Aidan O'Brien did what comes naturally to him on Sunday, winning the Group 1, $319,000 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh for the 10th time in the last 12 years with Alfred Nobel. The 5-4 Danehill Dancer colt slogged his way through heavy ground to defeat his Ballydoyle stablemate Air Chief Marshal by a half-length, taking 1:20.32 to travel the swampy six furlongs.

Conduit led a one-two-three sweep for Michael Stoute in the $1.6 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday as he returned to the form that had won him the Breeders' Cup Turf nine months ago. Ending a two-race losing streak at 1 1/4 miles, the 4-year-old son of Dalakhani defeated stablemate Tartan Bearer by 1 3/4 lengths with Ask a head farther back in third. The first two were bred and owned by Ballymacoll Stud.

Action on the European 2-year-old front heats up on Sunday with the running of the first juvenile Group 1 of the season at the Curragh and the reappearance of the Aga Khan's precocious Siyouni at Maisons-Laffitte.

The $319,000 Phoenix Stakes has been won by Aidan O'Brien in nine of the last 11 years. On Sunday the master of Ballydoyle will send out four of the eight runners in the six-furlong dash, which has been taken in recent years by Mastercraftsman, Holy Roman Emperor, George Washington, and Johannesburg, all of them trained by O'Brien.

Conduit will step back up to 1 1/2 miles for the first time since his victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf when he heads the $1.6 million King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.

British trainer Karl Burke was suspended by the British Horseracing Board for a year on Monday for supplying inside information to gamblers on six of his horses who ran during May and June of 2004.

The decision follows on the heels of the suspensions of jockeys Darren Williams and Fergal Lynch and former owner Miles Rodgers, whose race-fixing trial involving the same issues fell apart in civil court.

Utmost Respect, one of Europe's leading sprinters, died Sunday of peritonitis. A gelded 5-year-old son of Danetime, Utmost Respect was a four-time group-race winner going six furlongs. He had won his last three starts, the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh, the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes at York, and the Group 3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte.

Getaway took his revenge on Flamingo Fantasy in the $220,000 Deutschland-Preis at Dusseldorf on Sunday, beating his Hansa-Preis conqueror by three-quarters of a length in the 1 1/2-mile Group 1 contest.

All of Germany's best mile-and-a-half older horses will be on display at Dusseldorf on Sunday in the Group 1, $219,000 Deutschland-Preis, a race whose roll of honor includes Acatenango, Ibn Bey, and Platini, as well as subsequent Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Marienbard.

As expected, Sea the Stars has been ruled out of the 1 1/2-mile King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 25. Worried about the short time between his victory in the 1 1/4-mile Eclipse Stakes on July 4 and the King George, trainer John Oxx announced on Tuesday that he will instead point his 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby winner to the 1 1/4-mile, 88-yard Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Aug. 18.

Sheikh Mohammed got the better of his Coolmore arch-rivals at Longchamp on Tuesday as Cavalryman defeated Age of Aquarius in the $835,000 Grand Prix de Paris. The victory gave trainer Andre Fabre his 10th victory in the Group 1 Bastille Day feature.