Sageburg opens Gr 1 account ahead of second-placed Darjina. Royal Ascot is next on the agenda. The Aga Khan’s lightly-raced colt was the one to spring a surprise and deny Princess Zahra Aga Khan’s triple Gr 1-winning Darjina her unbeaten record in France in Sunday’s Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp. Sageburg has always been highly-rated by connections, and the colt justified this confidence with a two and a half length success in the 1850m contest.

Unbeaten in his first three outings in 2007, including the Listed Prix Ridgway at Deauville, Sageburg ended the year with fourth places in the Prix Niel and Prix Dollar. He began 2008 with a promising third place in the Gr 1 Prix Ganay and has now proved himself at the highest level. Placed in third throughout much of the race, Olivier Peslier asked his partner to accelerate two furlongs out. Sageburg produced a powerful surge and after taking the lead from Darjina inside the final furlong, he was soon assured of victory.

Darjina lost nothing in defeat as her trainer Alain de Royer Dupré indicated that she may have needed the race after an absence since her second place in Dubai. Royal Ascot now beckons for the pair, with Sageburg destined for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Darjina to return to a mile in the Queen Anne Stakes.

Sageburg is a pure product of the Jean-Luc Lagardère breeding dynasty, which integrated the Aga Khan Studs in 2004. The blue-blooded colt is a son of Johannesburg and Gr 2 Prix Malleret winner Sage et Jolie (Linamix), the full sister to 1998 Arc de Triomphe hero Sagamix.

Updated on 20/05/2008