Grey flash test awaits

THE mystery equine behaviourist given the task of taming barrier rogue Chautauqua was asked point-blank last week if the grey flash was ready to go back to the races.

Without hesitation the answer was “yes”. Rupert Legh, part-owner of the superstar sprinter is adamant that he has a happy, healthy horse that wants to keep racing, and just needs to shake what connections have determined is merely a “bad habit”.

It’s a habit he’s seemingly kicked if footage Legh passed on to racing NSW stewards, of a series of successful private jumpouts and other trackwork, is any indication. Legh even suggested Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel, who will ban Chautauqua from racing if he doesn’t jump in a special trial at Rosehill on Saturday, to talk to the behaviourist himself.

Exactly what Chautauqua has been doing to get over his bad barrier habit remains private, with Legh to reveal all should the eight-year-old get through the first of two required trials this weekend. But Legh said he had footage that would make people go “wow” when they saw it, including vision of Chautauqua standing on a box under the watchful eye of his therapist.

“We’ve been really buoyed by what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks. As our man said, he’s a very hard nut to crack, a very strong-willed horse,” Legh said yesterday.

“I’ve been reluctant to make public what we have been doing behind the scenes to correct the horse. But it’s about fixing a habit.

“People are getting confused between a habit and a horse not wanting to race. We can all develop bad habits. You have to break that habit, and that’s why we have been doing something different.”

Legh said he “flippantly” suggested Chautauqua would race overseas if he didn’t jump on Saturday and the ban was upheld, but that no real thought had been given to anything beyond this trial.

Jockey Tommy Berry will ride.