CIRRUS DES AIGLES LONGCHAMP STILL LOOOKS GOOD FOR HONG KONG

There are certain things you can rely on in this world: Marmite will always taste better than Vegemite (or vice versa if you were born down under), Nicolas Cage will never appear in another good movie and Cirrus des Aigles will always win when he runs at Longchamp.

Somehow though there must have been a warp in the space-time continuum because CIRRUS DES AIGLES (41) lost the Prix du Conseil de Paris in a photo finish at Longchamp last Sunday, having won the six previous times he'd run beyond a mile on the course.

The early pace in the race was not strong and this set in motion a train of events which led to the surprise result. It enabled the field to stay closely grouped until the inevitable sprint up the homestraight began. When it did Cirrus des Aigles found himself hopelessly boxed in with the big, lumbering Timos blocking his way on his outside.

Eventually a gap opened and Cirrus des Aigles set off very late in pursuit of Prince Bishop who had flown by on the wide outside. If Prince Bishop had been a normal rival he would have caught him, but it turned out he's Group 1 class too. So he was able to hold Cirrus des Aigles off by a steadily diminishing short neck as the pair rapidly opened up a three lengths gap on their pursuers in the final half furlong.

Cirrus des Aigles was full of run at the finish thanks to the slow early pace and trainer Corine Barande-Barbe took heart from this saying "The positive thing is that he has not had a tough race. I have not decided whether he will go to Japan for the Japan Cup or Hong Kong. He was invited to Japan, the answer to Hong Kong will not be long. I have a preference for the 2,000 meters in the HK Cup, because there will certainly be more pace than over 2,400 meters, and that suits him best."

Whatever race he goes for Cirrus des Aigles will surely go well. He's been trained to peak for his one big target, having been kept out of many big races he could have contested previously this season. Such patience deserves to be rewarded and it's certainly resulted in a horse that looks to be in terrific form.

The winner PRINCE BISHOP (41) now starts to look very interesting in his own right as this was his fourth successive victory. He clearly improved for the step up to a mile and a half and looks set to be one of Godolphin's top horses next year when he's surely going to make the switch out of Andre Fabre's yard.

Prince Bishop finished just as full of run as Cirrus des Aigles and got through the soft ground well despite having a fast ground action. He clearly has the turn of foot that wins international Group 1 races so he'll surely be wintering in Dubai with the Dubai Sheema Classic as his first target.

I suggested after his last start that third placed SHIMRAAN (39) looked likely to improve for the step back up to a mile and a half. He did run on well but lacked the pace to keep tabs on the first two in the sprint finish. He's still lightly raced and I hope he stays in training next year as he could do very well off a stronger early pace at a mile and a half. I'd like to see him shipped to Britain for the Coronation Cup or King George where he'd be unlikely to be inconvenienced by a flat out sprint finish as he was here.

I liked the way ZACK HALL (37) was closing in on the leaders up the straight after starting the sprint for home a long way behind his rivals in last place. He'd won his previous three starts beyond 11 furlongs and will surely be winning in Group company sooner rather than later.

MAXIOS SHOULD GO FOR CRITERIUM DE SAINT-CLOUD

Bago's half brother MAXIOS (36) made it two out of two when winning the Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud. In doing so he looked like he was needing to go up in distance from the mile of this race.

Maxios raced in third, moving well, early on and moved up to challenge early in the straight. But the leader PRIVATE JET (36) proved very stubborn. As the rivals picked up the pace they kicked clear of all but the third. Then as they really got down to business in the final furlong they pulled clear of that one as well. They engaged in the kind of duel that only smart horses can produce.

Maxios always looked like getting there as he continued to gain slowly. His jockey Olivier Peslier was clearly trying to win cleverly and narrowly but only managed to get there by a short head.

It seems to me that Maxios will be vulnerable if he sticks to a mile for the Criterium International over the same course and distance. If he is to win a Group 1 this year it will surely be the Criterium de Saint-Cloud over a quarter of a mile further.

Having seen this run my feeling is that Maxios is going to need a mile and a half to produce his best next year. It's too early to say whether he's going to scale the same heights as Bago, but if he is to do as well it will surely be over a mile and a half.

Runner up Private Jet has clearly improved for the step up to a mile which does look to be his optimum distance. The way he rallied twice when Maxios attacked him tells me that he's a serious threat to win the Criterium International over the same course and distance next time.

