SAVANA VOLCANO rolled back the years when clocking the fastest time in Saturday’s Ladbrokes Cesarewitch heats at Crayford on Saturday.

Trained by Diane Henry, and completing a double for the Towcester handler after victory for her Savana Ruinart in a semi-final of the Ladbrokes Gold Collar, St Leger runner-up Savana Volcano overcame first-bend crowding to grab longtime-leader Milton Pepe (Ian Langford) at the penultimate bend.

Thereafter, the May 2018 daughter of Confident Rankin and Volcano went on before crossing the line four and a quarter lengths clear of the staying-on Antigua Lava (Mark Wallis) in 56.66sec (normal) for the 874m trip – the first two making it through to Saturday’s £10,000-to-the-winner final, forming part of a gala card at the Kent track.

The victory for four-year-old Savana Volcano delighted her trainer, who said: “To have made another Category One final with Volcano is just marvellous.

“I really couldn’t be more proud of this girl. Given her age and to keep on producing runs at

top level like she’s doing is quite some achievement for her. I’m happy with her draw in the final and I’d like to see her turn handy early on again like she did in the heats. Having said that, this final has some terrific marathon performers in it so there’s no room for error.

“Crayford and the sponsors have done superbly to put all these competitions on together to make it a great day’s racing for all involved. It’s great to see and be a part of.”

Kilshannig Marie scored a home-trained victory in heat one as the Julie Luckhurst-trained ran amok on the step up in distance.

The August 2019 daughter of Droopys Roddick and Kilshannig Emer came through strongly on the second lap to catch leader Silverspring Ria (John Mullins) before running right away from her rivals to score by nine and a half lengths from Savana Regera (Diane Henry) in 56.75sec (normal) for the ten-bend trip.

Beach Babe made it two locally-trained wins in three Cesarewitch heats as the youngster scored a popular success in heat two.

The February 2021 daughter of Droopys Sydney and Beechgrove Bell was soon handy before a burst of middle pace took her to the front past halfway, catching leader Longacres Bullet (Pat Doocey) and getting first run on hot favourite Blueberry Bullet (Mark Wallis) to score by a length and three-quarters from that rival in 47.51sec (normal).

Crayford racing manager Danny Rayment, commenting on Saturday’s gala card which includes four big-race finals with the Ladbrokes Cesarewitch joining the Ladbrokes Grand National and Ladbrokes Gold Collar as well as the Ladbrokes Kent Rose Bowl, said: “I’m really pleased to see local representation in all four finals, particularly in the Cesarewitch.

“In particular, I’ve been waiting for some time to see how Kilshannig Marie would perform over the ten bends. She couldn’t have been any more impressive and it looks a fascinating final against the established trio of Savana Volcano, Antigua Lava and Blueberry Bullet and we’re set for another classic battle.”

Results: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=391194&raceId=890154

Trap draw for Saturday’s finals: https://assets.cj1.in/imminent-otter/production/assets/results/Crayford/form-guides/Crayford-Finals-Form-Saturday-Morning-26th-November-2022.pdf