AT Newmarket last month, David Simcock’s Spanish Mission (Jamie Spencer) proved four lengths too good for Nayef Road (Mark Johnston/Silvestre de Sousa) in a Bahrain Trophy where the leader set an impossible gallop.

With the same jockeys riding in a race run at a much more leisurely pace, the latter gained revenge, with King George V Handicap runner-up Constantinople (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore) splitting the pair despite running around under pressure.

In truth, the Bahrain Trophy was set up for Spencer, with de Sousa guilty of a rare miscalculation in terms of pace, and committing Nayef Road for home some way out at Newmarket, whereas he held on to his mount for longer here, and that helped helped him turn the tables.

To that end he was also helped by Spanish Mission running into a bit of a blind alley as the sprint for home began, and despite getting unbalanced briefly on the camber, the son of Noble Mission again appealed as the most suitable of these for the St Leger by finishing strongly. While he was unable to find a sharp turn of foot which might have got him out of trouble, he appeals as the type who will relish the long climb to the line at Doncaster.

This is not especially strong form as it stands, but just because the principals couldn’t prove their full worth in a race which only developed from the three-furlong pole, it doesn’t mean they won’t go on to do so, and the second and third were conceding weight for their Group 3 wins in the Gallinule Stakes and the Bahrain Trophy respectively.

Aidan O’Brien called his runner “babyish” and suggested he would go gently with a big, backward horse who is expected to thrive next year.