THE highlight stateside is the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (10.16pm) over nine furlongs for three-year-old fillies.

It has Irish representation with the Jessica Harrington yard sending over York listed winner Sounds Of Heaven. She is joined from overseas by the 1000 Guineas winner Mawj from Saeed bin Suroor, reunited with Oisin Murphy.

Mawj has a long absence to overcome, albeit her win over Tahyira has been well boosted since.

“You have to send the right horse to run here,” bin Suroor said Wednesday morning after watching Mawj train.

“This is the right place for her. This was the plan to come here and then go to the Breeders’ Cup. Either the Mile or the Filly and Mare Turf. I want to see how she runs here. Mawj had a little chest infection before Ascot and she had a break.”

The Arnaud Delacour-trained Elusive Princess won the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes in August having finished fifth to Blue Rose Cen at Chantilly in the Group 1 Prix de Diane Longines and before that second to Jannah Rose in the Group 1 St Mark’s Basilica Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary. That is pretty strong form.

Sounds Of Heaven was sixth last time in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild, nine and three quarter lengths behind Mqse De Sevigne. She had followed her York listed success with a third in the Coronation Stakes behind Tahiyra, so has plenty to find on the book with Mawj. Shane Foley travels to ride the Kingman filly.

Jean-Claude Rouget runs the Australia filly Elounda Queen, a Deauville Group 3 winner last time out in August.

JAPAN PREVIEW

ALL eyes will be on the Group 1 Shuka Sho for the reappearance of Japanese star filly Liberty Island at Kyoto Racecourse, the three-year-old filly finale which wraps up the fillies’ classic races.

The fillies’ Triple Crown is once again on the line, as Liberty Island, winner of the first two events, aims to claim her third win in the series. There is a winner’s prize of JPY110 million and she would become only the seventh filly in Japanese racing history to capture all three races - the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the Shuka Sho, run over distances of a mile, 12 furlongs and 10 furlongs, respectively.

Liberty Island is on a three-way Group 1 winning streak that includes the first two fillies’ classics and the two-year-old Hanshin Juvenile Fillies.

Her six-length winning margin in the Japanese Oaks puts her clear of her field with the second Harper and third Dura taking her on again.

Liberty Island’s blistering late speed has stood her well but she’s going straight from the Japanese Oaks in May, an absence of nearly five months.

The Oaks runner-up Harper meets her for the third time on Sunday with Christophe Lemaire on board. Harper, a daughter of Heart’s Cry, has only won at Grade 3 level.

Dura, the Oaks third-place finisher, comes off a win of the Grade 3 Queen Stakes at the end of July beating older horses.

The Rulership-sired Masked Diva scored a record win of the Rose Stakes on September over nine furlongs at Hanshin.