer Ed Dunlop has announced that his Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Ouija Board, injured when finishing seventh in the Prince of Wales's Stakes on June 15, is being aimed for a return to action in the 1 1/2-mile Princess Royal Stakes at Newmarket on Sept. 24.