The brilliant CIRRUS DES AIGLES bids for his fourth win in this Group 2 and is hard to oppose. He's giving weight to his six rivals but has looked as good as ever this year, winning two Group 1 races at this track in the spring and stepping up to 1m4f to land the Coronation Cup at Epsom in June. A recent lay-off shouldn't be a problem. The improving Fractional looks the danger as he beat Smoking Sun and Planetaire in a Group 3 at Maisons-Lafitte last month, though stablemate Pilote had some decent form to his name earlier in the year. It will be a surprise if Hippy or Calling Out are good enough in this grade.
Cirrus Des Aigles (FR) 10-11fav (9-0) Tracked leading trio, travelling well when angled out 3f out, went 2nd going well over 2f out, led over 1f out, soon edged left to rail, ridden inside final furlong, stayed on strongly, pulled up feelingly, won at Epsom Downs 1m 4f Grp 1 (1) gd in Jun beating Flintshire (9-0) by 2l, 7 ran.
Fractional (IRE) 3-1 (8-13) won at Maisons-Laffitte(FR) 1m 2f Grp 3 gs in Sep beating Smoking Sun (9-5) by 1l, 8 ran.
Pilote (IRE) (8-11) 3rd of 7, 4 1/2l behind Cocktail Queen (8-6) at Deauville(FR) 1m 2f stk sft in Aug.
Hippy (FR) 16-1 (8-13) 8th of 11, 7l behind Ribbons (8-13) at Deauville(FR) 1m 2f Grp 1 (1) sft in Aug.
Calling Out (FR) (9-2) 3rd of 6, 1l behind Free Port Lux (9-2) at Longchamp(FR) 1m 2f 3yo Grp 3 sft in Sep.
Planetaire 3-1 (8-8) 3rd of 8, 1 1/4l behind Fractional (8-13) at Maisons-Laffitte(FR) 1m 2f Grp 3 gs in Sep.
Smoking Sun (USA) 6-4fav (9-5) 2nd of 8, 1l behind Fractional (8-13) at Maisons-Laffitte(FR) 1m 2f Grp 3 gs in Sep.
