Bowman pleased with Winx return
Champion mare in confident trial at Rosehill but Chautauqua’s future uncertain after latest failure to jump
Hugh Bowman is used to winning on Winx but the master horseman said he could not be more pleased with the mare’s first public outing in what threatens to be her most famous campaign yet.
For a horse renowned for winning, the seventh placing in yesterday’s Rosehill trial by Winx might be seen as underachieving a little but Bowman was relaxed and confident after dismounting from the mare who rarely threatens in practice.
“She felt good — felt really good,” Bowman told Racing.com.
“It’s the start of a new prep. It’s exciting for us all and I couldn’t have been happier with her.
“She had a good blow after the trial, which was good to see.
“I’ve done three pieces of work on her at home and she blew more [yesterday] than in any of those pieces of work at home.
“It’s good to have her back and well. There was a fair bit of nervous energy running through her veins when she got to the enclosure and I got on her, which was good to see.
“She was a little bit anxious in the barriers which was not unusual although I don’t want her to be too fractious on race day.
“It was good to see those competitive juices flowing through her, so she’s excited to be back and so are we.”
Bowman said he was careful not to gallop Winx in the most-used part of the track.
“I was sort of getting pushed out on to the worst part of the track where they’ve been working the horses, so instead of going with them, I just held up and got back in, which was a bit better.
“I then asked her to extend, which she did nicely and ran through the line very well. A new beginning.”
But while Bowman was beaming, an emotional Tommy Berry has labelled Chautauqua’s latest barrier incident as “heartbreaking”, as the grey flash failed to jump away at the start of the trial.
Berry was deflated by the sevenyear-old’s behaviour in an indication the top jockey knows Chautauqua may have sealed his own fate.
“I’ve reached the highest of highs on the horse, so [when he didn’t jump] it was heartbreaking,” Berry said.
“Going to the barriers, he gave me a great feel, he looked in great order and he felt exactly the same as he did when I jumped him out at Flemington.
“But I pretty much knew as soon as we walked in the barriers, he wasn’t going to jump. He leaned on the back of the gates there and from what Brenton [Avdulla] and Dwayne [Dunn] had told me in the past, that’s what he has been doing when he hasn’t jumped.
“So unfortunately I pretty much knew what was going to happen before the jump.
“All I can say is that he’s in great shape and looks well but he didn’t want to do it [yesterday].”
Chautauqua was trialling in a bid to regain approval to return to the races after famously refusing to jump on four occasions in trials in his autumn campaign.
Connections will now decide whether or not to pursue his spring campaign.