Arc weekend: Cirrus des Aigles looks to return to winning ways in Prix Dollar

Cirrus des Aigles, who has won three Group 1 races in as many countries in the last year, will be heavily favored to win his first start since May in Saturday’s Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.

The Prix Dollar is one of four Group 2 races on Saturday’s Longchamp program. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the top race on an outstanding program on Sunday.

Cirrus des Aigles won the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October 2011, the $5 million Sheema Classic in Dubai in March, and the Prix Ganay in France in April. A 6-year-old gelding, Cirrus des Aigles finished second in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp in May, but was later disqualified from purse money after testing positive for a banned anti-inflammatory.

The Prix Dollar is run over about 1 3/16 miles and has drawn nine entrants. The field also includes the recent French stakes winner Maxios, and Hunter’s Light, a stakes winner in Turkey last month for Godolphin Racing.

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◗ In Saturday’s Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein, Highland Knight and Dux Scholar, the first two finishers of the Group 2 Oettingen-Rennen at Baden-Baden in Germany on Aug. 30 face the 3-year-old filly Sarkiyla, who was third of four in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp in September.

◗ Shirocco Star, second in the English and Irish Oaks earlier this year, can win her first stakes in the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu over 1 9/16 miles for fillies and mares. Shirocco Star was fourth in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks in August.

In the Prix de Royallieu, which drew a field of eight, Shirocco Star must beat Forces of Darkness and Dalkala, who were fourth and fifth in the French Oaks in June.

◗ In the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay for 3-year-olds over 1 7/8 miles, Top Trip, fifth in the French Derby in June, and Shantaram, the winner of the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket in July, are part of a field of 11.