While many of his sprinting rivals are set for a racing return in Saturday’s Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) down the Flemington straight, I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel) is slowly and quietly building out of the limelight at Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman’s Pakenham base.
Not seen publicly since running a gallant second in The Everest at Randwick last October, the five-year-old gelding has no race target this autumn, with his entire campaign to be shaped around being in pristine nick for another crack at the lucrative slot race in October.
“He’s in good order, he’s probably ready to have his first gallop of the prep next week, been building well, been doing a lot of work on the back track here at Pakenham over the last month or so and he’s coming to hand nicely,” Moody said.
“We gave him a nice break because he hadn’t had one since he’d been over here in Australia and he really enjoyed that time away, long, slow build-up.
“When and where we kick him off, I’m not sure, but that’s the beauty of owning and managing them yourself, you can make those decisions and have no outside pressure.
“Haven’t even mapped anything out, the William Reid is towards the end of March, the T.J. Smith is early April – plenty of races for him so we’ll just let him guide a path.
“That’s (Everest) his sole target, whether he has two, three, four runs, whatever between now and then, the Everest – we want to be there in October.”
A Golden Eagle winner over 1500m, Moody admits he still isn’t sure exactly what I Wish I Win’s best distance is but says he feels obliged to stick to sprinting trips, at least for the time being.
“I think he’d go good up at a mile but when they’re putting up $20 million for 1200m, you aim it at 1200m don’t you?” Moody joked.
“It’s easy and enjoyable because he’s owned by a mate of mine and myself and there’s no outward pressure, like I say, so that does make it very easy.
“When we say we sit back and let the horse dictate his path, that’s what we do.”