The Group 1 Prix Niel for 3-year-olds over 1 1/2 miles on Sunday at Longchamp in Paris is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race, meaning the race winner gains an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf  as well as $20,000 in travel expenses to ship to Churchill Downs for the race. But the BC Turf probably does not sit foremost in the mind of the trainer of the likely race favorite, Meandre.

Saturday’s card at the Curragh features the Group 1 National Stakes at seven furlongs for 2-year-olds, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race for the BC Juvenile Turf. The National is set to go with a field of nine, with Power and Dragon Pulse the two antepost favorites in the betting.

Goldikova was withdrawn last weekend from consideration for the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sunday, but Goldikova’s 3-year-old half-sister, Galikova, will see Group 1 action on the card in Paris as one of six horses in the Prix Vermeille.

Besides the pair of Group 1’s, Sunday’s Longchamp program also includes the Prix Foy and Prix Niel, both historically important prep races for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The Godolphin-owned filly Blue Bunting seeks her third straight Group 1 victory and fourth of the year on Saturday at Doncaster in England, but has a formidable foe in the Michael Stoute-trained Sea Moon, who is widely favored to win the St. Leger Stakes.

Goldikova will make her next start in the Prix de la Foret on Oct. 2 at Longchamp as she prepares to attempt a fourth straight win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Since finishing second in the Aug. 15 Prix Jacques le Marois, Goldikova had been tentatively pointed to Sunday’s Prix du Moulin, but trainer Freddie Head announced a change in plans this past weekend. Instead of the Moulin, Goldikova will go instead for the Foret, the race she used as a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup the last two years.

The 3-year-old filly Danedream notched her second straight blowout victory in a German Group 1, winning the Grosser Preis von Baden, Germany’s premier race, by six lengths over Night Magic on Sunday at Baden-baden.

Tracking the pace of Night Magic on a course turned very soft by driving rain, Danedream eased into the lead a quarter-mile from the finish and went unchallenged the rest of the way, winning easily under Andrasch Stark. Joshua Tree, who may return to Woodbine to defend his title in the Canadian International, was left well behind in third.

The 3-year-old filly Danedream notched her second straight blowout victory in a German Group 1, winning the Grosser Preis von Baden, Germany’s premier race, by six lengths over Night Magic on Sunday at Baden-baden.

Tracking the pace of Night Magic on a course turned very soft by driving rain, Danedream eased into the lead a quarter-mile from the finish and went unchallenged the rest of the way, winning easily under Andrasch Stark. Joshua Tree, who may return to Woodbine to defend his title in the Canadian International, was left well behind in third.

So You Think won his third Group 1 race of the year, but his manner of victory in the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday at Leopardstown in Ireland did not match up with his overwhelming favoritism in the race.

Challenged about a quarter-mile from the finish by Snow Fairy, So You Think could never shake clear of that filly, holding on to win by a half-length after an exciting stretch run.

The improving 3-year-old filly Danedream, whose connections may have designs on the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, heads a field of six entered for the Group 1, $355,000 Grosser Preis von Baden at the Iffizheim course in Germany on Sunday.

Press Association ImagesSo You Think (left) will be a heavy favorit