Cirrus disqualified in Prix Dollar

Cirrus Des Aigles was denied a fourth success in the Prix Dollar when disqualified from first place in the Longchamp feature.

Now an eight-year-old, Corine Barande-Barbe's magnificent gelding was running for the first time since finishing lame in winning the Coronation Cup at Epsom in June, and soon took up the running off just a sedate pace.

All looked to be going perfectly smoothly, but he could not get away from his field when asked by Christophe Soumillon and after going toe-to-toe with Andre Fabre's Fractional down the straight, he came off a straight line before passing the post with a narrow advantage.

A stewards' inquiry was immediately called, and after deliberations from the officials Cirrus Des Aigles was demoted and placed fifth, with Fractional awarded the Group Two honours.

Barande-Barbe saluted Cirrus Des Aigles regardless of the verdict and all roads now lead to Ascot for another tilt at the Champion Stakes, which he won in 2011.

She said: "He has still won the race, and he was off for a long time, so I'm still very happy. He will travel over to Ascot on the Friday as always, and he will tell us what he does before then. I'm just the trainer on paper."

Lisa-Jane Graffard, of Godolphin France, said of Fractional: "The target was to win a Group Two in 2012 before he got an injury and this is testament to the patience of Sheikh Mohammed and Andre Fabre.

"It's quite an emotional feeling, tempered because you don't want to win a race in the stewards' room and I'm sorry for all the fans of Cirrus Des Aigles. There are no plans for him at the moment."

Hughie Morrison's Vent De Force went within a whisker of collecting the opening event on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe weekend, the Prix Chaudenay.

A winner three times this season, including the Melrose at York, the three-year-old colt was ridden prominently by Umberto Rispoli and was in front at the top of the straight.

Eventually he was worn down by Auvray, representing connections of a major Arc contender as jockey Gregory Benoist and trainer Elie Lellouche will combine with Ectot.

Christabelle Goodwin, of Vent De Force's owners The Fairy Story Partnership, said: "We're absolutely delighted as we didn't think he liked fast ground, his one bad run this year was on good to firm at Newmarket."

Freddy Head clearly has another nice horse on his hands in Solow, who flew down the middle of the track under Olivier Peslier to win the Prix Daniel Wildenstein, catching Veda to prevail by half a length.

Head said: "I was very confident coming here, and that wasn't as easy as I thought, but he's a very good horse. He didn't break very well so it wasn't quite as planned. He'll probably go to race abroad now, maybe to Hong Kong and after that March in Dubai. Maybe for the World Cup, we'll see."

There was a Spanish theme to the Prix de Royallieu as Frine burst through late under Gerald Mosse.

Owner the Duke Of Alburquerque switched the High Chaparral filly to his compatriot Carlos Laffon-Parias this summer after she outgrew the Iberian racing scene and she made an immediate impact for her Arc-winning trainer when collaring the brave Mayhem close home.

"The Duke sent me her after her run in the Prix de Pomone and this means a lot as he gave me a lot of winners when I was a jockey," said Laffon-Parias. "She's a tough filly and could go for the Royal Oak, maybe."