DROOPYS DRESDEN landed Romford its third win in four runnings of the Ladbrokes Gold Collar at Crayford when reeling in the gallant Cloncunny Major in a stirring finish to the £8,000 final at the Kent venue on Tuesday.

Trained by Philip Simmonds for Darryl Bear and John Proctor, the Feb 2015 son of Mall Brandy and Droopys Start – a half-brother of the owners’ Derby runner-up Droopys Roddick – was involved in crowding at the first turn as Kevin Boon’s Cloncunny Major blazed the trail.

The 12-1 outsider led his field a merry dance, but both Droopys Dresden and Droopys Who began to make ground down the back second time, and it was the eventual winner who was first to challenge, and then pass, the leader to win by a length in 33.93sec (+20).

“That’s a great effort from a very classy dog,” said winning trainer Simmonds of the winner. “He’s well travelled but a jolly good dog and I’m delighted for his owners who put a lot into the game. Of course, thanks also once again to the sponsors.

“You cannot underestimate what prizes like this can do to owners and trainers. They could easily have put on another graded race, but tonight have produced a valuable and traditional final – and a really strong supporting card with good prize-money. It’s massively appreciated.

“We’ll look at the Champion Stakes now for him at Romford – 575m really is his limit in all honesty – who knows, maybe an S1 there beforehand!” smiled Simmonds, adding: “Nottingham is also a strong possibility – there’s the Eclipse later in the year there, too.”

Owners Darryl Bear and John Proctor were delighted their runner had won the major race they always felt he was capable of.

Bear said: “He’s been like Lisa Stansfield – he’s been ‘All Around the World’! – but Phil and Nathan (Hunt) have got the best out of him. He’s run a great race, although I did have an eye on Droopys Who making ground behind our fellow – we used to own him too! Thankfully it worked out well.”

Proctor added: “It’s the best I’ve seen him run now – at Towcester during the Derby and now here. Phil and his team have done a great job. He’s proved himself a good competition dog, and we managed to get 12-1 for him before the event – which is nice!”

The Gold Collar and strong supporting programme was overseen again by racing manager Danny Rayment, who said: “It’s been a good event for Romford in recent years! Well done to Philip, John and Darryl – their dog certainly deserved his Gold Collar victory.

“He did it off the front in the heats but proved his versatility in coming from off the pace to produce a battling performance to peg back Cloncunny Major. It looked as though Kevin’s outsider would cause a surprise when going clear on the first lap.

“However, he left a gap on the inside at the penultimate bend which Philip’s dog exploited fully to land a deserved Category One success. He has been a fixture on the open-race scene for a long time, but had run well in the Derby and came here in good heart.”

As for the supporting card, Rayment singled out the performances of two real stars at Crayford in recent seasons.

“I thought the odds-on victories of track specialists Maireads Ivy and Razldazl Raidio were fantastic, while Arabian Sand was a very popular local winner of the 380m hurdles, lowering the colours of Champion Hurdle winner Lenson Wilson in the process.

“We now look forward to continuing our £50,000 Summer Festival of Racing with the Kent National Hurdle (£5,000 to the winner; starts Tuesday, July 10) and Kent Cesarewitch (£3,000 to the winner; starts Tuesday, July 17).

“The ‘double header’ of finals will be on Tuesday, July 24, with the Guys & Dolls following on a couple of weeks later.”