Living in contented retirement for the past three years, Coolmore's champion stallion Encosta de Lago is set for the mother of all paydays when Chautauqua and English step out for Saturday's $10 million TAB The Everest (1200m) at Randwick.
With the $5.5 million winner's cheque, crowd favourite Chautauqua will bring the stands down if he comes with his patented finishing burst to land the first running of the world's richest race on turf.
Trained by Team Hawkes, Chautauqua will volt past Winx on earnings should he win.
The 5-time Group I winning grey has banked $8,376,935 to date, which will rocket to $13.88 million should he be successful, which is $100,000 more than Winx and second only to the $14.5 million earned by 3-time Melbourne Cup heroine Makybe Diva.
Newhaven Park homebred English has just one win at the highest level, which came in the All Aged Stakes, while she has a pair of victories in the Group II Challenge Stakes over Saturday's course and distance.
The Gai and
The Encosta de Lago connection does not end there.
Race favourite She will Reign is a daughter of Encosta de Lago's Group I winning son Manhattan Rain.
A 3yo filly, She Will Reigns earnings will rocket to $8.36 million from just seven starts, a pretty handy return on her purchase price of $20,000 by Darby Racing.
