Youmzain ended a string of big-race seconds on Sunday as he held off the favored Soldier of Fortune to win the Group 1, $631,000 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Richard Hughes put the veteran 5-year-old on the lead approaching the eighth pole and was soon clear, showing true grit to hold Soldier of Fortune safe by a half-length. Doctor Dino was three lengths back in third, with Zambezi Sun fourth and Getaway fifth. The 5-1 winner covered the 1 1/2 miles on good to soft ground in 2:28.20.

Promising Lead lived up to the high promise she had been showing of late with a convincing victory in the Group 1, $391,000 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.

Soldier of Fortune can confirm his status as the world's leading older horse at 1 1/2 miles when he takes on eight accomplished rivals in a highly contentious renewal of the Group 1, $630,000 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on Sunday.

Promising Lead can land Group 1 laurels at the Curragh on Saturday in the 1 1/4-mile $391,000 Pretty Polly Stakes at the expense of Finsceal Beo, who returns to female competition after two sharp efforts against colts.

Trained by Michael Stoute, Promising Lead, a daughter of Danehill, took no prisonesrs in her 2008 debut at York on May 15, winning the 1 5/16-mile Group 3 Middleton Stakes by 3 3/4 lengths.

A More Than Ready filly that sold for about $600,000 got William Inglis and Co.'s select weanling and breeding stock sale off to a good start Thursday in Sydney, Australia.

Coolmore Stud purchased the filly, a daughter of the Danehill mare Milanova, from Tyreel Stud's consignment. Danehill was a Coolmore sire, and the filly's family includes Coolmore's popular new sire in Australia, Encosta de Lago. Her dam, Milanova, was an Australian Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed runner and is a full sister to Holy Roman Emperor.

Two of the biggest 1 1/2-mile races on the European calendar will be run on Sunday at the Curragh and Saint-Cloud. The Irish Derby is expected to feature the first three finishers from the Epsom Derby on June 7 - New Approach, Tartan Bearer, and Casual Conquest - while the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud for older horses will be led by Soldier of Fortune, last year's Irish Derby winner who last won the Coronation Cup at Epsom on the day before the Derby.

Kingsgate Native came back on just three days' rest to defeat a top-class international field of sprinters in the $740,000 Golden Jubilee Stakes on closing day at Royal Ascot on Saturday.

The Irish garden party that is Royal Ascot this year continued Friday, but whereas trainer Aidan O'Brien dominated the first three days of the meet, his compatriot Jim Bolger swept all before him on the fourth day.

Yeats ran off with his third consecutive triumph in the $490,000 Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday, giving trainer Aidan O'Brien and rider Johnny Murtagh their third Group 1 feature in the first three days of Royal Ascot and their fourth Group 1 tally at the meeting overall.

Royal Ascot closes its five-day stand Saturday with Europe's richest sprint race, the $735,000 Golden Jubilee Stakes, a six-furlong affair that has attracted the attention of nine Group 1 winners from places as far flung as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa as well as England and France.