Richard Hannon will watch his two Breeders’ Cup runners, Tale Untold in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday, and Paco Boy in the Mile on Saturday, from a bed at Southampton Hospital in England. The 66-year-old trainer underwent bypass surgery earlier this week and is reported by his wife, Jo, to be resting comfortably.

“Everything went well,” Jo Hannon said on Richard Hannon Racing’s website on Friday. “Having been restricted to sitting in a chair for the last couple of days, he hopes to be able to leave intensive care today and move into his own room.”

Julien Leparoux has been named to represent the United States in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong on Dec. 8. The 27-year-old Frenchman, winner of an Eclipse Award as America’s leading jockey in 2009 when he rode 240 winners for earnings of $18,560,565, and as America’s leading apprentice rider in 2006 when he rode 403 winners, also won the Shoemaker Award as the leading rider at last year’s Breeders’ Cup.

A revivified Rio de la Plata seeks his second straight Italian Group 1 title at the Capannelle in Rome on Sunday in the 1 1/4-mile, $422,000 Premio Roma. Frankie Dettori, flying directly from his Breeders’ Cup assignments at Churchill Downs, will ride the Rahy 5-year-old, who is coming off a victory in the one-mile, Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua in Milan.

World championship honors may be at stake at Churchill Downs on Saturday, but whether the horse acceding to that level is Zenyatta, Goldikova, or Workforce is difficult to say. After the dust clears at about 6:50 p.m. Eastern, they may all still be chasing Harbinger, whose 11-length cakewalk in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 24 remains the best performance of the year.

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Queen Anne Stakes
June 15, 2010 - Royal Ascot

Americain gave France its first victory in the $6 million Melbourne Cup Handicap at Flemington on Tuesday as the Kentucky-bred son of Dynaformer rallied wide in the closing stages for a 2 3/4-length victory over Maluckyday.

Roderic O’Connor led virtually throughout to land the Group 1, $348,000 Criterium at Saint-Cloud on Sunday, a performance that boosted the outstanding form of the Dewhurst Stakes, in which the Aidan O’Brien-trained son of Galileo had finished second to Frankel.

Buena Vista ran “her best race ever,” according to trainer Hiroyoshi Matsuda, as she walloped 17 rivals to win the $3.1 million Autumn Tenno Sho, or Emperor’s Cup, at Tokyo on Sunday. Sunday Racing Co.’s 4-year-old filly scored her fifth career Grade 1 victory as she rallied from midpack to defeat Pelusa by a decisive two lengths, getting the 1 1/4 miles on a firm turf course in a very quick 1:58.20 as the 6-5 favorite.

“She is a superstar,” said rider Christophe Soumillon, who flew in from France especially for the assignment. “It was as if she had wings on her back.”

The 150th running of the Melbourne Cup Handicap at Flemington on Tuesday will have a rare American angle as Americain, now trained in France by Alain de Royer-Dupre after a brief, unsuccessful stint with Todd Pletcher, will start as one of the favorites in what has become the world’s second richest horse race at $6.04 million.

Andre Fabre and Aidan O’Brien have each won two of the last five runnings of Saint-Cloud’s $348,000, Group 1 Criterium International. Sunday’s renewal could be the icebreaker as they will saddle the two favorites for the one-mile juvenile test, Fabre with Godolphin’s undefeated French Navy, O’Brien with Roderic O’Connor, the game runner-up to Frankel in the Dewhurst Stakes.