OK, it happened again! That makes 5 times out of 6 trials where The Grey Flash has refused to jump out of the barriers. If you watched this morning’s trial, you would have seen a horse that wasn’t being fractious in the barriers, wasn’t lashing out, but was clearly not happy. Chautauqua was weaving his head from side to side, Tommy Berry was trying to get him to settle and focus, and the gelding simply wasn’t having any of it! Eventually, Tommy got him to walk out of the barriers, clicked him up and, at least technically, completed the trial. He stretched out, ran time, and obviously still likes to run. He just doesn’t want to jump and race!
And that raises a real dilemma for the racing authorities. The dilemma is this – who should make the decision about Chautauqua’s racing future? The connections or the stewards?
Tommy Berry obviously wanted to show the world that The Grey Flash can still flash. That’s all good, but his refusal to jump makes that fact a bit redundant, wouldn’t you say? Even at his best, Chautauqua couldn’t have given, say, an Everest field, a couple of hundred metres start! So, Chautauqua’s connections have to either find a miracle cure to his barrier woes – and quickly – or take the call to either admit defeat and retire a horse that has collected them north of $8.8 million, or to continue with ever more unusual attempts to get his head right. There’s even been a rumour that Monty Roberts, the so-called horse whisperer, might be an option. Please don’t let me start on that one!
I used The Everest example intentionally. Time is on the wing, and Chautauqua is still In The Everest. So, if his barrier problem can be solved, and that is now a huge “if”, the probability is that he would be going into The Everest first-up. Big call! Who should make it?
After this morning’s abortive trial, Racing NSW Stewards have indicated that they need to consider the overall position. What that means is that they are considering stepping in, and taking the decision about Chautauqua’s future out of the hands of the connections. That’s not an unprecedented move. Stewards have banned barrier rogues before. But The Grey Flash isn’t a true barrier rogue. He will go in, he just won’t come out!
Chautauqua’s connections may well want to persevere, but is perseverance in the best interests of racing? Is it in the best interests of the horse? Or is it just in the best interests of the connections?
OK, here’s an opinion – it’s now time for stewards to take charge. It is simply untenable that, some 9 weeks out from The Everest, that we have a contender in the showpiece race that won’t race. The fact that it is Chautauqua should be irrelevant. Yes, he is a cult figure, but he’s now a cult figure for some of the wrong reasons. To allow connections to continue to run an open-ended programme aimed at getting the horse into The Everest, a programme that can’t have a clear pathway, is simply wrong. It’s time for clarity, realism and a set of gonads.
Chautauqua’s connections have to be given an ultimatum by stewards in the best interests of racing. Perhaps it could be that the horse gets one more chance to jump in a trial in the next week or so. If he jumps, he gets another chance, maybe a week later. If he jumps again, another one – until he fails to jump. The next failure pulls the pin, and The Grey Flash doesn’t race again.
Doing it this way would allow Chautauqua to continue in training pending the final call, whichever way it goes. True, it’s an unusual training regime, but the trials don’t need to be “full on” trials, every time. He just needs to show that he is willing to jump. Doing it this way would mean that connections could not claim that they haven’t been given a fair go. The alternative is to run the risk of having a starter in The Everest that, most likely on current knowledge, will stay in the stalls. Not a good look for Australian racing!
The last word to connections is obvious – $8.8 million plus! People, how much more do you need?
By Rob Young
