The apple of trainer Corine Barande-Barbe's eye, Cirrus des Aigles has been retired according to his connections. The now ten year old has been a world beater everywhere he raced. 

He progressed into one of the world's top middle distance horses and recorded a deserved first Group 1 success when breaking the course record in the QIPCO Champion Stakes, the richest race ever run in Britain, on the inaugural QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot in October 2011.

He gave little hint of his star potential as a juvenile, although he made the frame in all four of his two-year-old starts, and he only lost his maiden tag at the fifth time of asking, when he won over a mile on the all weather of Cagnes-sur-Mer in January 2009.

He was kept busy during his three-year-old campaign as he made 16 starts in a season that culminated with a comprehensive six-length success in the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris at Longchamp in October.

That victory earned Cirrus des Aigles an invitation to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase and he acquitted himself well on his first try in Group 1 company as he took a close fifth.

He blossomed again the following autumn with another Group 2 success at Longchamp, this time in the Prix Dollar and once again set sail for the Far East that winter with creditable runs in the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong Cup.

Cirrus des Aigles announced himself as a major contender for Group 1 honours in 2011 as he nearly beat Goldikova in the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp in May. He also came within a neck of Sarafina in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in June before rattling off a hat-trick of Group victories that included an emphatic 10-length success in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville in August.

He was unlucky to be collared near the line by Byword in the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp at the start of October and posted a first victory at the highest level on QIPCO British Champions Day as he swooped for a three-quarter length verdict over So You Think.

He finished the 2011 season with a never nearer fifth, on ground a shade too fast for him, in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin, but made up for that in no uncertain style on his seasonal debut in 2012, winning the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Cassic over a mile-and-a-half, deafeating St Nicholas Abbey by a neck.

He followed that up in April 2012 with a facile success in the Group 1 Prix Ganay over ten furlongs at Longchamp, revelling in the soft ground to slam his rivals by an easy eight lengths.

Cirrus des Aigles suffered a rare reversal at the hands of Golden Lilac in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan at the same course on May 27, when he found the combination of nine furlongs on fast ground too much for him. But this race was soon mired in controversy as Cirrus des Aigles failed a post-race dope test, after which Barande-Barbe protested her innocence and questioned the validity of the testing procedure.

After a mid-summer break owing to a minor leg problem, Cirrus des Aigles showed himself to be in rude health when sauntering to a nine-length victory in the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp on October 6.

That set him up for a defence of his QIPCO Champion Stakes crown at Ascot on October 20, when he ran a fine race - only finding the world's best racehorse, Frankel, a length and a quarter too strong.

Connections confirmed after that race that he will continue to perform in 2013, unlike his conqueror, who has been retired, thus handing over the baton as the globe's finest active thoroughbred to his French rival.

A minor injury meant that Cirrus des Aigles was a last minute withdrawal from his last outing of 2012 - the Longines Hong Kong Cup.

He returned after eight months off in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud where he finished a well beaten fifth behind Novellist when needing the race and it was the same story in the Betfair King George back at Ascot, where he finished fourth, beaten even further by Novellist. He blew for a long time after the race so has clearly not hit peak fitness yet and the race was run on ground that would have been quicker than ideal for him.

However alarm bells are now ringing as he failed to win a Group 3 and a Group 2 at Deauville in August on ground that was much more suitable for him. Will he be able to recapture his brilliance or have time and injuries caught up with him? He did back to winning ways in September when taking the Group 3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte though it was a moderate bunch that he beat. However, it is a step in the right direction and he followed with a much bigger step forward when winning his third Prix Dollar at Longchamp on Saturday 5 October in fine style en route to the QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday 19 October where he ran second to Farhh, beaten just a neck.

He ended the 2013 season in Hong Kong when a very respectable third in the Hong Kong Cup and after a prep race on the all weather at Chantilly, where he finished fourth, he headed to Dubai to try to win the Dubai Sheema Classic for a second time. Hampered by the widest draw, he broke well and was always travelling well, hitting the front in the straight, but he could not hold the challenge of Gentildonna and had to settle for second place.

Next up it was the Prix Ganay back in France that he had won most impressively in 2012, but this time he had to take on the unbeaten Arc winner Treve. He prevailed in an amazing duel up the home straight with nothing between the pair until Cirrus edged ahead near line to win by a short neck. Next he contested the Prix d'Ispahan over 9 furlongs and won comfortably with Olympic Glory back in fourth place after not seeing out the trip.

Next he went to the Investec Coronation Cup and won his third Group 1 in a row and claimed his second QIPCO British Champions Series victory. However, he did walk very unsoundly after the race and had a long time off.

He returned in the Prix Dollar which he won by a head, but was disqualified at a stewards' enquiry and was demoted to fifth. He also finished fifth in the QIPCO Champion Stakes, the first time in three years out of the first two. One suspects he has not fully recovered from his Epsom injury. Reporting by British Champions Series