It's a long way from Les Sables d'Olonne to Chantilly, but Vision d'Etat completed the journey on Sunday with a stunning victory in the $2.3 million Prix du Jockey-Club, or French Derby.
A 7-1 shot, the undefeated Vision d'Etat held off the late charge of Famous Name by a head after running down the filly Natagora, who battled on gamely to be third, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up after leading at the quarter-pole.
The absence of the injured Japanese 2000 Guineas winner Captain Thule has left this year's $3.2 million Tokyo Yushun, or Japanese Derby, up for grabs at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday.
Seven of the 18 runners in the 1 1/2-mile classic finished behind Captain Thule on April 20 in the 1 1/4-mile Guineas, the closest of them Take Mikazuchi, who was 2 1/2 lengths behind in second. Rainbow Pegasus, fourth that day, came flying late and is a better bet to stay the distance, as he is by the Sunday Silence stallion Agnes Tachyon and out of a Danehill mare.
Smokey Oakey held on gamely for a surprise 20-1 victory in a first-rate but rain-softened renewal of the Group 3, $99,000 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown Park on Thursday evening.
Smokey Oakey, a 4-year-old bought as a yearling for just $16,000, got to the line under Jimmy Quinn a neck in front of multiple group race winner Maraahel with the 9-4 favorite Pipedreamer third, a half-length behind the runner-up.
Trained by Mark Tompkins, Smokey Oakey finished the 1 1/4 miles in 2:11.57.
Just five days before the French Derby, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, has purchased one of the favorites for Sunday's Chantilly classic: Democrate, a son of Dalakhani who won his maiden race on May 5 in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart.
Trained by Andre Fabre, Democrate was purchased from a consortium that included Skymarc Farm and the Moussac family and will run in the French Derby, aka the Prix du Jockey-Club, in either Sheikh Mohammed's maroon-and-white Darley colors or the green colors of his wife, Princess Haya of Jordan.
Lucarno, winner of last year's St. Leger Stakes, will make his seasonal debut at Sandown Park on Thursday in a renewal of the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes that comes very close to having Group 1 cachet.
Worth a mere $99,000, the 1 1/4-mile contest has also attracted Maraahel, a multiple Group 2 winner who narrowly missed taking his fourth consecutive Group 3 Huxley Stakes at Chester earlier this month, and Happy Boy, a Group 2 winner on turf in Brazil who was snapped up by Godolphin after his nine-length romp in the one-mile Group 3 Maktoum Challenge on dirt at Nad Al Sheba.
The continuing dispersal of the late Robert Sangster's Swettenham Stud provided Tuesday's highlight at the Magic Millions National weanling auction on Australia's Gold Coast.
Swettenham's colt by Redoute's Choice out of the Dayjur mare Twist My Heart brought the day's highest price of about $671,229.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds of Queensland purchased the colt, who is a three-quarter- brother to two-time Australia Group 1 winner and champion juvenile filly Fashions Afield.
Tall Poppy could be Hollywood-bound after her victory in the $2.2 million Tokyo Yushun, or Japanese Oaks, at Tokyo on Sunday. She is trained by Katsuhiko Sumii, the same man who engineered Cesario to the Japanese Oaks/American Oaks double in 2005.
Halfway to Heaven capped a group-race triple for Aidan O'Brien at the Curragh on Sunday when she outgamed Mad About You and Carribean Sunset in the $631,000 Irish 1000 Guineas.
The weekend was a triumph for O'Brien, as he had also won the Irish 2000 Guineas on Saturday with Henrythenavigator, who was made the 5-1 co-favorite with Curtain Call by Ladbrokes for the Epsom Derby after owner John Magnier said that the Derby was the race for him.