Jockey Brenton Avdulla has picked-up the plum ride aboard the Team Hawkes-trained favourite Chautauqua in next month’s 2017 The Everest. 

Brenton Avdulla will take the ride on Chautauqua in The Everest. Photo: Steve Hart

The $10 million weight-for-age Restricted The Everest race runs for the first time on October 14 at Royal Randwick Racecourse and the 1200m sprint is now the world’s richest turf race.  

Futures The Everest betting at Ladbrokes.com.au have the Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes-trained Chautauqua as the $4.80 favourite.  

The now seven-year-old Encosta De Lago seven-year-old is an international Group 1 winner and also holds the record for three straight TJ Smith Stakes victories over the 1200m at Randwick.  

He hasn’t raced since winning that autumn Group 1 in the went on April 1 and is down to resume racing on September 16 returning to Randwick for the Group 2 $200,000 The Shorts (1100m).  

In The Everest field Chautauqua fills the slot for co-owner Greg Ingham’s GPI Racing and it has now been confirmed Avdulla will be aboard the champion.  

“Happy to have Brenton on,” part-owner Rupert Legh told the Herald Sun this week.  

Dwayne Dunn and most recently Tommy Berry have been the regular riders of Chautauqua in past campaigns.  

They both have commitments at the Hong Kong Jockey Club meeting (Berry) and Melbourne’s Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas Day (Dunn) on the same date as The Everest however, ruling them out for the lucrative clash in Sydney.  

Avdulla is yet to partner the horse, a winner of over $8.3 million in career prize money, under race conditions but has partnered the evergreen veteran for his two latest trials.  

“He’s familiar with the horse, having been on him at two recent trials, and he seemed the obvious choice,” Legh said.  

Avdulla is also locked-in to ride Chautauqua first-up in The Shorts Saturday week, where Legh is expecting a dominant performance based on the grey’s cruisy heats.  

“He’s been great in both trials, really full of life,” he said.  

Sydney-based Hugh Bowman was also offered The Everest mount on Chautauqua but could not commit as his loyalties lie firmly with superstar mare Winx and wherever she is racing.  

Outside of Chautauqua the other top fancies in The Everest betting are Lindsay Park’s Memsie Stakes winner Vega Magic ($5) and the Gary Portelli-trained Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign ($6).  

The other three-year-old filly guaranteed a slot in the race is the Toby Edmonds-trained Houtzen ($11).  

The Queenslander suffered her only loss to date when fifth in the mud at Rosehill on March 18 behind She Will Reign in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m). 

The Magic Millions Classic winning daughter of I Am Invincible returns to the races on the weekend taking on The Galaxy winner Russian Revolution in the Group 2 Mitty’s McEwen Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley. 

To get behind The Everest 2017 contenders in their spring lead-up races and in futures markets for the October 14 feature head to Ladbrokes.com.au.  

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