Long-serving Australian handicapper Greg Carpenter believes the performance of Chautauqua (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) at Randwick last Saturday will maintain his position as the finest sprinter on the planet.
The Hawkes family's speedball was confirmed as the joint-best in the sprint division alongside Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) with a rating of 122 at the 2016 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, having collected a sequence of Group 1 wins.
At The Championships, Chautauqua bounced back after three straight defeats this year, including to Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) in the G1 George Ryder S. to beat English (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) by a head in the Darley T J Smith S. It was the 6-year-old's third consecutive victory in the race.
Carpenter, who is Racing Victoria's executive general manager of racing, said: “For a horse to come back and win that race for the third year in a row is amazing and puts him in the realms of three-time Cox Plate winner Kingston Town (Aus) and Melbourne Cup champion Makybe Diva (GB),” Carpenter said.
“Last year he was the equal-best sprinter in the world with Limato, the English sprinter, at 122, and the previous year he had a rating of 123 and again at 122 in 2014.
“Mathematically, Chautauqua comes out of Saturday with at least a rating of 120 but the manner of the performance was enormous so I wouldn't be surprised if he was put up to the same mark as last year on 122.”
Speaking to racing.com, Carpenter said he was also impressed with the victory of Jon Snow (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) in the Australian Derby.
“That was the fourth ATC Derby that Murray Baker has won in the last decade and I'll be looking forward to Jon Snow coming to Melbourne in the spring and hopefully running in a race like the Caulfield Cup,” he said.
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