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Talented grey Calypso Reign will try and join his illustrious stablemate Behemoth as a dual winner of the race formerly known as the Spring Stakes at Morphettville on Saturday.
The race was a launching pad to three Group 1 victories in the Melbourne Spring Carnival for Behemoth, his deeds under the guidance of Goolwa trainer David Jolly rewarded with the change of race name to the Group 3 Behemoth Stakes in 2023.
"It's a big thrill,'' Jolly said to have the race named after his former stable star who is now living a life of luxury at Living Legends in Melbourne but makes a special trip home to lead the field out on Saturday.
"A race like the Spring Stakes has always been a springboard for the locals going to Melbourne.
"You generally get a quality field of decent horses resuming,'' he said.
Calypso Reign claimed last year's feature on the back of a similar preparation, coming in fresh and defying a drift to defeat Pindaric and Pimm's Party.
Jolly said the horse with a good fresh record had ticked the right boxes leading into his racetrack return after rounding out his preparation at the Morphettville trials last Friday which included race favourite See You In Heaven as well as Ironclad, who also tackle the feature.
"He's had a jump out and two trials,'' Jolly added.
"We had the option of running a couple of weeks ago but he's so dynamic first-up at 1200m at Morphettville.
"His trial was satisfactory,'' Jolly said.
"He's never a horse who trials well. He enjoys soft ground so a bit of rain won't hurt,'' he said.
Jolly also has Howl in the feature, an enigmatic horse, who has won five of 17 starts and he'll also be trying to win the race named after his training operation – the David Jolly Racing Handicap - with Lake Agawam, a horse he believes can improve sharply second-up.
"I thought he was a bit disappointing (first-up),'' Jolly said.
"But it (the day) was dominated by horses close to the rail. Jake (Toeroek, jockey) was quite complimentary of the run so it might have been better than it looked,'' he said.
