The punters pick for the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) at Flemington Racecourse delivered on Saturday as Hawkes Racing’s Chautauqua cruised home to an easy victory.

The gelding didn’t jump out of gate one well, and had to settle behind race leaders Bounding and Temple Of Boom.

But he remained on the inside track which gave him a clear line following his famous turn of foot. So with 400m to go, Dwayne Dunn led the four-year-old out in front and in no time he was the clear winner.

He crossed the line four lengths clear of Bounding, while $101 bet Final Crescendo beat the line home into third.

It was the type of performance you’d expect from a maiden, but definitely not a Group race.

Jockey Dunn had nothing but praise for the sprint star following the race.

“He’s a serious horse, he just ambled up today,” Dunn said directly after the race.

“He can run out to 1800m if he has to but he’s pretty efficient down the straight.”

“Today’s attitude was great, he handled himself really well.”

The four-year-old’s attitude will only improve from here and we can expect Chautauqua to be stepped up in grade following the win, possibly towards the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (1600m), trainer Wayne Hawkes said.

“As a trainer, you don’t get the luxury with 400m to go to put the cue in the rack and smoke the pipe,” Hawkes said after the race.

“It was just good fun to stand back and actually watch him unfold and quicken up the way he did, it was great.”

Speaking about a possible tilt towards the Emirates, Hawkes said: “we’re not going to decide whether to keep him on the straight race or run him in a race like the Emirates [just yet], he’s a fairly adaptable sort of horse.

“It was a really, really good effort today, that was his best win and he’s had a few good ones so far.

“His attitude and mindset have brought him around, he’s been absolutely on song.

“We never pushed him early because he was high-strung, but the owners all left us alone and said do what you want and the penny has really dropped this campaign.

“He went down [the track] like an old timer and he’s only a baby.”

With back to back easy wins at Flemington under his belt, all eyes will be on Chautauqua to see what he can pull out on his next run.

Keen to follow the gelding throughout the rest of spring racing? Open your real money account at Ladbrokes.com.au to get the best odds on all upcoming races.

2014 Gilgai Stakes Results & Finishing Order

Flemington Race 5 – 04/10/2014

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	4	CHAUTAUQUA	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Dwayne Dunn	–	1	56.5kg	$2.80F
2	11	BOUNDING	Ken Kelso	Mark Du Plessis	4L	3	54kg	$4.60
3	8	FINAL CRESCENDO	David Kelly	Craig Newitt	5.75L	2	55kg	$81
4	1	RIVER LAD	Natalie McCall	Damien Oliver	5.85L	5	57kg	$12
5	5	TEMPLE OF BOOM	Tony Gollan	Tegan Harrison	5.95L	4	56kg	$5.50
6	9	IL CAVALLO	Peter G Moody	Luke Nolen	6.45L	11	55kg	$21
7	3	FLAMBERGE	Peter G Moody	Vlad Duric	8.45L	9	56.5kg	$10
8	2	SMOKIN’ JOEY	Wez Hunter	Ben Melham	8.55L	6	57kg	$17
9	6	LIMES	John O’Shea	Steven Arnold	8.75L	8	56kg	$41
10	10	LONGMA	Gai Waterhouse	Jim Cassidy	16.75L	10	55kg	$26
11	7	ESSAY RAIDER	Leon Macdonald & Andrew Gluyas	Craig Williams	18.75L	7	55kg	$20