Sav Flies First-up to Secure a Dead-Heat Victory
Sunday, 14 Sep 2025
The 6-year-old brown mare Savsonic 'Sav' rocketed home in her first up run of the preparation to finish dead-heat first with the visiting Victorian Warparty in Race 4 yesterday at Morphettville, the Sydney McDonald Memorial 0-62 Handicap contest over the 1541m journey.
After a comprehensive 3.63L win first up last campaign, Racing.Com presenter Terry Mcauliffe questioned Head Trainer Stephen Theodore post-race on what happened for the rest of that preparation, with Stephen noting it was "derailed, (we) drew wide over the carnival, just went back too far, went too wide, panicked, made a gear change, went pear shaped again, I was smart enough to abort and reset".
On race tactics and instructions for this event, Stephen remarked "I said to Kayla before the race, I feel so much confidence when I have Kayla on horses that are out of form, cause she listens and I said I want you to go out and be Kayla Crowther and ride this horse how it feels, don't go forward don't go back, wherever you're happy and the horse is happy and have faith that I've got her back going well again, and proof was in the pudding".
Kayla was on board the mare for her previous win first up last preparation at Penola, and hasn't been on since, as Stephen cheekily noted "she was silly and broke her collarbone, and that was the derailment of the preparation, she's back and the horse is back".
Post-race, Kayla noted on the line in the driving finish that "she stuck her head out at the right time" to ensure a joint victory. Kayla remarked "it was a bit of a messy race, there was a lot of congestion, no tempo sort of injected" and that "the slow tempo probably helped her conserve it early and she's got a really good little turn of foot".
The joint victory yesterday secures win number four for the mare and takes her prizemoney over the 100k mark. The daughter of Savsensation recorded the equal fastest last 600m and fastest last 200m sectionals of the race yesterday. With that effort under her belt, she should continue to prosper this preparation out in distance while retaining the services and silky hands of Kayla, which will be pleasing for Stephen, Molly, and her big band of prominent owners.
After a comprehensive 3.63L win first up last campaign, Racing.Com presenter Terry Mcauliffe questioned Head Trainer Stephen Theodore post-race on what happened for the rest of that preparation, with Stephen noting it was "derailed, (we) drew wide over the carnival, just went back too far, went too wide, panicked, made a gear change, went pear shaped again, I was smart enough to abort and reset".
On race tactics and instructions for this event, Stephen remarked "I said to Kayla before the race, I feel so much confidence when I have Kayla on horses that are out of form, cause she listens and I said I want you to go out and be Kayla Crowther and ride this horse how it feels, don't go forward don't go back, wherever you're happy and the horse is happy and have faith that I've got her back going well again, and proof was in the pudding".
Kayla was on board the mare for her previous win first up last preparation at Penola, and hasn't been on since, as Stephen cheekily noted "she was silly and broke her collarbone, and that was the derailment of the preparation, she's back and the horse is back".
Post-race, Kayla noted on the line in the driving finish that "she stuck her head out at the right time" to ensure a joint victory. Kayla remarked "it was a bit of a messy race, there was a lot of congestion, no tempo sort of injected" and that "the slow tempo probably helped her conserve it early and she's got a really good little turn of foot".
The joint victory yesterday secures win number four for the mare and takes her prizemoney over the 100k mark. The daughter of Savsensation recorded the equal fastest last 600m and fastest last 200m sectionals of the race yesterday. With that effort under her belt, she should continue to prosper this preparation out in distance while retaining the services and silky hands of Kayla, which will be pleasing for Stephen, Molly, and her big band of prominent owners.
