by Desmond Stoneham

Horses trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre dominated both top events at Longchamp on Sunday.

After saddling Belle Et Celebre to victory in the Montjeu Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary (Fr-G1), he greeted the first two in the winner’s enclosure following the Prix d’Ispahan (Fr-G1).

The winner, Sageburg, runs in the colors of the Aga Khan and the runner-up, Darjina, is owned by his daughter, Princess Zahra Aga Khan.

Royer-Dupre has won three of the five Group 1 races run this season in France.

Belle Et Celebre was a maiden before going into the Saint-Alary, and some credit for her victory must be given to jockey Christophe Lemaire, who decided to take control of the race after none of the other jockeys wanted to set the pace.

Once in front, Belle Et Celebre set a steady gallop, which caused several of the more fancied runners to run very free in the early stages. Lemaire asked Belle Et Celebre to quicken in the straight and she ran on bravely to hold off Gagnoa by three-quarters of a length.

“We weren’t sure to run her in the week but her entourage was, so we decided to let her take her chance,” Royer-Dupre said. “The filly settled well in front and her jockey employed excellent tactics. The only option now is to run Belle Et Celebre in the Prix de Diane [Hermes (Fr-G1)].”

Last year, Sageburg was trained by Andre Fabre and joined Royer-Dupre during the winter. Prior to the Prix d’Ispahan, he had run third in the Prix Ganay (Fr-G1) and improved mightily in the hands of Olivier Peslier on May 18.

Turfrose set the pace in the 1,850-meter (9.20-furlong) contest but was overtaken by Christophe Soumillon and Darjina halfway up the straight. The filly looked the likely winner but had nothing in reserve when tackled by stablemate Sageburg entering the final furlong.

The Johannesburg colt produced an impressive turn of foot and went on to beat Darjina by 21⁄2 lengths. Loup Breton ran on to take third.

“We only decided to run Sageburg after he worked so well at Chantilly last week,” Royer-Dupre said. “He has started to calm down and is definitely maturing with age. Judging by today’s performance, I feel he could stay 2,000 meters, so the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Eng-G1) at [Royal] Ascot may be the target.”

The disappointment of the d'Ispahan was Godolphin's Literato. Jockey Frankie Dettori gave the colt every chance but he was a spent force early in the straight before finishing ten lengths back, last of the six runners.

"He ran flat and the ground wasn't soft enough, but we had to run him somewhere,” Dettori said.

Desmond Stoneham is a France-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent