Churchill Downs is not the only track hosting the first classic race of the year Saturday. At Newmarket in England, 13 3-year-olds are set to contest the Group 1 English 2000 Guineas, the first European classic of the 2013 flat-racing season, and the assembled group, headed by the undefeated pair of Dawn Approach and Toronado, appears at least to be a solid one.

English trainer Gerard Butler is at the center of another British Horseracing Authority probe of steroid use.

Butler told The Independent newspaper that the racing authority is investigating him for using a product called Sungate that contains the anabolic steroid stanozolol. Butler’s report comes in the wake of the eight-year suspension of Godolphin trainer Mahmood al Zarooni last week in England after horses at his stable tested positive for two anabolic steroids, including stanozolol.

Arc winner Danedream has gone off to a second career as a broodmare, but there is a new German player in top-level European middle-distance races to replace her. Pastorius, based in Germany with trainer Mario Hofer, won the first Group 1 of the European flat-racing season while making the first start of his 4-year-old campaign, capturing the Prix Ganay on Sunday at Longchamp by one length over Maxios.

Fenomeno, second in the 2012 Japan Derby, won the first Grade 1 race of his career in Sunday’s $2.805 million Tenno Sho at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan.

The 5-1 second choice, Fenomeno won the race over about two miles by 1 1/4 lengths over Tosen Ra, a 12-1 shot. Red Cadeaux, second in the $10 million Dubai World Cup behind Animal Kingdom in March, finished third in the field of 18.

All Too Hard, a half-brother to retired undefeated champion Black Caviar, won his third consecutive Group 1 race in Saturday’s $410,000 All Aged Stakes at Randwick Racecourse in Australia, a performance that could lead to a start at Royal Ascot in England in June.

All Too Hard, a 3-year-old in the Southern Hemisphere, won the All Aged Stakes over about seven furlongs by a half-length over 10-1 Rain Affair. Fiorente, second in the Melbourne Cup last November, finished third in his first start of 2012.

Just as one would expect from the first Group 1 flat race of the European season, the Prix Ganay on Sunday at Longchamp will be the best race in Europe run so far in 2013.

The Ganay, contested over about 1 3/16 miles over going expected to be good, drew a field of nine runners, several of whom can win, but the two horses who were readied earlier in the spring for a trip to Dubai, Dunaden and Giofra, could hold a fitness edge on their comebacking counterparts.

The British Horseracing Authority will test all horses formerly trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, who was banned for eight years on Thursday after 11 horses in his care for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing tested positive for banned anabolic steroids earlier this month at a stable in Newmarket, England.

In a statement released on Thursday, the racing authority’s chief executive, Paul Bittar, said that further interviews will be done with Godolphin staff regarding the positives, which were found during testing for out-of-competition testing.

Gold Ship, a winner of his last four starts in graded stakes in Japan, will be a heavy favorite to extend his winning streak in Sunday’s $3,437,000 Tenno Sho at Kyoto Racecourse.

The Grade 1 Tenno Sho is run over about two miles and is a leading race for older horses on the Japanese spring calendar.

The race has drawn a prominent foreign shipper in Red Cadeaux, who was second to Animal Kingdom in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 30.

Mahmood Al Zarooni, who rose from relative obscurity to train for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing stable in recent years, was banned for eight years by the British Horseracing Authority on Thursday after 11 horses in his care tested positive for banned substances earlier this month.

The suspension was announced after Al Zarooni appeared before a disciplinary hearing at the BHA’s headquarters in London.

Trumpet Major was one of the better early-season 3-year-olds last year in England, but that might not be saying much.

The crop of 3-year-olds racing last year in Europe looked fairly week once they began to face older rivals later in the year, and it will be at least mildly interesting to see how Trumpet Major, the Craven Stakes winner who managed a fourth in the English 2000 Guineas, fares Friday at Sandown when he makes his 4-year-old debut in the Bet365 Sandown Mile.