Australian Group 1-winning sprinter Chautauqua (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) may have had a planned trip to Hong Kong's International meeting in December thwarted by injury, but the 5-year-old gelding looks likely to still get his chance on the world stage this year.
Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes told Racing.com the grey, who is soon to return to his stables from a spell, would aim towards a title defense of the A$2.5 million G1 TJ Smith S. at The Championships in April before a possible tilt at Hong Kong's G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize May 1, with a potential trip to Royal Ascot also on the agenda.
“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,” Hawkes told the site. “I saw him two weeks after he was in the paddock, probably three weeks, and he had ballooned, so he'd done tremendously well.”
Hawkes said a first-up target hadn't been determined for Chautauqua, saying the Feb. 20 G1 Lightning S. would likely come too soon, and citing the difficulty of winning the G1 Newmarket H. first-up. That race is Mar. 12.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
