Evergreen sprinter Stanzout is out of retirement and will make his return to the races in the Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

Trainer Colin Davies made the decision to retire Stanzout after his impressive run in the Tonks Plate (1200m) on Ballarat Cup Day last year but, like a former champion boxer searching for one more payday, the ten-year-old decided that retirement wasn’t for him.

Davies brought Stanzout to trackwork to help him educate some of the younger horses in his stable and was so impressed with his form that he decided to bring him back for one more racing campaign.

“We did retire him but he didn’t like being retired, he was sulking, so I thought I’d bring him back into work,” Davies told Racing Victoria.

“I decided to take him to the track to help me educate the young ones and he started going along really well, so I thought it won’t hurt racing him if he wants to do it.”

Stanzout was a proven Group performer in his prime, winning the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) in 2007 and was placed at Group 1 level on three occasions, and although Davies realises the Gallo Di Ferro gelding is unlikely to return to this form he is still hopeful he can pick up his first win since his triumph in the Australasian Flooring Plate (1100m) at Moonee Valley in 2010.

“I won’t be setting him for anything fantastic, I just want to place him every now and then in a race that he might be able to win when he’s right,” Davies said.

The John Monash Stakes has drawn a quality field, which includes Group 1 winner Mrs Onassis and classy colt Happy Galaxy, and Davies is realistic about his charges chances.

“There’s really not much else for a horse with his rating so I’ve got to run him somewhere,” the Cranbourne-based trainer said.

“I’d like to see him finish in the half dozen then I’d be convinced that he’s happy to race and the way he is going, I can’t see why he wouldn’t.”