Winx Great, Chautauqua Not So

[Wandering Eyes]

Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) pleased connections in a routine but high quality barrier trial at Rosehill on Monday morning. Hugh Bowman was on board as usual in the 900m heat and he settled the great mare in rear and came up the straight on the bridle passing the post seventh of the nine runners as G1 Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) lead them home. There ought to have been ten starters in the trial but the six-time Group 1 winning Chautauqua (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) was up to his old tricks again and refused to jump out of the stalls. For team Winx it was a very satisfactory morning and Chris Waller can sense no diminution of the mare’s powers as he builds her up for a spring campaign. “I’m just looking for a happy horse and I do see it,” he told Racing.com. “It was good to see her get on her toes this morning before the trial and know she was alive, she knows when to switch on in terms of getting on her toes. Even when Hughie gave her a little squeeze at the hundred, she just started to charge through the line and pulling up she was ready to go another lap. Obviously she didn’t figure in the first three but that was never the plan, the plan was to get around safely.” All roads now lead to Winx bidding for a 26^th consecutive win in a race named in her honour. “We still have a bit of fine-tuning to do with Winx. She will have another trial in a couple of weeks and then race in the [G1] Winx Stakes on the 18th of August. After that she will go to the George Main and then we’ll decide whether she stays in Sydney or heads to Melbourne,” Waller added.

Team Hawkes and jockey Tommy Berry meanwhile experienced the other end of the emotional scale with their talented but super frustrating gelding and it must be very doubtful now if we ever see Chautauqua line up competitively again as he now must jump out in normal fashion in two barrier trials before being allowed to take part in a race.”I’ve reached the highest of highs on the horse, so when he didn’t jump it was heartbreaking,” Berry told Racing.com. 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.” Despite his antics co-trainer Wayne Hawkes hasn’t lost hope about getting the grey’s head back in the game and regardless of his current behaviour Chautauqua is still the golden boy in the Hawkes’ household. “You know what, I still love him. Six Group 1s, he’s given the owners A$8m, he’s given my family the greatest thrills, so I love him to bits,” he said proudly.

 

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