The Jolly family is synonymous with South Australian racing and Saturday was a landmark occasion for the clan as three generations of trainers tasted success at the same meeting for the first time.
David kicked it off with an early double at Morphettville as Miss Langtry and Gaze Grise saluted, his brother Richard and niece Chantelle then joined forces as See You In Heaven captured the Group 3 Breeders’ Stakes with family patriarch Peter completing the set when Morvada proved too tough in the Listed City Of Adelaide Stakes.
Sharing four races on a nine-race card – two of them being stakes contests – is an incredible feat and the family certainly enjoyed it.
“This is the first time (we’ve all won since) Chantelle joined the team,” Peter said.
“It’s probably one of my best days in racing.”
Adding to the degree of difficulty is the fact Peter, 78, only has two horses in work now but Morvada, like his trainer, is showing now signs of slowing down despite his advancing years.
“He’s a marvel really. For a horse that did a tendon, did a suspensory ligament as a three-year-old, he’s come back and he’s racing in the best form of his career and I still think he’s got another couple of years in him – he’s like me, he’ll keep going,” he said.
“He’s a class above those horses really. If you look at what he’s done over the years, the last 12 months he’s been racing about the best (horses) in Melbourne and he’s just been getting nutted. He certainly deserved (this).”
While Peter only has limited opportunities to walk into the winner’s stall, that’s not the case for the other two stables who are both in rare form.
The father-daughter combination of Richard and Chantelle already have one hand on their maiden premiership, with victories at each of the past nine metropolitan meetings, taking their tally to 40 – 13 in front of Tony and Calvin McEvoy.
They are also poised to enjoy more stakes success at the Adelaide carnival with See You In Heaven looking to extend her record to four wins from five starts.
“She’s definitely going to have another run. She’ll either go to the (SA) Sires’ Produce (Stakes) or the David Coles (Stakes) and then spell after that and get ready for the spring,” Richard Jolly said.
“I’d love to think she could run a mile and we could get her to a race like the Thousand Guineas. That’d be a target.”
David’s team at Goolwa has also been in sensational form with nine winners (from 20 runners) in the last fortnight.
There is a sneaky chance in-form mare Gaze Grise, who continued her excellent prep on Saturday, rolls the dice in the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes this weekend.
“She’s entered for a good race but that might be a little bit above her at this stage, she’s honest enough but the 1200m might just pull her up,” David said.
“If we thought she could maybe run a place, we might have a go.
“We thought the only way she’d get the 1200m is on the back-up so we did plan (for it). But at this stage we’ll have a think about it.”
Racenet: Tom Biddington 1 May 2022