Challengers from England, Ireland, and France will give this year's German Derby a novel international flavor at Hamburg on Sunday when 17 go forward in the $840,000 1 1/2-mile race

King of Rome, trained by Aidan O'Brien, has been installed as the 9-4 favorite off his third-place finish in the listed 1 1/4-mile Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, but the price on this Montjeu colt is deflated by the reputation of his connections.

Bookmakers and their clients in England are having a difficult time deciding who to make the favorite in Saturday's Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. Ladbrokes offer both Mount Nelson and Phoenix Tower at 7-2 in the 1 1/4-mile contest, which has come up well short of its usual high standard despite carrying a purse of $991,000.

Plans for a 10-race series of British Group 1 races with total prize money of $20 million were unveiled in London on Wednesday. The new Sovereign Series, to start in 2010, will consist of 10 existing races, each of which will have its purse increased by an average of about $600,000. In addition, a bonus of about $4 million will go to the owners of the horse who accumulates the most points in the series.

Good Ba Ba was named Hong Kong's Horse of the Year at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Champion Awards ceremony at Sha Tin on Tuesday, the final day of the 9 1/2-month 2007-2008 racing season.

The 6-year-old Lear Fan Kentucky-bred, trained by former German champion Andreas Schutz for Se Kit Yuen, won four Group 1 races in Hong Kong this season, three of them at his favorite distance of a mile: the Hong Kong Mile, the Champions Mile, and the Stewards Cup. He also beat Sacred Kingdom, who was named champion sprinter, in the seven-furlong Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup.

Fallout from Sunday’s roughly run Irish Derby continued on Tuesday when the connections of Curtain Call filed an appeal with the Irish Turf Club over the ruling that placed Alessandro Volta fourth, ahead of Curtain Call, after he impeded both Curtain Call and Tartan Bearer.

The Magnier/O'Brien gang combined for one of the uglier Irish Derby victories in history at the Curragh on Sunday as Frozen Fire claimed a two-length decision in the 1 1/2-mile classic after his stablemate Allesandro Volta had ended the chances of both Tartan Bearer and Curtain Call with an extraordinary display of brutishness in midstretch.

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.