first time when he was sent to France to contest the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Ridden by Frankie Dettori he started at odds of 6/1 in a field of eleven which included Yeats, Bago, and Elvstroem. Dettori held up Alkaased towards the back of the field before moving up on the inside rail to take second place entering the straight. He overtook the pacemaker Imago Mundi 300 metres from the finish and went clear to win by two lengths from Policy Maker, with Bago finishing third ahead of Elvstroem. After the race, Luca Cumani said "We are already thinking about the Arc de Triomphe with a run before in the Prix Foy. We will have to think about the King George now and I will be speaking with the owner but he is a horse that must have good or firmer ground to show his best". As Cumani had suggested, Alkaased returned to France in September and started odds-on favourite of the Prix Foy at Longchamp, a major trial race for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Ridden by Kieren Fallon, he was held up as usual before making his challenge in the straight. He moved into second place 300 metres from the finish but was unable to make further progress and was beaten two and a half lengths by the mare Pride, with the German-bred Shirocco in third. Alkaased was brought back in distance for the Champion Stakes over ten furlongs at Newmarket and finished fifth of fifteen runners behind David Junior, Pride, Maraahel and Oratorio. The unplaced horses included Rakti, Chic and Alexander Goldrun. On 27 November, Alkaased was one of eighteen horses to contest the twenty-fifth running of the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse. The other European runners included Ouija Board, Bago and Warrsan, whilst North America was represented the Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now and the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap winner King's Drama. The locally trained runners included the last two winners of the race Tap Dance City and Zenno Rob Roy, the Tenno Sho winners Heavenly Romance and Suzuka Mambo as well as the NAR champion Cosmo Bulk. Ridden by Dettori he started the 9.6/1 third choice in the betting for a race run on unusually firm ground. Alkaased lost ground at the start as Dettori, on instructions from Cumani, tracked across from a wide draw to race on the inside. He raced