SOFT GROUND WON THE ARC FOR WORKFORCE

For the second year in a row we had a very strong early pace in the Arc. With the more widespread use of pacemakers I suspect this is a trend that will continue.

Unfortunately it was a rather rough race this year and you could argue that two or three horses might have beaten the winner WORKFORCE (43) with better luck in running. Personally I thought he was the winner on merit. He certainly clocked a very solid time that puts him well up there with most Arc winners.

It now seems clear that Workforce was asked to run once too often on a firm surface in the King George. He shows knee action and hits the ground too hard to be continually risked on firm going. The soft ground enabled him to bounce back to his Derby form in the Arc and put doubters like myself in their place.

This is a freakishly good year for three year olds. So the fact that I rate Cape Blanco, Rewilding, Planteur and Behkabad ahead of Workforce shouldn't be allowed to obscure the fact that he's an exceptional talent. In a normal year he'd have been regarded as a champion.

I can see why the connections of Workforce are considering the idea of running him in the Breeders' Cup Turf. The horse has shown that he can handle tight turns at Newbury and Goodwood so it's possible he'll be able to negotiate Churchill's seven furlong oval effectively. The trouble is there's only one chance in three or four of him getting the cut in the ground he surely now needs. If he were mine I wouldn't be risking it.

Runner up NAKAYAMA FESTA (43) engaged in a titanic struggle with the winner all the way through the final furlong and a half. He wasn't able to avoid traffic as he prefers and had to be taken up three furlongs out. But he had every chance to get by Workforce and just failed to do so.

I've noted before that Nakayama Festa is rather narrow and this means he's best fresh. There's a long enough gap to the Japan Cup (28th November) to ensure he recovers from this big effort. So he should have the opportunity to prove what his win in the Takarzuka Kinen suggested - namely that he's the best mile and a half horse in Japan.

SARAFINA (42) finished really well after betting impeded around the turn. I'd be rather keen on betting her in the Breeders' Cup Turf on this run.

BEHKABAD (41) moved well for a long way. But it soon became clear after turning in that he was going to have a tough time finding an opening. A wall of horses were blocking his way. He eventually got through too late and did not gain as much ground as his previous form suggested he might.

It seems to me that the very fast run Behkabad had in the Prix Niel took its toll and he 'bounced'.

I'm not that keen on the plan for Behkabad to go for the Hong Kong Vase. That race is just an afterthought prompted by his loss here, and big races tend to be won by horses that have been specially trained for them - like for example Cirrus des Aigles has been specially trained for the Hong Kong Vase. In addition three year olds don't tend to do well in the big international races.

On the plus side Behkabad has plenty of time to recover in time for Hong Kong, so perhaps he can do it. He's almost certainly got more ability than any horse he'll be facing there.

I suspected that FAME AND GLORY (40) might get into traffic problems because the downhill run to the straight at Longchamp forces horses to save energy and results in a near sprint finish to even the most strongly run races. Fame And Glory is a horse that lengthens rather than quickens and therefore looked likely to lack the acceleration to go with the principals in the closing stages or to escape trouble earlier.

As it turned out Fame And Glory took a bump from Duncan which cost him momentum and then couldn't quite go with the first four. He has to be worth a shot at the Breeders' Cup Turf now as many of the European horses that might beat him look set to stay away. If the ground turned up yielding or soft on the day it would be a big plus as that would not suit the big US hope Paddy O'Prado but would surely help Fame and Glory.

MARINOUS (40) showed he's competitive in this sort of company by finishing sixth after getting bumped. He's a nervous sort who's probably best when fresh so I imagine he'd go straight to Hong Kong if he takes in another race this year. Certainly next year he will have to be considered in the Dubai Sheema Classic when he goes to Dubai. His defeat of Redwood last time together with this performance suggest he's likely to be one of the top four or five contenders for that race.

VICTOIRE PISA (40) the other Japanese runner, is a great big long striding sort that looked unlikely to be suited to the sprint finish that Longchamp invariably produces. He did well to run close and keep on so well. The flatter track, longer homestraight and likely searching gallop in the Japan Cup will suit him better.

I think the jockey on PLANTEUR (35) was tied down by predictable instructions to stay ahead of Behkabad in the early stages. This might have seemed sensible in that Behkabad has shown he's got a superior turn of foot and used it to beat Planteur narrowly both times they'd met over a mile and a half before.

