Yeats goes in search of his fourth consecutive win in the $407,000 Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday, but the 8-year-old son of Sadler's Wells looks like a shaky favorite in the 2 1/2-mile Group 1 race, with his failure in the listed Vintage Crop Stakes on April 26 suggesting that he may be approaching the end of his rope.

The gap came just in time for Vision d'Etat in the $738,000 Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday as the Eric Libaud-trained French invader outsprinted Tartan Bearer and Never on Sunday to the line to land the spoils in the 1 1/4-mile Group 1 race.

Vision d'Etat can raise the French flag over the quintessential English race meeting at Royal Ascot on Wednesday in a competitive renewal of the Group 1, $735,000 Prince of Wales's Stakes.

Perfectly suited to 1 1/4 miles, last year's French Derby winner is coming off a deceptively easy half-length victory in the Group 1 Prix Ganay on April 26 at Longchamp. Olivier Peslier hops across the English Channel for the ride aboard the Eric Libaud-trained Vision d'Etat.

Strike the Tiger made history on Tuesday when he became the first American-trained horse to win a race at Royal Ascot. One of six horses Wesley Ward has brought to England for the Royal Meeting this week, the 2-year-old son of the Storm Cat stallion Tiger Ridge won the listed $81,000 Windsor Castle Stakes under John Velazquez, defeating 21 other 2-year-olds while landing a big price of 33-1.

Mastercraftsman held off the late challenge of Delegator to win the Group 1, $407,000 St. James's Palace Stakes on opening day of Royal Ascot on Tuesday. The victorious Irish 2000 Guineas winner established himself as Europe's leading 3-year-old miler with a neck victory, the third time in a row trainer Aidan O'Brien has won this race.

Royal Ascot, the five-day-long summer highlight of the British flat racing season, gets under way in spectacular style on Tuesday with the first three races all holding Group 1 status.

Seventeen group stakes, including seven Group 1's, will be run at Royal Ascot, which will race through Saturday.

Stacelita just keeps getting better and better. In a performance that recalled the daring exploits last year of Zarkava, she remained undefeated with an impressive four-length victory in the $1.1 million Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly on Sunday, in the process giving her trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, his 11th group race triumph of the year.

Wesley Ward is embarking on a groundbreaking raid on Royal Ascot this week, when he will be saddling not one, but six horses at Great Britain's most prestigious race meeting.

Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and jockey Christophe Lemaire have an excellent chance of winning their third French classic this year at Chantilly on Sunday. Stacelita is the likely favorite in the 12-runner Prix de Diane, or French Oaks, for fillies at 1 5/16 miles.

The pair combined to win the French 1000 Guineas with Elusive Wave and last Sunday's French Derby with Le Havre.

Stacelita has the qualifications to add to that tally. She is unbeaten in four races, and her winning margins have increased as the competition has grown stronger.

Vodka successfully defended her $1.98 million Yasuda Kinen title at Tokyo on Sunday as she finished with a late rush to defeat Deep Sky by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1 mile. The victory was her sixth at the highest level and increased her lifetime earnings to $9,552,907, a world record for fillies and mares.