Evremond de Saint-Alary

Count Evremond de Saint-Alary (1868-1941) was a leading owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in France. An Englishman who inherited considerable wealth and a title, as a young man in his twenties Saint-Alary became involved in horse racing and in the early 1890s acquired Haras de Saint Pair du Mont, a horse breeding farm at Le Cadran near Cambremer in Calvados, Normandy. A passionate man, Evremond de Saint-Alary once challenged a member of the press to a duel after he had written an article criticizing one of his horses.

In 1893 Saint-Alary purchased a yearling at the Ventes de Deauville auction he named Omnium. One of the best horses he would ever own, under jockey/trainer Edgar Rolfe, Omnium won seventeen races in three years of competition including numerous important events such as the 1895 Prix du Jockey Club, the French equivalent of England's Epsom Derby. Omnium was retired to stud duty at Haras de Saint Pair du Mont and despite dying only a few years later, his successful progeny made him the leading sire in France in 1902.

In 1920, Evremond de Saint-Alary scored the first of his two wins in France's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Comrade, a colt trained by Peter Gilpin who had cost Saint-Alary only twenty-five guineas, won the inaugural running of the Arc and also won the Grand Prix de Paris. Saint-Alary raced in England as well where in the 1930s his horses trained by Frank Carter won two of the Classic Races and in France his second Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1935.

Evremond de Saint-Alary remained active in racing right up to the time of his death in 1941. In his honor, the Group One Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp Racecourse was named for him.

elected races won

*Prix de la Forêt - Omnium II (1894), Casternau (1896), Royal Mint (1897)
*Prix du Jockey Club - Omnium II (1895)
*Prix du Cadran - Omnium II (1896)
*Prix Boïard - Omnium II (1896), Castelnau (1897)
*Prix du Prince d'Orange - Omnium II (1895, 1896), Finglas (1928)
* Prix du Conseil Municipal - Omnium II (1895 & 1896), Basse Pointe (1911), Porphyros (1940)
*Prix Gladiateur - Omnium II (1896), Basse Pointe (1911)
*Prix de Guiche - Pas de Danse (1896) et Castelnau (1897)
*Poule d'Essai des Pouliches - Kizil Kourgan (1902)
*Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Comrade (1920), Samos (1935)
*Grand Prix de Paris - Kizil Kourgan (1902), Brûleur (1913), Comrade (1920)
*1,000 Guineas - Kandy (1932)
*2,000 Guineas - Le Ksar (1937)

References

* [http://www.france-galop.com/COURSES/noms1.htm Prix Saint-Alary at France Galop website with information on Evremond de Saint-Alary] (French language)
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981004/ai_n14195071 October 4, 1998 article concerning Evremond de Saint-Alary in The Independent, London]