Underrated stayer Storming The Tower continued on his winning way at Ellerslie on the weekend as he captured the time-honoured Cornwall Handicap with a dominant front-running performance.

Fresh off the back of success in the Gr. 3 Rotorua Cup at his last start, the John Bell trained galloper had to lump the topweight of 60 kilograms in Saturday’s contest and did so in fine style for rider Samantha Collett who was having her first ride on the Storm Creek gelding.

Bell believes his charge has finally come of age with three wins in his last five starts ending a winless drought that stretched back to December 2012.

“He’s always been a handy galloper but he seems to have finally hit his straps in this campaign,” he said.

“He goes on most track conditions and I was feeling pretty confident when I heard the others saying they wanted a bit more rain for Saturday as I knew he would like what was on offer.

“I told Sam when I legged her up to have him handy as I didn’t want him to be chasing with such a big weight although I was a little surprised when she took him to the front. She is a top rider and had watched his tapes so she knew what he was capable of and did a super job on him.”

Collett used her initiative as she took up the running and dictated to her rivals throughout the 2200 metre contest before proving too tough in a decent home straight scrap with Celebrity Miss.

Bell was delighted with the win although disappointed that a race that was once one of the pinnacle winter staying events was now languishing without black-type status.

“It’s a shame to see the Cornwall now just another open handicap when it used to be one of the biggest events on the winter calendar,” he said.

“This was always a race that everybody who had a good winter stayer wanted to win so it would be nice if it could somehow get back to that status one day.”

Storming The Tower will now be set for the Kiwifruit Cup (2100m) at Tauranga on the 25th of June.