Cirrus Des Aigles disappoints in Deauville Cirrus Des Aigles's reputation as one of the world's premier middle-distance performers sustained another sad blow as he finished a modest fiftth behind Tres Blue in the Grand Prix de Deauville. Sent off the 5/2 favourite with bookmakers, Corine Barande-Barbe's Cirrus Des Aigles had taken this Group Two event a couple of years ago prior to his memorable Champion Stakes success at Ascot However a change of jockey - Christophe Soumillon taking the reins again instead of Olivier Peslier - and favourably rain-softened conditions failed to spark a revival and the seven-year-old again ran poorly and is still searching for a first victory of the year as he faded out of contention in the closing stages. The winner, returned at 11/1 in Britain and Ireland, and representing Henri-Alex Pantall and Fabrice Veron, had won a Group Three over course and distance earlier in the month and poked his head in front on the line ahead of Godolphin's three-year-old Penglai Pavilion and the front-running Slow Pace. Pantall said that the winner would now head straight to Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. First Mohican, trained by Lady Cecil and ridden by Tom Queally, was notably slowly away and never managed to land a blow from the rear division.
