Zarkava confirmed her high promise at Longchamp on Sunday, displaying a powerful turn-of-foot to make off with the $616,000 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, or French 1000 Guineas.
Off to her usual slow start, Zarkava rallied under Christophe Soumillon as the 1-5 choice to defeat Goldikova by two lengths while clocking a stakes record 1:35.20 for the mile on good ground.
Coolmore gave Godolphin Racing a sound thrashing in the Group 3, $117,000 Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday as Aidan O'Brien saddled the first two finishers, Alessandro Volta and King of Rome, to beat the 6-5 Saeed bin Suroor-trained favorite, Campanologist, into third place.
The 1 7/16-mile race was altered by the withdrawal of Curtain Call, the early second favorite for next month's Epsom Derby. His trainer, Luca Cumani, deemed Lingfield's good-to-firm going too fast for his Sadler's Wells colt.
Zarkava is the one to beat in the $616,000 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, or French 1000 Guineas, at Longchamp on Sunday. Unbeaten with two course and distance victories already under her belt, the Aga Khan's latest super filly needs only a clear run to win.
Curtain Call, the second favorite for the Epsom Derby, will have his final prep for the June 7 classic on Saturday in the 1 7/16-mile Lingfield Derby Trial, a Group 3 contest worth $117,000. A Sadler's Wells colt trained by Luca Cumani, Curtain Call won the one-mile Group 2 Beresford Stakes when trained by Jessica Harrington last fall. He started his 3-year-old campaign with a six-length score in a three-runner, 1 1/4-mile conditions race at Nottingham on April 23.
The Godolphin and Coolmore racing operations will square off in a key Epsom Derby trial at Chester on Friday when Alexandros and Achill Island meet in the Group 3, $128,000 Dee Stakes at 1 1/4 miles, 75 yards.
In Alexandros, Godolphin has a son of Kingmambo who looked potentially first-class last summer winning the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg at Deauville, but he has not run since finishing third behind Myboycharlie and Natagora in the Group 1 Prix Morny on Aug. 19, and this will be his first try beyond six furlongs.
Maraahel will go after his fourth consecutive victory in the Group 3 Huxley Stakes at Chester on Thursday. A 7-year-old trained by Michael Stoute, Maraahel will once again have Richard Hills on board in the 1 1/4-mile, 75-yard contest worth $118,000 in which Stotsfeld, winner of Goodwood's Group 3 Select Stakes, poses the biggest challenge.
A gritty front-running performance by the Natagora landed her the $739,000 1000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on Sunday, as she held on gamely to defeat Spacious by a half-length. The victory was the first by a French invader in the fillies classic since the Criquette Head-trained Hatoof in 1992.
A filly who sold for about $1,880,000 took the spotlight this week in Australia when she topped the William Inglis & Son auction house's Easter select broodmare sale, which ended Monday in Sydney under a new format featuring two select days.