Savatoxl, arguably the best horse to emanate from the Northern Territory, will not start in the $100,000 Alice Springs Toyota Pioneer Sprint (1200m) in the Red Centre on Sunday.
Trainer Will Savage confirmed as such on Thursday when the seven-year-old gelding did not accept for the feature sprinting event of the year in Central Australia.
After taking out the Mags Takeaway WFA (1200m) last Saturday in his first appearance back in the Alice in three years there was a chance the son of Kuroshio would back up in the Pioneer Sprint.
Savatoxl was always going to contest the WFA, the last race he won in the Red Centre as a four-year-old back in 2020 before backing up to finish fifth in the Pioneer Sprint, with Savage not certain as to whether or not he would back the horse up in the race for the speedsters on Alice Springs Cup Day.
Apart form the Gary Clarke-trained Amish Boy (57.5kg), Savatoxl, who received a whopping 63kg impost for the Pioneer Sprint – which wasn’t totally unexpected, would have been spotting the other 10 horses in the field 9kg.
Savage will now head back to Adelaide with the horse with the view of hopefully getting a start in the $120,000 Group 3 McKay Stakes (1100m) on May 6 followed by the $750,000 Group 1 Goodwood Handicap (1200m) on May 21.
Savatoxl, the winner of 18 races from 38 starts in the NT and interstate, who has also accumulated $965,200 in prizemoney, won both races in 2021 – the Goodwood his only Group 1 victory.
He finished second in the McKay Stakes and eighth in the Goodwood last year.
An $18,000 purchase at the Inglis Yearling Sale during the 2017 Alice Springs Cup Carnival, Savatoxl has now won 10 from 13 starts at Pioneer Park after having won three from six starts in Darwin.
Apart from the mare Bat Pad (56.5kg), the six other runners in the WFA last weekend carried 58.5kg with Savatoxl ($2.30 fav with horse betting sites) kicking clear in the final stages to roll Tayarn Halter’s Expert Witness by two lengths with Phil Cole’s 10 year-old Smuggling, the winner of the Pioneer Sprint for the past two years, a length away in third place.
Savage wasn’t too concerned about the 63kg, more so the fact that he will spot most of his rivals 9kg.
“We’re going to go south, I’m going down there with him,” Savage, who will start Fantasy Eagle in the $110,000 Ladbrokes Alice Springs Cup (2000m) on Sunday, said.
“I don’t think it was too much weight, but giving some of those good horses 9kg, it will just break his heart.
“He won by a couple of lengths the other day, but with the weight turnaround he would have got beaten in the Sprint by about five lengths I reckon.
“It’s disappointing, but we’ve also used a bit of common sense at the same time.
“You’ve got to think of the horse and the reality of the race.
“I mean, there’s some speedy horses here in Alice Springs for the Sprint.”
Savage agreed that it was good that Savatoxl got the opportunity to race in Alice Springs once again where he won eight of his first 10 starts, but that the WFA was always the target.
“We were thinking about going south and that’s the way it’s worked out,” he said.
“I’m not sure if this will be his last Adelaide campaign, the horse is fine – he’s like a two-year-old again.
“He’s bucking and kicking up, and playing – doing all the things he was doing years ago.
“There’s nothing wrong with him that I can see.
“He’s improved in his gallops – he’s only had the one gallop since that run the other day.
“He’s come off the track bouncing.
“It didn’t hurt him, it did him more good than harm – but I still don’t think he’s 100 per cent fit.”
And it beggars the question as to whether or not Savatoxl will grace Pioneer Park ever again.
“Possibly, I mean, you won’t see him throughout the year, but Carnival time in the WFA again next year is a chance,” Savage said.
“Depends how he goes down south.
“He loves it up here, he loves the weather and the dirt tracks – he excels on the dirt track.”
Savage believes Expert Witness, the Darwin raider who has won five races from seven starts in the Top End before winning on debut in the Red Centre over 1000m (BM76) on April 1, can win the Pioneer Sprint.
“I think Tayarn Halter’s horse that ran second to Savatoxl in the WFA is going to be super hard to beat,” he said.
“When you think of it the other way he carried 58.5kg the other day and he’s got beaten by two lengths.
“Expert Witness drops to 54.5kg, he’s dropping 4kg.”
Early Pioneer Sprint market: Expert Witness $3.80, Amish Boy $5, Early Crow $7, Poupee $9, Bat Pad $10, Supreme Attraction $11, Great Buy $13, Ideas Man $16, Masterati $18, Supreme Times $21, Smuggling $26, Bar Gem $31.
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