However, as was the case last year, the early pace was unsustainably fast. And I think without his instructions Planteur's jockey would surely have taken his cue from Behkabad when seeing that one drop back from the normal chasing position he adopts in second or third to be several lengths behind in fifth and sixth.

Behkabad's jockey could see the leaders were going a bit too fast early on and eased his mount back off the pace according. But Planteur's jockey made the error of chasing his pacemaker. It was noticeable too that running like this, and seeing plenty of daylight, prompted Planteur to pull hard and throw his head about for the first couple of furlongs.

Planteur got to the lead in the homestraight and kicked for home. But he'd simply gone off too hard and it was inevitable that he should tire, which he did rather rapidly in the final furlong.

I should also add that it's rather likely Planteur bounced off his really fast run in the Prix Niel where he had to come under pressure for perhaps a little too long due to the rider of Behkabad wanting to win cheekily which tempted his own rider into keeping after him.

I really hope Planteur is kept in training next year because he's a truly exceptional talent. I rate him bang there with the very best horses we've seen in the last decade. He was simply unfortunate to have been born in the same year as Behkabad who was just his superior.

Next year, with Behkabad retired, I can see Planteur winning pretty much everything. So, seeing that, due to Behkabad, he has yet to win a Group 1, there's surely a massive incentive to keep him in training.

With Rewilding and Jan Vermeer already booked to keep on running next year the three year olds are going to have a tough time making an impression in the big weight for age middle distance races in 2011.

CIRRUS DES AIGLES ON TRACK FOR HONG KONG VASE

It is admirable the way that the connections of CIRRUS DES AIGLES (41) have single-mindedly targeted the Hong Kong Vase with the horse this season. They came up with a plan for winning the big race and they've stuck to it.

Many other people would have been sorely tempted to run Cirrus des Aigles in a whole bunch of Group 1's. But Cirrus Des Aigles' handlers have kept him fresh by steering him to just a handful of lesser events over trips a couple of furlongs shy of his optimum of twelve furlongs.

Last year Cirrus Des Aigles seemed to catch his connections by surprise as they ran him in no less than fifteen races before the Hong Kong Vase and only seemed to discover rather late in the day that he was capable of winning a Group 1 race.

That discovery came in the Prix du Conseil de Paris where Cirrus Des Aigles bombed home by six lengths in seriously fast time. This prompted his trip to Hong Kong.

As it turned out Cirrus Des Aigles raced wide and lost the Hong Kong Vase narrowly. A shrewd Hong Kong race reader whose opinion I trust tells me he's convinced he would have won if his jockey had only switched him to the rail.

This year Cirrus Des Aigles will be heading to Hong Kong once more and will again use the Prix du Conseil de Paris as his prep race. But he will be doing so after just four previous outings, in none of which will he have been asked to run beyond ten furlongs or above Group 2 class. With this much better preparation and another year to mature I think he'll take both the prep race and the Hong Kong Vase itself this time.

Cirrus Des Aigles was certainly impressive when winning the Prix Dollar at the Arc meeting. His jockey allowed British raiders POET (39) and DISTANT MEMORIES (39) to lead him early but he was clearly going far better than them or anything else turning in. He cruised into the lead a furlong out and his jockey rode him out to go a couple of lengths clear to make sure of the win.

This win took Cirrus Des Aigles score in races beyond a mile at Longchamp to six out of six. You'd have to be pretty brave to bet against him making it seven out of seven in the Prix du Conseil de Paris. That race is over his best distance and he's shown that he can win on every type of going off a slow pace or a fast one whether the distance is ten furlongs or a mile and a half.

Cirrus Des Aigles is a gelding, so there's obviously been no hurry to win a Group 1 with him and then bundle him off to stud. He should be around for a year or two yet and have the chance to win several Group 1 races. Most likely he'll always have a light campaign in future years and be trained to peak for the big international races towards the end of the year.

German raider BUDAI (39) produced his usual good finish to run by Poet and Distant Memories late to take second.

Budai always seems to run up to form. He habitually gets stronger as the race progresses and finishes well. He runs in a very relaxed fashion, somewhat reminiscent of Makfi and always look like he’d do better stepping up to a mile and a half.

