Jolly attempting to strike Lightning with promising Puissance De Lune filly

By Tim Rowe

Allez Sur Le Gris to take on older horses in Morphettville feature race

David Jolly wants to test promising juvenile Allez Sur Le Gris in Saturday’s SAJC Lightning Stakes (Listed, 1050m) at Morphettville for two and three-year-olds but the South Australian trainer is already looking towards the autumn with the daughter of Puissance De Lune (Shamardal).

Allez Sur Le Gris, who won her first start over 1100 metres at Gawler on July 11, is expected to be joined by stablemate, the three-year-old Streetcar Stranger (Stratum), but Jolly yesterday indicated his third entry, Calypso Reign (Barbados), would not take his place in the $100,000 race.

Jolly has already locked in Kayla Crowther, who partnered the homebred filly in the 1100-metre Benchmark 66 two-year-old race, to ride Allez Sur Le Gris again on the weekend.

“She won quite well at Gawler and she’d trialled well leading into that. She showed quite surprising speed to lead, being by Puissance De Lune out of a Reset mare (Goon Serpent) who was better known as a miler,” Jolly said.

“She also showed a bit of bottle there when challenged and she wasn’t screwed down for that or anything.”

Allez Sur Le Gris’ maiden racing preparation could continue on into August but Jolly will resist the temptation to put too much pressure on the rising three-year-old this campaign.

He said: “She’ll probably run one or two more times and then we’ll look to the autumn with her as she’s in at the wrong time (to be still going in) the spring.”

Jolly, meanwhile, will give Streetcar Stranger an opportunity at stakes level over a distance he believes will be more beneficial to the two-time winner, who led at Murray Bridge on July 4 when overrun by stablemate Calypso Reign.

“He led the other day and he was just a bit aggressive, so I don’t think that suited him,” the trainer said of Streetcar Stranger.

“Dropping him back in distance (from 1200 metres) will help and he had a jump out at Gawler on Monday where he went quite well.”

Paul Gatt will retain the ride on Streetcar Stranger. As for Calypso Reign, who finished eighth in a three-year-old handicap at Flemington last Saturday, he will take his place in the TAB Handicap (1200m) if he runs at all.

“I wouldn’t say he didn’t handle the Flemington straight, but he was probably looking for a corner. He didn’t have a hard run, so if he does start, he will run in the SABOIS 1200-metre race to have one last crack at that scheme,” Jolly said.

One potential rival to Jolly’s Lightning Stakes candidates is the Will Clarken-trained unraced two-year-old The Multiplier (The Factor) who won a Balaklava barrier trial on July 14.

For the past two years, the Goolwa-based Jolly has linked with Clarken, a rising star of the Adelaide training ranks, as his bloodstock adviser and one of the first horses the pair purchased was The Multiplier, a $25,000 2019 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale graduate.

“It’s something that’s been quite successful so far. We started at last year’s Adelaide sales and there’s been a couple of results out of that,” Jolly said.

“We’ve been a bit more proactive with it at this year’s sales and we’ve ended up with a really nice bunch of rising two-year-olds and we’ve also been successful with a couple of tried mares including Bella Vella who went on and won the Group 1 (Robert Sangster).”

The blossoming relationship was solidified when the Clarken-trained Bella Vella (Commands), a $22,500 Inglis Digital Online Auction purchase in April last year, won May’s Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville and is considered some chance of securing a slot in this year’s $15 million The Everest (1200m).

“I’ve got a bloodstock background and I like going to the sales and we’re like-minded in that department (in what we look for), so I am giving Will a hand in selecting horses,” he said.

“When you’re training you don’t have a lot of time to be going through the catalogues, looking at the pedigrees and doing all the research, but from where I’m based (at Goolwa) it’s a bit more relaxed and I have a smaller stable, so it allows me to do that work and it’s been going well so far.”

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Jolly attempting to strike Lightning with promising Puissance De Lune filly