Chautauqua up to his tricks again

It’s back to the drawing board for Chautauqua who will need to pass two barrier trials before he is allowed to race again.

The former world’s best sprinter failed to jump out of the gates in four trials during the autumn with Racing NSW stewards determining he had to trial twice before regaining his ticket to race.

Chautauqua was rested for the autumn carnival and gave connections renewed hope when he behaved impeccably at a Flemington jump-out last Friday week.

With half the job completed he went to Rosehill on Monday morning for his next test in a star-studded heat featuring Winx and other Group One winners.

The worst happened and as the grey leaned back against the gate, jockey Tommy Berry knew he wasn’t coming out.

Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel said he had contacted senior training partner John Hawkes who said no decision had yet been made on the sprinter’s future.

Stewards then advised Hawkes the horse must trial satisfactorily on two consecutive occasions to be reinstated to race.

Hawkes said if connections decide to race him again it may be out of the team’s Melbourne stable.

After consulting with Racing Victoria stewards, the NSW panel agreed one of the trials could again be a jump-out but the other must be an official trial.

Chautauqua has won 13 of his 32 starts and more than $8.8 million prize money.

His wins include three TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick and the prestigious Chairman’s Sprint at Sha Tin in Hong Kong in 2016.