Distant Memories is almost boringly consistent and clearly appreciates cut in the ground. He's a solid borderline Group 2 horse.

Poet got swamped for finishing speed but kept on strongly. He's a great big horse with a huge stride that continues to look like he wants longer distances.

If there was another Group 1 horse in the race besides the winner it's surely SHIMRAAN (38) who was picking up really strongly all the way up the straight. He closed the gap steadily all the way to the line but was never going to get there in time and finished a close fifth.

It seemed like an odd move going down in distance with Shimraan here. He’s a strong, deep chested, long striding, staying sort that looked to be wanting longer when running over 12.5 furlongs last time. Instead he went down to 9.75 furlongs.

Shimraan did win the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam over ten furlongs but that was up the straight at Maisons-Laffitte. In that race he was able to deliver a long, uninterrupted run in which he was able to steadily lengthen and build up a good head of steam. When he’s raced around a turn, especially in sprint finishes he’s got stronger as the line approached but seemed in need of more real estate to get the job done properly.

The softer ground helped Shimraan here as it spread the runners out a bit more and make it easier for him to find gaps than last time. Then it all looked to be happening a bit too quickly for Shimraan in the near sprint finish as his nipper rivals found it easier to take the available openings than him up the straight.

Shimraan is a smart, strong, good-looking horse that may well prove Group 1 class over a mile and a half plus. He always seems to run his race and finishes strongly every time.

Further back in the field the smart grey pair CIMA DE TRIOMPHE (34) and THREE BODIES (30) both showed a flat, short, fast ground action and didn't look to be getting through the soft ground at all well. They're both capable of much better on a quicker surface.

WILL GOLDIKOVA RECOVER IN TIME TO PULL OFF BC MILE TREBLE?

Having wrongly thought that Behkabad and Planteur would regress in the Arc following their very fast effort in their prep race I'm wary of making the same mistake with GOLDIKOVA (41). She's just won the Prix de la Foret while probably running as fast as she's capable of going on soft ground.

Jockey Olivier Peslier was clearly trying to same something for the American race. He let Regal Parade blow by two furlongs out and didn't ask his mount to go and win the race till the final furlong. But she was only able to score by half a length, ridden out. And the fact that her final three furlongs were 11.7, 12.0 and 13.0 shows she was tiring.

There's no question that Goldikova is the best racemare of the last decade. And it's true that champions always seem to find a way to win. But my instinct is that she would have done better to skip this race and to Churchill fresh. So I'll be looking to oppose her there, quite possibly with another brilliant mare in Proviso.

PACO BOY (41) made his characteristic late charge at his old rival but once again just failed top get past. As I've mentioned many times, he is not good at fighting through traffic due to being only medium sized. So he's best in fields of ten or less. In addition the stress of travelling seems to rob him of a little stamina, seeing that he stays a mile back home but has run below form all five times he's run that far or further abroad. This being so I don't think the plan to run him in a big field in the Breeders' Cup Mile is a great idea.

HELLEBORINE COULD WELL BE AS GOOD AS THEY SAY

You always need to be a little careful about getting too enthusiastic about Prix Marcel Boussac runners as Guineas candidates because the race tends to attract future middle distance sorts. But the physique of this year's first and second, together with the pace they showed when pulling clear of their rivals persuades me that both can continue being effective over a mile next year.

MISTY FOR ME (37) won the sustained duel between the pair, mostly I suspect because she got through the soft ground better than her rival. But she's clearly a seriously good filly that must rank as one of the top contenders for the British and Irish Guineas. And there has to be every chance she'll stay the Oaks trip as well.

Runner up HELLEBORINE (36) hadn't impressed me that much on her previous start but did so here. She showed a flat, quick, fast ground action yet still managed to surge up to Misty For Me with a determined challenge that she kept up all the way to the line. On a quicker surface I suspect she'd have had too much finishing speed for her rival. She's clearly the one to beat in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches next year.

Further back in the field Goldikova's half sister GALIKOVA (32) ran an eye-catching race. She ran green and was badly outpaced as the pace picked up turning in. But she came home really strongly to move from last to fifth place in the final furlong, looking every inch a future middle distance horse.

Clearly Galikova is not a miler like her half sister, Her big target just has to be the Prix de Diane. On what she's shown I'd have to rate her the best prospect I've seen for that race to date.