Le Brivido and Qemah add French spice to mile division with Royal Ascot wins

“This was a new experience for him, coming to Ascot, as he is relatively inexperienced. He showed he will get a mile and we will probably run in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.”

Fabre then said, a touch cryptically, that “this is only the start”, so his mood might well have darkened after the Duke Of Cambridge.

Usherette, last year’s winner who was supplemented by Godolphin here, met trouble and was given an awful lot to do by Mickael Barzalona before flashing home late. The trainer was nowhere to be seen when Usherette was led back to the third spot.

Jean-Claude Rouget, who had ended Fabre’s hegemony of the French championship last year, was stealing his old rival’s glory once again.

Qemah plundered last year’s Coronation Stakes and the Prix Rothschild before losing to Alice Springs in the Matron Stakes. She had been beaten in a tactical Chartwell Stakes on her comeback and looked the force of old here, travelling sweetly for Gregory Benoist and showing plenty of spirit to thwart Aljazzi by three-quarters of a length.

“She is a delicate filly and I was happy to see her before the race because she looked different to Lingfield - there was a big change in her,” Rouget said. “I hope she will continue to improve and she will now go to Deauville for the Prix Rothschild.”

The Rothschild, on July 30, is a fortnight before the Marois, a race which was suggested by Al Shaqab’s racing advisor Harry Herbert.

“She was really well coming into the race,” he said. “It backfired taking her to Lingfield, some people said she hadn’t trained on but Jean-Claude Rouget is a master, he said she definitely has, and she showed it today.

“We’ll look at everything - the Falmouth Stakes, the Jacques Le Marois is definitely a possibility, it’s a race Jean-Claude has mentioned.”