SLIPALONG MOVE succeeded last year’s winner Pape Di Oro when finishing best for the prize in the final of the Coral Silver Maiden Final at Romford.

The £5,000 Category Two event supported the Coral Essex Vase Final at the London Road venue and, while 12 months ago the trophy headed back to the north-east with Newcastle’s winning trainer Savva Roberts, a local success for Paul Young’s kennel was cheered on by a good Friday night crowd at the track.

Trained and part-owned by the Wickford-based handler with Graham Curtis, the October 2022 son of Cabra Firmino and Slipalong Cygnet, the fastest semi-final winner, lined up as one of four Young-trained runners in the 400m decider with another Curtis-owned runner Yahoo Mareike going off the 15-8 favourite.

However, despite coming away, it was the red-boxed Scooby Dior (Martyn Wiley) who used the inside line to best effect by pacing up into the bend and cutting loose for a decent lead by halfway, albeit Slipalong Move turned off the second bend in chase.

Making ground down the far side, the leader had no answer to the eventual winner’s surge, Slipalong Move hitting the front and drawing away quickly for a 24.11sec (-10) success over running-on kennelmate Chilli Drago for a Young one-two, the latter edging Scooby Dior by a head for the runner-up spot.

The victory delighted winning trainer Young who was particularly delighted for his father-in-law Peter (Emment), his wife Miriam’s father, following a recent health scare.

“It’s great for Peter and all the family and great to see him smiling,” said Young. “He’s paraded the dog tonight and getting the one-two is the icing on the cake.”

Bought off the back of a Tralee success, Slipalong Move has come forward since breaking his UK duck in A4 company in November. Friday’s success was a fourth win for Young, all at Romford, having raced unbeaten through to the Coral Silver Maiden.

“We’ve kept him to Romford and always had this in mind,” added Young. “He’s got lots of speed but is also strong over this trip. We might take him on the road at some point, but he’s a pretty solid Friday night dog at Romford and it’s great for Graham (Curtis). He also has Yahoo Mareike who ran well but had a tough draw to overcome.”

Mark Arkell, Romford racing manager, congratulated connections of Slipalong Move and also Droopys Eunice, winner of the showpiece Coral Essex Vase Final.

“Well done to both Paul (Young) and Maxine (Locke). Their runners in the big finals both obviously ran well – and Paul himself had a share of five winners on the night, given he also trained one of our dead-heaters in the 750m race with David’s (Mullins) Elite Albert. That was some presentation podium afterwards – and it was some race!”

Romford also paid tribute to one of its former trainers in Peter Rich with the Peter Rich Memorial Race won by the Paul Young-trained Airtech Amigo (24.14sec -10).

“Peter was here for a number of years and was a gentleman and a great trainer of a greyhound. We wanted to acknowledge his sad passing ahead of his funeral on Friday (January 31),” added Arkell.