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.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Isla Bonita won his third consecutive graded stakes in Sunday’s $1,973,447 Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse, a victory likely to lead to a start in the Japanese Derby at Tokyo Racecourse on June 1.

Isla Bonita, the 4-1 second choice, won the Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas by 1 1/4 lengths over 5-2 favorite To the World. Win Full Bloom, a 23-1 shot, was third in the field of 18. Isla Bonita rallied from mid-pack to reach contention in early stretch. Ridden by Masoyashi Ebina, Isla Bonita took the lead in the final furlong.

It’s a Dundeel earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita in November with a victory in Saturday’s $3.67 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia.

But a trip to California for the BC Turf was not foremost on the mind of It’s a Dundeel’s majority owner, John Messara of Arrowfield Stud, after the race. He mentioned the Queen Anne Stakes and Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England in June as possibilities for It’s a Dundeel, stopping short of committing to those races.

Harp Star closed from last in the final half-mile to win Sunday’s $1,820,078 Japanese 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies at Hanshin Racecourse.

It was not until the final strides that Harp Star, the 1-5 favorite, looked like a winner. Jockey Yuga Kawada had Harp Star more than 15 lengths behind pacesetter Fukuno Dream, who led by as many as eight lengths.

Harp Star was guided wide entering the stretch and took the lead in the final strides, winning the one-mile race by a neck over 6-1 Red Reveur. Nuovo Record, a 29-1 outsider, finished third in the field of 18.

The Australian stakes winners Lankan Rupee and Sacred Falls earned fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita this fall with wins in Group 1 races at Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday.

Sacred Falls won the $2.77 million Doncaster Mile on heavy turf. The victory gives Sacred Falls a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

Kingman vaulted to the fore of the future book for the English 2000 Guineas on May 3 with an easy win in Saturday’s $100,200 Greenham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Newbury, England.

Kingman won the Group 3 Greenham Stakes over seven furlongs on a straightaway course by 4 1/2 lengths over Night of Thunder. Ridden by James Doyle, Kingman stalked the pace before taking the lead in the final furlong. Night of Thunder, an 11-4 shot, finished 2 3/4 lengths in front of 80-1 Master Carpenter in the field of 10.

Berkshire and Kingman, two leading contenders for the English 2000 Guineas in May, make their first starts of 2014 in Saturday’s $100,200 Greenham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Newbury, England.

The Group 3 Greenham is run over seven furlongs on turf on a straightaway course.

Berkshire, a colt by Mount Nelson trained by Paul Cole, won two stakes in 2013 – the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket in September in his final start of the year.