PARIS – All American eyes will be on Goldikova in the $313,000 Prix de la Foret, one of six Group 1 races on the Arc undercard at Longchamp on Sunday. But her trainer, Freddy Head, has warned that if the ground becomes too soft as a result of the rain expected to fall on Friday night and Saturday on a course already deemed soft, he will have no choice but to withdraw his 5-year-old mare and send her instead directly to Churchill Downs in search of her third Breeder’s Cup Mile crown.

In a year of superlative performances by European 2-year-olds, not least the extraordinay victory of Frankel in last Saturday's Royal Lodge Stakes, Newmarket was the site of two more of the same on Friday as Dream Ahead and Hooray cruised to handy scores in a pair of six-furlong Group 1 contests.

PARIS – Workforce, the seven-length winner of the Eposm Derby but a great flop in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, passed a final test at Newmarket on Thursday morning and will run after all in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.

PARIS – Aidan O’Brien has made the surprise move of naming Christophe Soumillon to ride Irish Champion Stakes winner Cape Blanco in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday.

Soumillon, a native of Belgium, won the Arc in 2003 with Dalakhani and in 2008 with Zarkava when he was first-string rider for the Aga Khan but was apparently left without a mount in this year’s race until O’Brien came to the rescue.

PARIS – The weather could play havoc with Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as intermittent rain on Friday and Saturday followed by a downpour on Sunday have left Paris a soggy city this week. With more rain forecast for Thursday and Friday, the world’s second richest race at $5.33 million could be one that very much favors soft-ground lovers.

Poet’s Voice, a 9-2 shot ridden by Frankie Dettori, won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, denying the Aidan O’Brien-trained Rip Van Winkle by a nose in the mile contest.

Makfi, the favorite, was a disappointing fifth of eight, running his second consecutive poor race at Ascot. The French invader, sent off at even money and ridden by Christophe Soumillon, was unable to find any extra in the straight.

Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot was hit by the shocking news on Thursday that Canford Cliffs, the favorite for the Group 1, $391,000 mile, would miss the race after having scoped badly. That leaves Makfi as Ladbrokes’s new 4-5 favorite with defending titleholder Rip Van Winkle the second choice at 5-2.

Ireland’s leading juvenile, Pathfork is headed to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The winner of the seven-furlong, Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh on Sept. 11, the unbeaten son of Distorted Humor will make his first start on dirt at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6 for his trainer, Jessica Harrington, for whom he has also won the Curragh’s seven-furlong Group 2 Futurity Stakes.

Ascot will be the scene of three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races on Saturday when the winners of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (BC Mile), Fillies Mile (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and Royal Lodge Stakes (Juvenile Turf) will all earn automatic berths at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5 and 6.

Half-siblings to Goldikova and Bago were both successful in their maiden debuts at Longchamp on Saturday, on a day when Godolphin landed both Group 3 races on the card with French Navy and Prince Bishop.

Galikova, a Galileo half-sister to 10-time Group 1 winner Goldikova, had no trouble taking the one-mile Prix de la Cascade for unraced juvenile fillies as she cruised to a 1 1/2-length victory over Shmardanse, herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Varevees. Warm Hands, a half-sister to Sheepshead Bay winner Treat Gently, came home fourth.