David Jolly chasing second Goodwood victory with promising sprinter Volcanic Express

Trainer David Jolly would love to see a local win The Goodwood and isn’t discounting his X-factor outsider Volcanic Express.

Justin Potter (left) and David Jolly (right) pose with Volcanic Express after the Hills Railway victory at Oakbank. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

Goolwa trainer David Jolly is a past winner of The Goodwood, and while his exciting sprinter Volcanic Express is an outsider for Saturday’s $1m sprint at Morphettville, it would be foolish to underestimate him.

A blistering last-to-first win in the Hills Railway Stakes at Oakbank announced Volcanic Express as one of Adelaide’s most promising sprinters, and a strong runner-up performance in the Group 3 Hawkes Stakes was enough to convince Jolly that the speedster won’t be out of place at Group 1 level.

The son of Hualalai darted through traffic over the closing 300m to finish one length behind Goodwood rival Watchme Win.

“We were pretty happy with it,” Jolly, who won the 2002 edition with Zip Zip Aray, said.

“We drew a wide gate, so we went back. I didn’t want him having two tough runs in a week, we took the blinkers off, rode him quiet and chose to ride through them a bit.

“That worked quite well, he was able to have a softish run after the seven-day backup, hit the line well. Obviously the winner is a good horse.

“Going off that run, you are happy to take your place (in The Goodwood) knowing that you’re not running where you shouldn’t.”

Didn’t Pottsy love this one!

Justin Potter & Volcanic Express were shot out of a cannon to win the Listed Hills Railway Stakes 💙#horseracing | @CountryRacingSA | @Racing | @DJollyRacingpic.twitter.com/XfRaZZsfWn

— Racing SA (@RacingSA) April 19, 2025

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The five-year-old, a four-time winner from 11 starts, has progressed through the Hawkes Stakes in good order, and will be piloted by Justin Potter from barrier 11 on Saturday‘s 1200m feature.

“He’s flown through that run, he had a gallop Monday at Strath, he’s rock-hard fit now, we’ve done all we can, it’s in the lap of the gods now,” he said.

A four-time Group 1-winning trainer, Jolly has prepared his share of talented horses, he won three Group 1s with gun sprinter Behemoth over 2020-21.

“I’ve had really good horses get beat in The Goodwood, and I’ve probably won a Goodwood with a lesser horse,” he said.

“It’s hard to say (where he rates), he’s probably somewhere in-between them, he’s still a bit unexposed, he hasn’t had a lot of racing at that top level.

“We certainly haven’t gotten to the bottom of him yet, that’s for sure.”

Volcanic Express charges home to win the Hills Railway at Oakbank in April. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

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A lack of big-race exposure could be cause for apprehension, yet the gelding’s electric turn of foot gives him X-factor.

“He’s an exciting horse to watch, he can come off the back of them and reel off some good sectionals,” Jolly said.

“I would’ve liked to draw somewhere close to the middle, but he has won most of his races slinging down the outside, the main thing is at the business end he has room to wind up and comes with that big action.”

The Goodwood has been dominated by interstate winners over the past 20 years, South Australian father and son pair Tony and Calvin McEvoy won the race in 2019 and 2021, but based the majority of their operation in Victoria.

The previous local trainer to win the race was Jolly in 2002.

“I’m just excited to have a horse in the race, I don’t know how long its been since the race was won by a local, it would’ve been a while,” Jolly said.

“There’s three to four local chances, whether it’s me or somebody else, obviously the Victorians win a lot of these races – it would be good to keep it local.”

Volcanic Express is currently a $51 hope with Sportsbet futures betting for The Goodwood.

Originally published as David Jolly chasing second Goodwood victory with promising sprinter Volcanic Express