Owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, the strapping son of War Front made a successful debut at Ascot in September, beating a host of subsequent winners despite showing evident signs of his inexperience, but he looked a different proposition with the run under his belt, breaking alertly from stall one under Dane O’Neill and taking up the running with his none of his eight rivals keen to go on.
Such forcing tactics were not easy to execute into a strong headwind down the Newcastle home straight, but Turjomaan showed a level of professionalism beyond his years when settling beautifully at the head of proceedings before winding up the gallop with three furlongs left to run.
The market had billed the contest as a match beforehand, with the David Simcock-trained Wiretap the only serious contender on form, and the showdown anticipated on the book looked set to materialise as Oisin Murphy brought his mount from out of the pack to lay down a challenge inside the final quarter mile.
However, Turjomaan only needed to be woken up by Dane to lengthen nicely clear in the closing stages and he was well on top at the line, securing the spoils by two and a quarter lengths and achieving a level of form that would be difficult to bracket below the region of 90.
Later on the card, the Nurlan Bizakov-owned Zamandas recorded his second win on a synthetic surface when rattling home fast and late in the mile classified event under Andrea Atzeni.
A winner at Kempton on his penultimate outing, Zamandas was unsuited by the way the race developed at Nottingham next time out, but he relished the return to the all-weather when accounting for this tightly-knit field by three quarters of a length.
On Monday, the Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned Bayroot made a successful introduction in the seven-furlong novice at Kempton under David Egan.
The son of Exceed And Excel travelled nicely in midfield, belying his size and inexperience, before quickening up well in the home straight. He looked booked for second place when the William Haggas-trained Jirnaas made a sustained challenge down the outside, but when that colt very sadly sustained a fatal injury on the run to the line, Bayroot was left to pick up the spoils, getting the better of the Ed Walker-trained Private Rocket by a length.
A Darley homebred who is out of a half-sister to the G1 Champion Stakes third Kabool, Bayroot ought to stay at least a mile next year and he looks another exciting prospect for the team heading into 2019.
Roger said: “Both Turjomaan and Bayroot and big boys with plenty of scope and they ought to improve significantly from a physical perspective over the winter. Turjomaan proved very professional and he could potentially line up in a Guineas Trial next spring, while it is never nice to be the beneficiary of somebody else’s misfortune in terms of Bayroot, but he looks smart in his own right. The blinkers brought out a bit extra in Zamandas and he is progressing nicely on the all-weather.”