News

Chautauqua eyeing HK, Royal Ascot

14th Jan 2016

Racing.com - by Grace Ramage - Thursday 14 January 2016

Injury may have robbed Chautauqua of the opportunity to conquer Hong Kong last December but Team Hawkes hasn’t given up on the idea of the superstar sprinter making it on the world stage.

The stable cancelled Chautauqua’s trip to contest the Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin after the gelding suffered a minor injury in a shock defeat to Delectation in the Group 1 Darley Classic but co-trainer Wayne Hawkes says they have their sights set on other overseas targets mid-year.

“There is a race in Hong Kong in May, there’s a little race in Ascot in June,” Hawkes told Racing.com’s Racing Ahead on RSN.

“He’s had his needles and everything to go to Hong Kong, so he’s fully ready to go, so there’s certainly the chance he could go to Hong Kong in May and then onto England in June.”

According to Hawkes, Chautauqua has made a quick and full recovery: “I saw him two weeks after he was in the paddock, probably three weeks, and he had ballooned, so he’d done tremendously well.”

Plans for his autumn campaign are not yet set, however, the chance to go back-to-back in the T J Smith Stakes at Randwick in April is likely to prove too tempting.

“We haven’t really decided where he is going to kick off (but) he’s definitely going to be trying to go back-to-back TJ’s,” Hawkes said.

Unfortunately for Chautauqua’s Victorian fans they are unlikely to see him this autumn.

“The Lightning will come too quick probably ... stats and figures will tell you it’s a pretty hard thing to do, win a Newmarket first-up,” he said.

“He might not even have another run in Melbourne, he might run in Sydney first-up and then go to the T J ... bring him through an easier race and then take on the big boys.”