Valixir found his spot at Maisons-Laffitte on Wednesday with a handy three-length triumph in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam.
Third in both the French Derby and the key Derby prep, the Group 1 Prix Lupin, Valixir led throughout in France's traditional Bastille Day feature. Jockey Eric Legrix merely had to push Valixir out to maintain his edge over the runner-up, Delfos, who had finished 12th in the French Derby.
German invader Ryono, a 12-1 shot, came from last of six to defeat 4-5 favorite Diamond Green by 2 1/2 lengths in the one-mile Group 3 Prix Messidor on Sunday at Deauville in France.
Bred in Kentucky by owner Hildegard Focke and trained by Peter Lautner, Ryono is a 5-year-old who had won a listed race in Milan, Italy, in his seasonal debut on May 15. The winning time was 1:39.60 on good- to-soft ground.
The kidnapping of Argentina's leading juvenile, Forty Mirage, on the brink of being imported to the United States by Team Valor's Barry Irwin, ended Friday afternoon with the recovery of the horse not far from where he had been abducted near Tandil, Argentina.
The four-length winner of the one-mile Group 1 Estrellas Juvenile at the Hipodromo Argentino on June 21, Forty Mirage had been taken from his stall at a training center 220 miles south of Buenos Aires on Wednesday night.
The luckless Diamond Green has been dropped into Sunday's one-mile Group 3 Prix Messidor at Deauville by trainer Andre Fabre in an attempt to get back on the winning track.
Diamond Green ran into nothing but trouble this spring when he finished fourth (placed third) in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau and second in the French 2000 Guineas. On both occasions he was impeded by Antonius Pius, costing him any chance of victory.
Call it the Dead Sires Society.
Although they have been long gone, Danehill, who died May 13, 2003, Sunday Silence (Aug. 19, 2002), and Dubai Millennium (April 29, 2001), are making an inordinate amount of noise on the stallion front this year.
You might say that Danehill is having the year of a lifetime. That is, you might say it if he were still alive. So far this year he is responsible for the Epsom Derby winner, North Light; champion Hong Kong miler Lucky Owners; and 13 other group or graded race owners around the world.
Frizzante came with a late rush to win in a top-class field of sprinters in the Group 1, $463,000 July Cup on Newmarket's July Course on Thursday.
The 5-year-old mare finished with a blistering run under jockey John Murtagh to defeat the 100-1 Ashdown Express by a neck, the pair two lengths clear of Balmont, with Hong Kong invader Cape of Good Hope fourth. The winning time for the straight six furlongs on good-to-soft ground was 1:11.51.
Bandari scored a 12-1 upset over Sulamani in the Group 2 Princess of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday, handing Sulamani his third consecutive loss stretching back to last October's Breeders' Cup Turf.
Trained by Mark Johnston, Bandari caught Sulamani, the 6-5 favorite, near the line to record a half-length victory with Richard Hills in the saddle. His time on good-to-firm ground was a pedestrian 2:32.90.
Exceed and Excel, Sheikh Mohammed's $14 million Australian purchase, makes his much-anticipated European debut in a highly competitive $455,000 Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket on Thursday.
A 4-year-old son of Danehill, Exceed and Excel has won six group race sprints in his native Australia, most recently the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap at the July Cup distance of six furlongs. But that was on March 6, and Exceed and Excel is returning after having missed a scheduled date at Royal Ascot last month.
Nothing lasts forever, and on Tuesday Attraction's unbeaten record ended at eight when she finished second to Soviet Song in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket.
As she had when winning the 1000 Guineas, the Irish 1000 Guineas, and the Coronation Stakes, Attraction tried to take them all the way in the $365,000 one-mile contest, in which the 3-year-old filly was meeting older competition for the first time. Jockey Kevin Darley put Attraction, the 4-5 favorite, on the lead, and they held it until approaching the eighth pole, when Johnny Murtagh pounced with Soviet Song.