THE overseas domination of France’s top two-year-old races has been much less prevalent this season and the home team gained another pair of contenders for autumn’s Group 1 tests when Ecrivain and Savarin both took their records to a perfect two-from-two in Sunday’s two Group 3 juvenile races over a mile at ParisLongchamp.

Ecrivain, a Wertheimer brothers homebred son of Lope De Vega, looked clueless in the early stages of his Deauville debut yet still somehow managed to win. Much more on the ball here in the Prix des Chenes, he scored without jockey Maxime Guyon having to resort to his whip.

“It’s really important to get some experience of Longchamp into these young horses if you are thinking about a race like the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere [over the same course and distance on October 6th],” winning trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias said.

Savarin, a Deep Impact filly trained by Andre Fabre, clocked a 1.8-second faster time in the Prix d’Aumale half an hour later. This was a messy contest (the second and fifth were covered by barely half a length), but Savarin, a daughter of the three-time Group 1 winner Sarafina, had a comfy three-quarters of a length in hand at the line and deserves to take her chance in another Arc day Group 1, the Prix Marcel Boussac.

The final Group 3 on the card, the Prix Gladiateur over almost two miles, played out as expected, Pia Brandt’s hot-favourite Called To The Bar outclassing his five rivals by two lengths and more. A gelded son of Henrythenavigator, Called To The Bar is likely to skip the Arc meeting and be held back for the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak on October 27th, a race in which he finished second last year.

EDISA provided some welcome relief for her trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupre, when leading home a French one-two, three-quarters of a length in front of Nicolas Clement’s Wonderment, in the inaugural running of the €650,000 Jockey Club Oaks at Belmont Park in New York last Saturday.

De Royer-Dupre, who is enduring a poor season and currently languishes outside the top 20 in the French Trainers Championship, broke news of two retirements upon his return to France.

His star stayer Vazirabad, not seen on a racecourse since losing out to Stradivarius in a tight finish to last year’s Gold Cup at Ascot, has run his final race after sustaining an injury during a gallop last week. He won 13 pattern races, including three Group 1s, and boasted a career bankroll of €3 million.

De Royer-Dupre, who is fast approaching his 75th birthday, also announced that next season, his 49th with a training licence, will be his last.