Chautauqua to deal with top weight in Newmarket Handicap
STAR sprinter Chautauqua heads the weights for the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap with 58kg.
Chautauqua finished second to Brazen Beau in the race a year ago with 55.5kg, but has since won three weight-for-age group 1 sprints – the TJ Smith Stakes, Manikato Stakes and the Lightning Stakes.
He would become the fourth horse in the past 50 years to carry 58kg or more to win the Newmarket.
Hay List carried 58.5kg to win in 2012, a year after champion mare Black Caviar won with 58kg, while Shaftsbury Avenue carried the same weight to victory in 1991.
Terravista, who Chautauqua chased down for a narrow Lightning Stakes win, has been given 56.5kg, while Oakleigh Plate-winner Flamberge and the Chris Waller-trained Darley Classic winner, Delectation, have 56kg.
Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Japonisme, one of eight three-year-olds still among the 23 entries for the 1200m straight-track sprint, has 52.5kg.