Special treat as greats of turf share spotlight
IT was just before dawn at Rosehill yesterday and racing royalty was on track when super sprinter Chautauqua completed an impressive gallop only moments before Winx whizzed along the course.
These two champions have won 36 races between them, 18 at Group 1 level, for collective earnings of more than $21 million. The point was not lost on Chautauqua’s co-trainer Michael Hawkes.
“To have two world-class horses racing at the same time in Australia is fantastic,’’ Hawkes said.
“Winx is the best turf horse in the world, probably the best horse, and Chautauqua has been the world’s highest-rated sprinter for a while now.
“I look at Winx at trackwork and think, ‘wow, what a tremendous racemare she is’. I’m sure Chris (Waller) looks at Chautauqua and thinks the same thing. She is a freak and so is he.”
At Randwick tomorrow, race fans can get to see both champions compete under race conditions – Winx is in the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m), while Chautauqua resumes in the Group 2 The Shorts (1100m).
While Winx is up and winning this spring and is a long odds-on favourite, UBET price assessors are taking some risks with Chautauqua, rating him on the second line of betting at $3.70 behind a race-fit Redzel ($2.40 favourite).
“We feel Chautauqua is forward enough to run well,’’ Hawkes said. “They will run along a bit but we can only worry about our horse.
“We all know where he will be in the run and he will be giving them a start but he is racing’s Harry Houdini because he finishes so strongly late in his races.
“He has drawn a bit wide, which probably suits him to be fair, and as long as he is hitting the line strongly, we will be happy.
“The weight structure suits, it is 1100m first-up but he does love Randwick and his trials have been good.’’
Hawkes said there was improvement to come from Chautauqua who has been the long-time favourite for the $10 million The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 14.
With Chautauqua’s regular rider Tommy Berry moving to Hong Kong this season, Team Hawkes has entrusted Brenton Avdulla with the mount on the champion sprinter.