[4] The next race was the 1 mile 7 furlong Prix de Esperance against 6 rivals which he won by 2 and 1/2 lengths on yielding ground again ridden by Lester Piggott.
Sagaro's first major success came in the Grand Prix de Paris over nearly 2 miles on Sunday 30 June 1974 at Longchamp.
He won on soft ground in a field of 18 by two lengths "hands down" from Bustino[6] Timeform Racehorses of 1974 said "Two furlongs out Sagaro moved through smoothly and strongly on the outside; in a few strides the whole complexion of the race changed.. it was all over" Lester Piggott his regular jockey said of the performance "he won in great style" and "Sagaro had much more speed than the average stayer and no matter how long the race could produce a dazzling turn of foot in the closing stages".
In the Ascot Gold Cup, the placings were reversed with Sagaro a 4 length winner which Timeform believed could have been double that had his jockey wished.
His form was not as good in subsequent races at shorter distances and an injury at Deauville in August ruled him out for the rest of the season.
[9] The following season, 1976, he won the Prix de Barbeville and the Prix du Cadran in France before returning to Ascot to display a notable turn of foot to win his second Ascot Gold Cup by a length from Crash Course.″Purring ahead with the restrained power of a murmuring Rolls-Royce in mass production traffic, Sagaro inched away from Crash Course to stroll over the line unextended, with a length advantage″.
The famous English champion jockey Lester Piggott rode Sagaro in all his major races.