Admire Moon, winner of the Takarazuka Kinen and the Dubai Duty Free in 2 of his last 3 starts, has been purchased by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud for $33 million, the Japanese racing press reported on Tuesday.

A 4-year-old Japanese-bred son of End Sweep, Admire Moon won the Group 1, $5 million Duty Free going 1 1/8 miles at Nad Al Sheba with Sheikh Mohammed present in the grandstand. Two starts later, on June 24 and back in Japan, he won a high-class renewal of the 1 3/8-mile $2 million Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin.

Natagora made it four in a row against colts at Maisons-Laffitte, blazing her way to victory in the Group 2, $179,000 Prix Robert Papin. Trained by Pascal Bary, the filly defeated another filly, the Italian-bred Magritte, by three-quarters of a length, covering the straight 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.02 on good ground.

Last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Rail Link, was retired on Thursday, one day after his owners at Juddmonte Farms had announced that he would not run this year. Having strained a tendon, Rail Link, a 4-year-old son of Dansili, is likely to head to Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, England. There he would step into the shoes of the recently deceased Rainbow Quest. Juddmonte's racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe, said that an official announcement on Rail Link's stud plans would be forthcoming.

Rail Link, out of action since winning last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, will miss the rest of his 4-year-old season and may never race again. On Wednesday, Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, said that the son of Dansili had suffered a tendon strain and that a decision concerning his future would be made shortly.

Light Shift and Peeping Fawn are set to go head to head for a second time in Sunday's Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh, which features the first four home from the English equivalent six weeks ago.

Light Shift will be the only overseas raider in a field of 12 for this $675,000 event, run over a right-handed 1 1/2 miles on turf that is set to be heavy. A daughter of Kingmambo trained by Henry Cecil, Light Shift has not run since the English Oaks.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley organization appears poised to receive a racing license from the Japan Racing Association, which is famously reluctant to permit foreigners racing strings.

Media reports on Wednesday from the Japan Racing Horse Association yearling and foal sale, where Darley's Japanese farm was a consignor, suggested that the license would be granted. And Darley Japan's president, Ollie Tait, "confirmed that the JRA has indicated that that license is forthcoming," probably by the end of July, according to a report posted on the Dubai Racing Club website.

Ryan Moore, the 23-year-old reigning British champion jockey, came of age at Sandown Park on Saturday with a brilliant tactical display on Notnowcato in the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes.

The 1 1/4-mile Eclipse turned into a highly tactical affair, with a strong pace set by Champery, the rabbit for the Epsom Derby winner and red-hot odds-on favorite, Authorized.

Unlike Frankie Dettori, who positioned Authorized at the back of the eight-runner field, Moore took Notnowcato into second place when the pace slackened.

Lawman, the wire-to-wire winner of the Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby), drops back in distance by five-sixteenths of a mile on Sunday to take on the French 2000 Guineas winner Astronomer Royal in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over Chantilly's right-handed mile.

Lawman's trainer, Jean-Marie Beguigne, said, "I decided to bring Lawman back to a mile in the hope of increasing his future value as a stallion. . . . He is in very good form and has progressed well since the Jockey-Club."

NEW YORK - On Saturday the French racing community will celebrate the 218th anniversary of the French Revolution with the 142nd running of the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp. Formerly run on the fourth Sunday in June, the Grand Prix was France's premier sporting event from its inception in 1863 until World War II. Huge numbers of the populace who may or may not have known what was going on, but felt the need to be there anyway, annually turned Longchamp into a La Belle Epoque carnival.

Authorized and George Washington are scheduled to duke it out in the $880,000 Eclipse Stakes on Saturday, although trainer Aidan O'Brien has warned that he will scratch George Washington if the ground remains soft at Sandown Park.

That would leave Authorized, the Epsom Derby winner, in the clear for the 1 1/4-mile Group 1 contest, even though he is cutting back in distance from 12 to 10 furlongs. It is the same drop that the 2005 Epsom Derby winner, Motivator, failed to make when he lost the Eclipse to Oratorio in his next start.