Variety Club, bred in South Africa and campaigned there before racing this winter and spring in Dubai, romped Sunday at Sha Tin in the Group 1 Champions Mile, the first horse not based in Hong Kong to win the race in its 14-year history.

Night of Thunder, a 40-1 outsider ridden by Kieren Fallon, scored an upset win in Saturday’s $760,500 English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse despite drifting badly across the track in the final yards.

Night of Thunder finished a half-length in front of 3-2 favorite Kingman, who was beaten for the first time in his fourth start. Australia, the favorite for the English Derby at Epsom on June 7, finished third in the one-mile race, a head behind Kingman in the field of 14.

Though she faces 18 opponents, Rizeeena is a solid favorite to win her 3-year-old debut Sunday in the English 1000 Guineas.

Rizeena ended an eight-start 2-year-old campaign, finishing second to the ill-fated Chriselliam in the Group 1 Fillies Stakes, a race, like the Guineas, contested over a straight-course mile at Newmarket. Rizeena’s most important victory among four last year came in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes over seven furlongs at The Curragh.

Kingman, the flashy winner of the Grade 3 Greenham Stakes last month, will be a strong favorite to extend his unbeaten streak to four races in Saturday’s $760,500 English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse.

But the absence of rain in recent days has left the turf at Newmarket good to firm, conditions that could be quicker than Kingman would prefer. When Kingman won the Greenham Stakes over seven furlongs by 4 1/2 lengths at Newbury, the turf course was listed as good.

Breeders’ Cup Ltd. said it has reached a multi-year deal giving Henry Birtles Associates the television distribution rights to its signal in most foreign jurisdictions.

Designs on Rome, the newest Hong Kong star, stepped outside age-restricted competition for the first time Sunday and beat defending champion Military Attack by a neck in the Group 1 Audmars Piguet QEII Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.

Trainer John Moore swept the top two spots in the race, while the South African native Vercingetorix could only finish third, beaten two lengths by Military Attack while no match for the top pair in the final accounting. Tommy Berry rode Designs on Rome, while Joao Moreira was aboard Military Attack.

Cirrus des Aigles won a ferocious stretch-long duel with Treve, sending the filly to her first defeat Sunday at Longchamp in a tremendous renewal of the Group 1 Prix Ganay.

Cirrus des Aigles carried three pounds more than Treve but already had raced twice this year, while Treve was starting for the first time since she won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in November, and Cirrus des Aigles’s fitness and recency edge might have made the difference in a 1 3/16 miles race contested over very soft ground.

Tullius won his first Group 2 race, and fourth career stakes, in Friday’s $159,600 bet365 Mile at Sandown Park in England, a victory expected to lead to a Group 1 start later this spring.

Ridden by Jimmy Fortune for trainer Andrew Balding, Tullius (9-2) closed from fourth in a field of six to take the lead with a furlong remaining. He pulled clear to win by 3 1/4 lengths over 3-1 Montiridge. Garswood, the 5-2 favorite, finished fifth, failing to threaten the leaders in the last half-mile.

There is no soft opening to the Group 1 portion of the European flat-racing season, with super-filly Treve set to take on the wonderful 8-year-old gelding Cirrus des Aigles in the Prix Ganay on Sunday at Longchamp.

Treve makes her first start since setting the racing world abuzz with a five-length win Oct. 6 in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, where she left the top-class Japanese horse Orfevre floundering in her wake. It was Treve’s fifth win from five starts and third Group 1, and no rival has ever gotten within 1 3/4 lengths of her.

Top Notch Tonto, second in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last October, makes his 2014 debut in Friday’s $159,600 bet365 Mile at Sandown Park, outside of London.

The Group 2 Bet365 Mile is likely to serve as a prep for the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, England, on May 17.

Top Notch Tonto, a 4-year-old gelding by Thousand Words, was a Group 3 winner in Britain last year for trainer Brian Ellison. In the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Top Notch Tonto finished 3 1/4 lengths behind Olympic Glory as a 14-1 outsider.