World racing’s ‘warhorses’ Red Cadeaux and Cirrus Des Aigles will yet again grace Sha Tin’s international stage on Sunday and it would be only the brave or foolish who would blithely discount the chances of these two evergreen, resilient and talented gallopers.
Each is soon to turn nine years of age but recent performances indicate that age has not dulled them out of Sunday contention and nor is retirement necessarily imminent for the duo whose exploits have earned them the admiration of racing enthusiasts world-wide.
“They’ve both been wonderful horses,” said Red Cadeaux’s trainer Ed Dunlop, “Red (Cadeaux) just keeps performing year in and year out and Cirrus Des Aigles is a legend. We saw him come back to England this summer and run away with the Coronation Cup. He’s taken on the best in the world now over four or five years.”
The Corine Barande-Barbe trained Cirrus Des Aigles boasts a remarkable 21 wins and a further 20 seconds from his 60 starts – most of which have been at the top level. He’s beaten the likes of Treve, Flintshire, So You Think and St Nicholas Abbey and run second behind luminaries including Frankel, Gentildonna, Sarafina and Goldikova.
Red Cadeaux has won fewer races but finished first three at more than 50 per cent of 47 career starts and ‘won’ both notoriety and great affection in defeat – with three second placings in Melbourne Cups and beating all bar Animal Kingdom in a Dubai World Cup. “They should give him a silver version of the gold Melbourne Cup trophy,” Dunlop said with a smile.
Red Cadeaux is one up on Cirrus Des Aigles when it comes to Hong Kong. He’s tasted the sweetness of victory. This year he contests the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) for the fourth time, having won in 2012 and finished third and fourth either side of that year. He’s been out of the money just once in seven starts in Hong Kong and Australia where he thrives.
In contrast, French hero Cirrus Des Aigles has had mixed fortunes in Hong Kong. This is his sixth trip and, on Sunday, he will compete for the fifth time. His best finish was his brave third to Akeed Mofeed in last year’s edition of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m).
“The longevity of these horses and their like is remarkable,” said Dunlop. “Red Cadeaux has now travelled some 250,000 kilometres and raced 77 miles and still he keeps going. That’s a credit to people like Robin (Trevor-Jones) and Steve (Nicholson).
“He’s an eight-year-old with big, flat feet and he’s always taken some maintenance. So, at this stage of his career, it’s one race at a time. So we’ll see what happens. The options are to head back to Dubai or Australia next year. He does keep surprising us. He wasn’t good after the Tenno Sho this year when the ground was too firm and he had red rings around his feet from the soreness.
“But he bounced back and ran very well at Newbury; then threw us a bit with his poor run on the Poly at Kempton but there he was again running a huge race in the (Melbourne) Cup at Flemington. As to Sunday, well he’s very fresh and very well in himself and when he’s like that he normally runs well,” Dunlop said.
Barande-Barbe describes Cirrus Des Aigles as her ‘magic carpet’ as the horse has taken her all round the world and she believes age has not yet caught up with him.
“We haven’t changed our routine with him because of what you guys call ‘old age’,” Barande-Barbe told the press after the horse worked on Thursday morning, “You were already saying he was ancient three years ago! Believe me, he’s young at heart, truly, and being an eight-year-old doesn’t seem to affect him. Anyway, he’s born on May 8th, so he’s six months away from his ninth birthday.”
Any racing almanac will probably not include Red Cadeaux and Cirrus Des Aigles among its list of champions. But they’ve been, at the very least, outstanding racehorses and entitled to even greater recognition than they’ve had. Perhaps victory on Sunday for either could edge them closer to a higher accolade.
