It was ladies day Sunday in sub-tropical Paris, where the autumn temperature ranged near 80 degrees and the German filly Danedream turned in a red-hot performance, leading a female sweep of the top three places in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Dream Ahead won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Sunday at Longchamp, but all eyes were on the horse a head behind him at the finish, as Goldikova wrapped up the European portion of her storied career with a narrow loss in Paris.

The 6-year-old Goldikova probably has one dance left, with her fourth trip to the United States likely still in the works next month. Goldikova’s first three trans-Atlantic trips produced wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and she appeared to run well enough in defeat Sunday to justify another start in the race.

Byword won his second consecutive Group 2 stakes and Rajsaman won his first Group 2 stakes since May in stakes at Longchamp on Saturday, the first program of the two-day weekend Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe festival.

Arc weekend in Paris begins on Saturday at Longchamp with a program that features four Group 2 races, and a few races that could produce runners for the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4-5.

The Prix Daniel Wildenstein, over about a mile, and a possible prep for the BC Mile, includes Rio de la Plata, who was second in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sept. 11, as well as the French Group 3 winners Best Dating and Zinabaa.

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Two races after the Arc on Sunday's card at Longchamp, Announce, the winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville in August, will be well-backed against 10 rivals in the Prix de l’Opera, which is run over 1 1/4 miles on turf and is worth $470,750.

Trained by Andre Fabre, Announce must beat Banimpire, who won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot in June; and Sandy’s Charm, the winner of the Group 3 Prix de Lieury for 3-year-olds fillies at Deauville in August.

Goldikova makes her 20th and final French start Sunday in the Prix de la Foret, attempting to win the 15th Group or Grade 1 race of her career in her Paris finale. Before being retired, Goldikova is expected to race once more following the Foret when she tries for a fourth straight Breeders’ Cup Mile win Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.

The 2011 renewal of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has such depth that 2010 winner, Workforce, is nowhere near the early betting favorite for Sunday’s race.

Two fees-paid berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs next month are at stake for the winners of Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Prix de l’Opera on the undercard of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe program at Longchamp in Paris.

Overall, there are eight Group 1 races on the nine-race program. Aside from the Arc and the Prix de la Foret, which is led by three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova, there are two Group 1 races for 2-year-olds, as well as one for sprinters, fillies and mares, marathoners, and even Arabian-bred horses.

Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris will have a maximum field of 16 after the 2011 Group 1 winners Danedream, Masked Marvel, and Meandre were supplemented to the race for approximately $136,000 on Thursday.

The supplemental entries are not among the favorites with British bookmakers. As of Thursday, So You Think, the winner of the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes last month, and Sarafina, who beat males in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in the summer, shared the role of favorite, at 7-2, for the race over about 1 1/2 miles.

Timing-wise, the Arc meeting and the Breeders’ Cup always have meshed. Arc Day, Europe’s premier race day, falls on the first Sunday in October, roughly one month before the Breeders’ Cup, the Western Hemisphere’s best racing event since its establishment in 1984. And since the Arc meeting is upon us, with many of the best horses in Europe converging upon Paris this weekend for six Group 1 races, it means the Breeders’ Cup cannot be far below the horizon.