Cirrus Des Aigles has never won on his seasonal debut. If you find the video of the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud, you will see it was the biggest field in years and when Olivier Peslier realised he had no chance he dropped his hands and coasted home in fifth. If he had done that over here he would have been banned for failing to ride his mount to obtain the best position. Ironic that the victor that day collected yesterday. When he finished close to Frankel the ground was soft, which may be the key to explaining yesterday’s poor showing. If he wins a top race at home on easier ground next time, we will know whether that is true. If he runs poorly that probably means that he is not the force of old after his set back.
