Much was made of I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel) drawing barrier one in The Everest last year and the star sprinter will need to overcome the same potential issue in Saturday’s Gr.1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m).
The five-year-old gelding has only been seen once since then, beaten a neck in the Gr.1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) to stablemate Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun), but Katherine Coleman, who trains in partnership with Peter Moody, says the horse hits this fresh and ready to fire.
“He travelled up last Wednesday. He settled in really well, we’re really happy with him. Couldn’t be happier heading into Doomben,” Coleman said.
“We were just taking it run by run, but it was always a plan to head to Queensland for something. There are a few options but we’ll just get through this run and go from there.”
The difficult decision was made to keep James Mcdonald aboard after he rode the horse first up rather than switch back to regular rider Luke Nolen, but like the horse’s program, Coleman says the stable are flexible when it comes to jockeys.
“Obviously James rode the horse first up, he’s got a good connection with Mark Chittick at Waikato Stud so they were keen to keep him on the horse (but) again, it’s run by run, James has a lot of other commitments to other stable so nothing’s set in stone.”
Regardless of who’s aboard, I Wish I Win is comfortably the highest rated horse in the field, and barrier notwithstanding, Coleman is very confident heading into the A$1.5 million feature.
“I think it’s going to take a very, very good horse to beat him.”
