WARZONE TOM vindicated his position as ante-post favourite for the event when setting the fastest time in the heats of the Coral Essex Vase at Romford on Friday.

The 575m annual will be first GBGB Category One title decided in 2022 and Liz McNair’s runner announced his claims to the honour with a best-of-night 35.43sec (-40) as the Ladbrokes Gold Collar champion made no mistake in heat five.

Well away, the August 2019 son of Good News and Bogger Bonnie raced to a 13.52sec sectional on his way to a three-and-a-quarter length success over Puppy Derby runner-up Callmesteve (John Mullins) and Coolavanny Bani (Angela Harrison).

Next quickest time was the 35.47sec set by both Night Time Danny and Drumdoit Bomber in heats one and three respectively.

Champion Stakes winner Night Time Danny opened the competition in fine style as Stephen Rayner’s runner set his sights on another major Romford title with a fast finishing effort to deny longtime leader Dapper Rodney (Nathan Hunt) by a neck in 35.47sec (-20). Nipsey Hustle (Carol Weatherall) qualified in third here.

The Paul Burr-trained Drumdoit Bomber impressed with an all-the-way success in his heat as the Yarmouth raider withstood a strong-running from Coolavanny Aunty (Angela Harrison) by half a length in 35.47sec (-40), with Sparta Master (Sharon Thompson) back in third.

The Mark Wallis-trained Antigua Princess, formerly known as Ballymac Trend, scored a first victory for new connections in heat six as the 2020 Oaks champion paced up to lead into the first bend and was never headed, winning by five lengths from kennelmate Sweet Pear and Lunar Prince (Richard Devenish) in 35.60 (-20).

The other heats were won by the David Mullins-trained Kishlawn Shakira, who was always handy in heat two before winning in 35.77sec (-20), and Dan Brabon’s Ragtime Storm  who secured a runaway ten-length win in heat four in 35.85sec (-30).

Romford had staged six heats of the Essex Vase alongside six heats of a new Category Two event, the Coral Maiden, in which the Dave Lee-trained Corrin Logan impressed with a fastest-of-the-night 400m victory in 23.97sec (normal) in heat two.

Mark Arkell, Romford’s deputy racing manager, was delighted with how the night panned out with the two events running side by side.

He said: “Overall it was a great night’s racing once again at Romford with our new maiden competition kicking off alongside the obvious highlight being the heats of the 2022 Coral Essex Vase and, as ever, was quality on show was top notch.

“We had a few surprises, but in the main the races went to form and some popular performers and regular Romford winners were on show once again.

“Warzone Tom was impressive in being fastest in the Essex Vase heats, but it was also good to see our Champion Stakes winner of last year Night Time Danny return to the track with an exciting victory.

“We really had a bit of everything and are definitely looking forward to Friday’s semi-finals of both the Essex Vase and Coral Maiden, plus our other supporting races.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=381220&raceId=807423

*Form and trap draw for Friday’s semi-finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Romford/form-guides/19-FRIDAY-PROOF_2022-01-14-222023.pdf