Ave, winner of the Flower Bowl Invitational, is headed to Japan for the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup at Kyoto on Nov. 14, when she will run into the winner of this year’s English and Irish Oaks, Snow Fairy.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Ave is a 4-year-old daughter of Danehill Dancer and a Group 3 winner in Ireland when trained in England by Michael Stoute. Since joining Attfield this winter, she has been placed in Pimlico’s Galorette Handicap, Belmont’s New York Stakes, and Woodbine’s Dance Smartly Stakes, in which she was nosed on the line by Mekong Melody.

Buena Vista, the ultra-consistent 4-year-old daughter of Special Week who was an unlucky second to Dar Re Mi in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March, heads a competitive field of 18 at Tokyo on Sunday in the $3.1 million, 1 1/4-mile Autumn Tenno Sho, or Emperor’s Cup, one of Japan’s most coveted races.

Paddy Mullins, the trainer of the legendary Dawn Run, widely regarded as the greatest jumping mare in history, died at the age of 91 on Thursday in Ireland.

For 52 years Mullins was one of the leading figures in Irish racing, training top-class winners on both the flat and over jumps.

In Dawn Run he produced the only horse to win both the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Unfortunately, she died at Auteuil Racecourse in Paris in attempting to add the Grand Course de Haies d’Auteuil, or French Champion Hurdle, to her list of accomplishments.

The Emirates Racing Authority, the ruling body of racing in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, announced Wednesday that it has upgraded 10 of its races for the 2011 winter season. All but one of the races are run at Meydan Racecourse.

Most prominent among the promotions is the Al Quoz Sprint, which is now a Group 2. Two weeks ago its was announced that thre race,the most recent addition to Dubai World Cup Night, had been cut from six furlongs to five furlongs on the Meydan turf course.

Casamento, the 2-1 favorite, was an impressive winner of the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday. Ridden by Frankie Dettori, he powered to a three-quarter-length victory over the Aidan O'Brien-trained Seville. For Casamento's trainer, Michael Halford, it was his first Group 1 success.

Master of Hounds, a further two lengths away in third was also from O'Brien's Ballydoyle yard, giving Ireland a clean sweep in this the final Group 1 in England this season.

International Racing Bureau

It looks as though the Irish angle will be crucial in Saturday’s Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster, the final Group 1 event of the British season.

The mile event for 2-year-old colts and fillies has attracted 10 runners, with the Irish-trained pair of Casamento and Dunboyne Express looking the strongest.

Triple Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle has been retired to Coolmore Stud after what trainer Aiden O'Brien told Racing Post is "a very slight setback."

O'Brien apparently did not detail the colt's issue but said that "it would have meant forcing him to get him to Churchill Downs" for the Breeders' Cup, where Rip Van Winkle was nominated for both the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Classic.

A 4-year-old by Galileo, he will now join his sire at Coolmore.

A final decision on the Breeders’ Cup Turf status of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Workforce will not be made until Saturday at the earliest after trainer Michael Stoute has seen the 3-year-old son of King’s Best work at Newmarket.

The Dubai Racing Club announced on Tuesday that the distance of the Al Quoz Sprint, a Group 2 turf race run on Dubai World Cup Night, has been shortened from six furlongs to five furlongs.

The race was run on World Cup Night for the first time this past March when it was won by the Hong Kong-trained Joy and Fun with Godolphin’s Fravashi second and the Brian Koriner-trained California Flag third.

Apapane and Saint Emilion had finished in a dead heat the last time they met in the Japanese Oaks on May 21, but it was a different story at Kyoto on Sunday as Apapane beat her rival into last place in the Grade 1, $2.1 million Shuka Sho. Sent off as the 1.30-1 favorite and ridden by Masayoshi Ebina, Apapane rallied from 11th place to lead just inside the eighth pole for a three-quarter-length victory over Animate Bio. Her time for the 1 1/4 miles on firm ground was 1:58.40.