Master horseman John Hawkes looks at Chautauqua and admits there might be a bit of him in the champion sprinter.

The seven-year-old is a creature of habit who likes routine around the stables. Hawkes is similar: he loves working in the stable with his family (sons Michael and Wayne are co-trainers) and is particular about his horses.

"He is just a real, real quirky horse. I'm quirky enough but he is worse than me," Hawkes said. "He is a really quirky horse. People don't understand what he is.

"They see him raceday and see what he does but that's not his full story, that is just a small part of it.

"He loves his routine and if you break it he can just space out and does what he wants to do."

Hawkes is more famous for not being at the races, but his record when the master of Crown Lodge was remarkable and his ability to get the best out of a horse is legendary. He left that job to train with his sons and Chautauqua has been their best horse.

A dozen wins, six group 1s. He is pretty special.

But it has been the challenge of Chautauqua that Hawkes and his sons have relished; getting him to show his talent.

"The boys are good horse people and probably do more than me these days," Hawkes said. "We all have had a part in getting him to be the horse he is.

"We have all been a part of getting him to peak for Saturday."

Chautauqua has rewarded them with three TJ Smiths and Hawkes' best moment in racing: Chautauqua's stirring win in the Chairman's Sprint Prize in Hong Kong.

Now he has The Everest to scale with its $10 million pot of gold.

"It is a great concept and it would be great to win," Hawkes said. "But it will take something special to beat Hong Kong.

"It was undoubtedly my proudest moment to see him win there. It was a team effort, everyone played their part.

"It beats anything we did before. There were a lot of problems before the race. He was out of his routine and just berserk and pulled the same shoe twice and we had stacks of people trying to get a saddle on him.

"I was just thinking, 'bloody hell'. Then he comes out and wins in another country."

Hawkes watches a horse walk past and pauses mid-conversation, his mind is ticking about what can make them. Then it is back to the stable star - Chautauqua.

"He gets treated no different to any of the others," Hawkes said. "We love our horses and they are all individuals. For some trainers it is a job; for us, the horses are like family.

"You want to get the best out of them all. For some that is winning a maiden, it is like their Everest."

Chautauqua has a well-established racing pattern that thrills, coming with a booming finish. There are no concerns in Hawkes' mind after a couple of unplaced lead-ups in The Shorts and the Premiere Stakes.

"He is there now, he has had the two runs and is right at the top of his game now," he said. "You just need a bit of luck on the day. It is a really competitive race, it is not a walk in the park.

"It's the old story: backmarkers lose more than they win and on-speeders win more than they lose.

"You can only ride him one way. As I said, he is a really quirky horse in more ways than one but he is very good.

"He is as good as we can get him but will that be good enough?" ???

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