Therapy aids the Flash
THE mystery equine behaviourist given the task of taming barrier rogue Chautauqua was asked point-blank 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 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 jump outs 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, 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”, including vision of Chautauqua standing on a box under the watchful eye of his therapist, who wants to remain “low key”.
“We’ve been really buoyed by what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“As our man said, he’s a very hard nut to crack, a very strong-willed horse.
“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 has become increasingly frustrated with “ïllinformed” views surrounding the decision to persist with getting Chautauqua, a winner of five Group 1s and nearly $9 million, back to racing after six failed barriers trials.