The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Savatoxl will break new ground when he races down the famous Flemington straight for the first time.
Savatoxl runs in the Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final (1200m) on Saturday with the race being only the second time he has lined up at Flemington.
The gelding’s only appearance was when eighth over 1400m in a Benchmark 90 in November 2020.
Savatoxl has since gone on to win at Group 1 level, taking out The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville last year and contested that race again this year, finishing eighth behind Lombardo, his most recent run.
“He lacked punch in that race,” Calvin McEvoy said.
“Normally he’s up on the bridle, but he was just missing that day. Whether it was the shifting ground, I’m not sure, but he came out of it well and we’ve pushed on.”
McEvoy said Savatoxl went to the water walker for nearly two weeks to freshen up following that outing, adding it will be interesting to see how Savatoxl performs down the straight.
“He had a trial at Kerang last week and went nicely but It will be interesting to see him down the straight,” McEvoy said.
“He’s a horse that relies on getting to the rail.
“That’s his racing style. We’ve tried to change it, but nothing seems to work, so who knows, he might like the straight track.”
McEvoy said Savatoxl learned to race against the rail doing his early racing in Darwin and Alice Springs where being in front, on the rail, was invariably a plus.
“He does it in his trackwork as well, so now we’ve stopped trying to fight it and we just accept it,” McEvoy said.
“He’s going well, he seems to get in well at the handicap and it would be nice to see him return to the winner’s circle.”
