Paco Boy is the odds-on favorite for the $296,000 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, but his task is hardly a straightforward one, as there are a number of serious challengers in the straight Group 1 mile.

Cape Blanco crushed a very good field Thursday in the Group 2, $222,000 Dante Stakes, the key Epsom Derby prep at York, giving trainer Aidan O'Brien his fourth victory in the race.

Jockey Eddie Ahern waited until the very end for a gap along the rail before producing Aviate for a thrilling victory in the Group 3, $97,000 Musidora Stakes at York on Wednesday. The 11-4 Aviate got up in the final strides to defeat the 20-1 Gold Bubbles by a head in this trial for the English Oaks. Aviate will now head to Epsom for the June 4 Oaks.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained 2-1 favorite Cabaret backed up to finish seventh, beaten a total of six lengths. The time for the 1 1/4 miles, 88 yards on good ground was 2:09.14.

Challengers to Epsom Derby favorite St Nicolas Abbey will line up in force at York on Thursday for the $223,000 Dante Stakes, the winner of which has gone on to win the 1 1/2-mile Derby in three of the last six years.

Midas Touch gave Aidan O Brien another prospect for the Epsom Derby when he won the Group 2, $129,000 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown on Sunday. But with just four horses having run in the 1 1/4-mile classic prep, it remains to be seen just where he stands in the Derby pecking order.

Ice Blue will head straight to the Prix du Jockey-Club, or French Derby, after his victory at Saint-Cloud on Saturday in the Group 2, $168,000, Prix Greffulhe. In chalking up another big win for his red-hot sire, Dansili, Ice Blue overcame trouble with a superb turn of foot to defeat Handsome Devil by three-quarters of a length.

York begins its three-day classic trial May Meeting on Wednesday when the undefeated Aviate tests the English Oaks waters in the Group 3, $97,000 Musidora Stakes. Aviate, a filly trained by Henry Cecil, made it 2 for 2 at Ascot on April 28 when she took a one-mile conditions race, but there are some doubts about her ability to get much further than a mile. She is a Dansili full sister to Early March, who won the seven-furlong, Group 3 Prix La Rochette as a 2-year-old but who never ran beyond a mile. Eddie Ahern will ride.

Godolphin has switched Cutlass Bay, its undefeated winner of last Sunday's Group 1 Prix Ganay, from trainer Andre Fabre at Chantilly to Saeed bin Suroor in Newmarket.

The move, described by Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford as "part of the arrangement we have with Andre," is the latest in a long line of Godolphin transferals from Fabre to Suroor.

Aidan O'Brien will saddle two of the four runners in the Group 2, $126,000 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown on Sunday, but both of them, Midas Touch and At First Sight, could be vulnerable to the Jim Bolger-trained Reiteration.

Harbinger continues to give promise of great expectations. On Friday, he displayed his stoutheartedness with a 1 1/2-length victory in the 1 5/8-mile, 89-yard Ormonde Stakes, a Chester Group 3 contest worth $111,000. Handily placed in fourth by Ryan Moore, Harbinger, a son of Dansili trained by Michael Stoute, led at the quarter pole and ran on strongly as the 8-13 favorite to defeat the Aidan O'Brien-trained Age of Aquarius. The winning time on good to soft ground was 2:56.73.