Savatoxl will attempt to become the third multiple winner of The Goodwood when he lines up in the Group 1 sprint at Morphettville.
If successful over the 1200m course on Saturday, Savatoxl will join Moslyn (1894-95) and Musket Belle (1911-12) as dual winners of the race.
Savatoxl won Adelaide’s feature sprint in 2021 before finishing eighth behind Lombardo last year.
Now a seven-year-old, Savatoxl is back with his original trainer Will Savage after having a two-year stint in the Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable.
Savatoxl started his career with Savage in Alice Springs before Savage headed out mustering on the family’s cattle station in the Northern Territory and the gelding was sent to the McEvoy’s.
Savage said he was around 4000 km from Morphettville when Savatoxl won his first Goodwood but will be on-course on Saturday.
Savatoxl has won both his starts since returning to Savage’s care, taking out a weight-for-age race at Alice Springs on April 22 before scoring in The Goodwood’s traditional lead-up, the Group 3 D C McKay Stakes (1100m) on May 6, lumping 60.5kg to victory.
The sprinter won the McKay with 54kg in 2021 before going on to win The Goodwood with 56kg and will carry 1kg more on Saturday.
Savage said Savatoxl was a stronger horse now than the one he trained previously.
“He’s a little more settled,” Savage told RSN.
“He was a very athletic horse. He was only a two and three-year-old, early four-year-old when I had him, but he’s a seven-year-old now, fully matured, big and strong.
“There’s a lot of good horses in the race, there’s no doubt about that as it’s a Group 1.
“But they’ll know he’s there. If they take him on for the first 600 (metres), I don’t think they’ll be there at the end.
“He jumps and runs. He’s got a high cruising speed and that’s why I’ve won races with him up to a mile and he ran third in an Alice Springs Cup over 2000 (metres) leading practically all-the-way.”
With no suitable races in Adelaide or Victoria after Saturday, Savage will take Savatoxl back to Alice Springs ahead of a possible trip to Darwin for their Carnival in July.
He said Savatoxl could then head back to Melbourne for some of the major sprints during the spring.
