Romanov, so often in the shadow of his peers last season, jostled his way to the fore with a victory in the Group Two Sagitta Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket yesterday.

Peter Chapple-Hyam's colt had finished five lengths behind Silver Patriarch and Benny The Dip in last year's Vodafone Derby and had been edged out by Kingfisher Mill in Ascot's Cumberland Lodge Stakes in September.

But yesterday it was their turn to peer at his backside through the rain. John Reid committed the Nureyev colt for home three-quarters of the way through the 12-furlong contest.

The Fly and Michael Hills covered the move while 2-1 favourite Silver Patriarch missed gears in the Dip. The grey St Leger winner found his stride up the hill but at the line Romanov, a 5-1 shot, still had a neck in hand, with a length and a half back to The Fly and five to Kingfisher Mill in fourth.

The traditional route for a four-year-old of Romanov's class would normally include the Vodafone Coronation Cup on June 5th. But in the winner's enclosure the bay's owner Robert Sangster leaned towards Royal Ascot rather than the Derby meeting.