An Azamour half-brother to G3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Agent Murphy, The Last Emperor was making his debut in this novice contest restricted to juveniles, which in essence had become a newcomers’ maiden at the declaration stage with all nine starters seeing the racecourse for the first time.

Despite missing a beat as the gates opened, The Last Emperor was soon travelling kindly for Andrea Atzeni and he continued to move powerfully as the steady early tempo quickened inside the final quarter mile.

The race only concerned The Last Emperor and the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Radio Source approaching the final furlong and despite looking a little green in front, a couple of taps behind the saddle sealed the deal and our horse secured the spoils by a comfortable half-length.

Roger said: “The Last Emperor has always looked promising at home and he’s a nice prospect. This is a lovely track to get them started and I like the way he moved through the race. Hopefully he has an exciting future.”

One hour later, UAE Queen secured an important first victory for her lucrative pedigree page when seeing off the attention of newcomer Chalky in the seven-furlong fillies’ maiden for older horses.

A daughter of Oasis Dream out of the G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Pongee, UAE Queen is a half-sister to the smart stayer Pinzolo from a family littered with black-type performers and she got off the mark at the third time of asking, pinging the gates and making all by two and a quarter lengths to provide Andrea with his second double in as many days.

Roger said: “UAE Queen was an expensive yearling who shaped nicely on her debut at Redcar. The ground was too soft and the trip too far on her last start at Nottingham, but this track played to her strengths and she won here very easily.”