News

Chautauqua Dazzles At The Valley

5th Sep 2015

World class sprinter Chautauqua was asked plenty of questions at his first ever start over 1000m and first look around Moonee Valley today, but the grey flash showed why people flock to racecourses to see him with a dazzling victory in the Group 2 MVRC Ian McEwen Stakes.

Chautauqua was the cherry atop a strong day of results for Inglis graduates across Australia on Saturday that also featured black-type victories for Metallic Crown and Fell Swoop.

Chautauqua (Encosta de Lago x Lovely Jubly) showed he is on track for Australia and Hong Kong’s biggest sprints later this year coming from eight lengths off the leaders to dash away with today’s feature sprint in Melbourne in 58.23 seconds under jockey Dwayne Dunn.

“He wasn’t where you’d want to be, but Dwayne knew he was on the best horse and rode him accordingly. In the end it was a bit of barrier trial,” said co-trainer Wayne Hawkes after the win.

“He’s very relaxed and has been very pushbutton. We need good horses on the racetrack, it’s what people come to see and he’s a good horse,” added Hawkes.

The Group 2 victory took Chautauqua’s earnings past $2,500,000, a long way from his reserve price of $400,000 when the son of Encosta de Lago was offered by Berkeley Park Stud at the 2012 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

Chautauqua has won seven of his 15 career races. Other Inglis graduates to push their winning strike rate to 78% and 50% respectively today were Fell Swoop and Metallic Crown.

The Matt Dale trained Fell Swoop (Not a Single Doubt x Touched in Flight) extended his outstanding record to seven wins from nine starts when winning the Listed MVRC Cup Club Stakes over 1200m at Moonee Valley.

The four-year-old has been astutely placed by his Canberra based trainer, who feels today’s victory could be the first of many at black-type level saying “nothing went right today, but to overcome it shows he’s a good horse. I thought if he could win today it would stamp him as a genuine Group class horse and that’s what he did.”

Fell Swoop was purchased by Matt Dale for $45,000 from the draft of Dartbrook Downs at the 2013 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and is raced by a big ownership group that would be excited to hear Matt add “in the future a race like the [Group 1 ] Oakleigh Plate in the Autumn is an aim.”

Three-year-old colt Metallic Crown (Northern Meteor x Pegasus Queen) led home an Inglis first four in the Group 3 Tatt's NSW Ming Dynasty Handicap over 1400m, finishing ahead of Tatoosh, Kimberley Star and Cannyescent.

A $190,000 purchase from the draft of Luskin Park Stud at the 2014 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Metallic Crown led all the way to score at Group level at just his fourth career start, in just his first racing preparation for trainer Chris Waller and owners Ingham Racing.

“The Northern Meteor’s are just great horses that keep improving, especially a nice colt like him, who has plenty of similarities with a horse like Zoustar on type,” said Waller.