Stubborn as a mule: the champion racehorse that went on strike

First conversation with Rupert Legh, managing owner of a horse called Chautauqua. What is the horse up to now? “Learning not to be a dickhead.”Why would a man who cares about animals say that? A mixture of frustration, bemusement and unrequited love. Chautauqua was a racehorse, you see. A successful one. “A very special, once-in-a-lifetime horse,” Legh says. The Grey Flash. The Thunder Down Under. The world’s best sprinter, some said. He won close to $9 million in prize money.

Berry coaxed the big grey into a gentle canter and rode him back towards the main grandstand. “The roar from the crowd was amazing,” he says. “I’d never heard anything like it. There was just so much raw emotion. People knew what this trial meant. It was quite an emotional experience for everyone. He didn’t jump, but to be able to take him back down the straight for a farewell … Winx overshadowed him in the racing world, but people loved the grey. I never knew how much until that night.

“But watching them go out I’ve thought, ‘Nah, he’s not going to jump.’ He’s got that look: ‘I’m in charge here, not you. I’ll do what I want to do.’ ”With characteristic stubbornness, Chautauqua failed to start a number of times during his racing career.Imagine surfer Stephanie Gilmore not advancing into the waves. Swimmer Cate Campbell stationary on a starting block. Ben Simmons on the bench, ignoring pleas from a coach to get into the basketball game.

No wonder some racehorses play up. Peter Pan, winner of two Melbourne Cups in the 1930s, was described as being “prone to fits of madcap behaviour and coltish frolicking”. Aquanita “would savage other horses when the mood took him”. Pravda, a well-regarded stayer from New Zealand, qualified for the 2000 Melbourne Cup. All went well until the jockey tried to ride her to the start. Pravda wouldn’t budge.

Clarke, who has an interest in horse behaviour and training, and attends to all animals at the property, says that at nine years of age, the big grey is still relatively young and really should be kept active. He’s a long way off retirement: Chautauqua had only 32 starts, fewer than most of the 25 horses in Clarke’s care.

“Well, no. Because if he was being cruelly treated, he wouldn’t have raced so successfully over many seasons. Then there’s the variation of that: ‘He doesn’t want to do it any more because he’s in pain.’ Well, look at him cantering along.”White, not red. The horse’s humans surrendered. And they did so with gratitude for all he had achieved. He did what he did, and now he was done. At the track, Michael Hawkes offered a rueful smile. The champion sprinter had beaten them all.

Punters I’ll always love him

Great Story... Hope He is now a Happy & Loved Horse...

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