Top Melbourne jockey Dwayne Dunn in keen to put himself back into contention to ride the ‘Grey Flash’ Chautauqua in the $10m The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 14.
Jockey Dwayne Dunn, above, hopes to be considered for the ride on Chautauqua in The Everest at Randwick. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Team Hawkes trained Chautauqua has been installed the $4.80 favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au for the inaugural running of The Everest but the Randwick 1200m specialist is still without a rider.
Chautauqua is the winner six Group 1 races which includes the last three runnings of the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes over the same course and distance as The Everest and was ridden on all three occasions by Tommy Berry.
But Berry has recently taken up an offer to ride in Hong Kong at the beginning of the new racing season and was unable to secure a release from the Hong Kong Jockey Club to ride in Sydney on October 14.
Dunn has also shared the riding on Chautauqua, mainly when he raced in Melbourne, and the pair have combined for six wins together, including a Group 1 victory in the $750,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington during the 2016 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
“Everyone wants to ride him,” Dunn told racing.com.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have ridden him before and hopefully fortunate enough to keep our relationship going.
“Without knowing what is going to transpire, the richest race being The Everest, hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to play a large part in it.”
“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge. Tommy’s (Berry) obviously got to be in Hong Kong but there’s a lot to play out between now and then.”
The Everest is going to clash with the rich Caulfield Guineas Race Day at Caulfield which is going the stretch the availability of the top echelon of jockeys in both Sydney and Melbourne.
“You’ve got Caulfield Guineas Day, which is pretty important as far as building stallions and the Team Hawkes model has been built around that so whether they have got something there and I stay in Melbourne or I can head to Sydney, we’ll wait and see,” Dunn said.
Dunn resumes riding on Wednesday at Bendigo following a careless riding suspension and has one mount for the Hawkes Team, Takemehomemister in the 2yo Handicap (1100m).
Dunn hasn’t ridden since the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Stakes Day at Eagle Farm on May 27 but said that he feels nice and fresh and ready to put in the hard yards again.
“What I’ve found in previous years, I’ve just kept working because there’s always been a nice horse hanging around somewhere that you stay involved with,” Dunn said.
“But this has been enforced and I’m ready to get back and looking forward to it.
“I’m pretty lucky in that my weight doesn’t really fluctuate that much. I’ll probably jump on one on Wednesday and then go into Saturday.
“But it’s (suspension) given my body a chance to get into recovery mode and sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise.”
Dunn’s early bookings for Flemington on Saturday are Wise Hero in the $100,000 Super Vobis Three Year Old Handicap (1100m) and Sunday Escape in the $100,000 Handicap (1100m).
Early market order for the 2017 The Everest at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.80 Chautauqua, $7 She Will Reign, $8 Winx, $11 Caravaggio, Russian Revolution, $13 English, $15 Houtzen, Spieth, Vega Magic, $17 Lady Aurelia, $21 Fell Swoop, $26 Acapulco, Black Heart Bart, Lankan Rupee, Limato, Mecca’s Angel, Redzel, Terravista, $34 or better the rest.
