Trainer Wesley Ward is expanding his European string to nine horses this week, a group that will eventually form the team he starts at the Royal Ascot meeting in England on June 14-18.

Already this spring, Ward has won three races in France with as many starters and will have another when Holdin Bullets starts in a five-furlong allowance race at Chantilly on Friday.

Apapane, who won the 2010 Japanese Triple Crown for fillies, beat older mares, including the champion Buena Vista, in Sunday’s $2,214,000 Victoria Mile for fillies and mares at Tokyo Racecourse.

The 4-year-old Apapane closed from off the pace to finish a neck in front of a fast-closing Buena Vista, finishing a mile on turf in course record time of 1:31.9. Ridden by Masayoshi Ebina, Apapane, the 4-1 second choice, is by the Kingmambo sire King Kamehameha, and has won 7 of 12 starts.

Trainer Wesley Ward is expanding his European string to nine horses this week, a group that will eventually form the team he starts at the Royal Ascot meeting in England on June 14-18.

Already this spring, Ward has won three races in France with as many starters and will have another when Holdin Bullets starts in a five-furlong allowance race at Chantilly on Friday.

Black Caviar, the Australian 4-year-old filly who, at 130, is the highest-ranked horse in the world by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, ran her career record to 13 for 13 with a comfortable victory Saturday over top-class Hay List in the BTC Cup at Doomben.

Wootton Bassett was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten when finishing fifth behind victorious Tin Horse in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains, or French 2000 Guineas, on Sunday at Longchamp, while Golden Lilac remained undefeated with a definitive tally in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, or French 1000 Guineas.

Canford Cliffs stretched his winning streak to 4, all in Group 1 races, with a smart-looking victory in Saturday’s Lockinge Stakes at Newbury Racecourse.

Ridden by Richard Hughes, Canford Cliffs, the 4-5 favorite, stalked pacesetters Worthadd and Twice Over for the first seven furlongs of the one-mile race. Hughes guided Canford Cliffs between horses with a furlong to go and took the lead from Worthadd with a sixteenth of a mile remaining, appearing to win with something in reserve.

English-based Wootton Bassett is the favorite among 15 final entrants to land the Group 1 Poule D’Essai des Poulains, or French 2000 Guineas, on Sunday at Longchamp.

The Poule D’Essai des Poulains is one of four group races Sunday at Longchamp and one of two Group 1’s, the other being the Poule D’Essai des Pouliche, or French 1000 Guineas, for 3-year-old fillies. Both Group 1’s are contested over one mile.

Buena Vista, the 2010 Japanese Horse of the Year, will be a strong favorite to defend her title in Sunday’s $2,214,000 Victoria Mile for fillies and mares at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.

The Group 1 race, over about a mile on turf, will be Buena Vista’s first start since an eighth-place finish in the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 26.

A winner of 8 of 18 starts and a staggering $12,371,878, Buena Vista is making her second start of 2011 in the Victoria Mile, which drew a maximum field of 18.

The six-horse Dante Stakes, a major Epsom Derby prep on Thursday at York in northeastern England, included three major Derby hopefuls in Carlton House, Seville, and World Domination, but World Domination failed to progress from a strong maiden win, and Carlton House emerged as the sharpest of the trio with a 1 1/2- length victory over Seville in the Group 2 Dante.

Canford Cliffs, who ended his 3-year-old season last July with three consecutive wins in Group 1 stakes, will be heavily favored in his 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, west of London.

Canford Cliffs is part of a field of 10 in the $285,000 Lockinge Stakes, run on a straightaway mile.