Italy takes on Japan in England on Tuesday when Electrocutionist battles Japanese champion Zenno Rob Roy in the Group 1, $828,000 Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

Mubtaker was denied his fourth consecutive victory in the Group 2 $163,000 Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, when he was caught near the line by the 12-1 Lochbuie.

Jockey Richard Hills had tried to lead virtually throughout on Mubtaker, and the pair looked home free approaching the eighth pole. Mubtaker couldn't quite last, though, and was reeled in only 50 yards out by Lochbuie.

John Egan guided Lochbuie over the 1 5/8 miles and 61 yards in 2:51.97 on good to firm ground. Group 1 winners Mamool and Gamut finished fourth and fifth in the five-runner field.

Pat Eddery, the 11-time champion jockey in Britain who retired at the end of the 2003 season after 37 years in the saddle, will begin a new career as a trainer in England next year, the Racing Post reported Friday on its website.

Eddery, 54, plans to have 40 horses as a public trainer at his 107-acre Musk Hill Stud Farm near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, about 40 miles northwest of London, which is convenient to Ascot, Newbury, and Windsor racecourses.

NEW YORK - That Aidan O'Brien has most of Europe's best 2-year-old colts at his Ballydoyle yard in Ireland should come as no surprise. Equally unsurprising is the almost complete dominance at this midpoint stage of the season of French 2-year-old fillies over their male counterparts. What is baffling about the juvenile scene this year is that Godolphin has yet to produce a single group- or listed-race runner in that division.

With comparisons to the fabulous Miesque ringing in her ears, Divine Proportions will put her undefeated record on the line at Deauville on Sunday in a short but stellar field in Europe's richest Group 1 mile, the $748,000 Prix Jacques le Marois.

Mubtaker is scheduled to go for his fourth consecutive victory in the Group 2 Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, and Attraction, a four-time Group 1 winner, makes her long-awaited return on the same card in the Group 3 Hungerford Stakes.

Trained by Marcus Tregoning, Mubtaker, 8, will have his work cut out for him in the 1 5/8-mile and 61-yard Geoffrey Freer, as he faces the in-form Group 2 winner Day Flight.

Divine Proportions was termed by his trainer, Pascal Bary, to be in "impeccable condition" after a 6 1/2-furlong workout at Deauville on Tuesday in preparation for her run in Sunday's Prix Jacques le Marois.

George Washington assumed command of the European 2-year-old colt division with an eyecatching 8-length romp in the $366,000 Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday.

Notable Guest shrugged off a lackluster effort at York last time out with a victory in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock Park over 10 furlongs on Saturday.

Sent off 5-1 in the five-runner Group 3 event, Notable Guest and jockey Richard Hughes were on the lead halfway into the race. He kicked on again two furlongs out, putting the issue beyond doubt. Odds-on favorite David Junior plugged on late for second but was never in contention.

George Washington, favorite for next year's 2000 Guineas, can give trainer Aidan O'Brien his seventh Phoenix Stakes victory in the last eight years at The Curragh on Sunday when seven 2-year-olds line up for the first Group 1 juvenile contest of the European season.