Grey Flash gets another chance

CHAUTAUQUA’S owners threw the kitchen sink at Racing NSW stewards yesterday in a bid to give their grey another chance to barrier trial – and it worked.

Stewards told owners on Sunday that nominations of Chautauqua for barrier trials would be refused after he failed to satisfy them for the seventh time at Rosehill on Saturday.

He did jump on the weekend but was more than seven lengths behind the field soon after and stewards decided he shouldn’t be allowed to race in NSW again. But the owners, led by Rupert Legh, and a horse behaviourist spent more than half an hour pleading their case to stewards via phone hook-up.

“It’s in this horse’s character to not jump with the field and no punter has ever lost money because Chautauqua didn’t jump from the gates,” Legh said.

The owners even argued that Chautauqua’s fame and pulling power was a good enough reason to allow him to continue his career. Owner Peter Wright said Chautauqua’s re-education process hadn’t been finished yet.

The horse behaviourist, identified as “Mr Q” but known to stewards, had only been working with Chautauqua since August 1.

“He’s come a long way from the horse that finished 90 lengths last in his Rosehill trial (August 2) to finishing second at his last one on Saturday and he’s improving,” he said.

“He’s been jumping every time in his jump outs and we’re moving up the ladder with him.”

Mr Q had been tapping Chautauqua on the belly with a stick while he was in the barriers.

“I give him a little queue that keeps his feet moving and I’m still working on transferring that from me to the jockey,” he said.