After placing in all of his first four starts of the season, Waikato Stud’s sensational sprinter I Wish I Win returned to the top of the podium in Saturday’s Gr.1 EVA Air Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm.
It was the seventh win of a remarkable 21-start career for the Savabeel gelding, who has now earned more than A$11.8m in prize-money. His previous triumphs included last year’s Gr.1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick, along with the A$10m Golden Eagle (1500m).
Before Saturday’s breakthrough, I Wish I Win’s five-year-old season had featured a third in the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m), second in the A$20m The Everest (1200m), third in the TJ Smith Stakes and second in the Gr.1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m).
I Wish I Win’s inside gate worked against him in the Doomben 10,000 and he was upstaged by star mare Bella Nipotina, who was among the opposition again on Saturday. Despite drawing the inside gate again, this time I Wish I Win emphatically turned the tables.
I Wish I Win was reunited on Saturday with his TJ Smith and Golden Eagle-winning jockey Luke Nolen, who took up a position in sixth along the rail as Uncommon James set the pace.
Nolen moved away from the fence coming up to the home turn, and he presented I Wish I Win on the outside of the favourite Think About It at the top of the straight.
I Wish I Win accelerated sharply and burst into contention, with Bella Nipotina chiming in closer to the inside. The Doomben 10,000 first and second placegetters went to war again through the final 200m, with I Wish I Win edging ahead this time to beat a gallant Bella Nipotina by a neck.
I Wish I Win is trained by his part-owner Peter Moody along with Katherine Coleman, who joined him in a training partnership at the beginning of this season. The Kingsford-Smith Cup was Coleman’s third Group One victory, but the first she has witnessed in person.
“I haven’t been on course for the other Group One wins, so this is incredibly special,” she said. “We’ve got the whole crew here today and it’s just amazing.
“There was plenty of confidence in the horse today, but he was going to need a good ride from barrier one. We needed a bit of magic from Luke, and he provided that. I’m so thrilled for Luke as well – he worked very hard to get back on this horse, and that adds another layer to this win.
“Everything has been super with this horse since the Doomben 10,000. I was so happy when I saw him today. He looked incredible. Huge credit to the team that’s been up here in Brisbane looking after him. The horses have been staying at Desleigh Forster’s stable, and she’s been a big help as well.”
The Kingsford-Smith Cup is likely to bring the curtain down on I Wish I Win’s season.
“I’d say he’d have a little break now and then we’ll prep him for the spring,” Coleman said. “Another shot at The Everest is the plan.”
Nolen was delighted to regain the mount on I Wish I Win, who he has ridden to four wins and four placings from nine previous mounts. He missed the ride in this year’s TJ Smith Stakes due to injury and was replaced by James McDonald, who then retained the mount for the Doomben 10,000. McDonald was absent this week due to commitments in Japan, which allowed Nolen to put the green, blue and white Waikato Stud colours back on.
“I’m just really grateful for the privilege of being back on this horse,” Nolen said. “Obviously I’ve done a lot on him previously, so I was a bit disappointed to be taken off, but we made amends today.
“The race worked out pretty well. He can get a bit stirred up in amongst horses, but today he showed a bit of grit.
“We gained a run outside the leader in the straight. I knew we could finish over them, but two weeks between runs isn’t his usual style. He was only tradesman like today, and on softer ground as well. On top of the ground, I don’t think they would have seen which way he went.”
I Wish I Win began his career in the Matamata stable of Jamie Richards, for whom he won two of his nine starts, along with Group One placings behind On The Bubbles in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and behind Imperatriz and On The Bubbles in the Levin Classic (1600m).
I Wish I Win is out of the Pins mare Make A Wish, whose five winners from seven foals to race also include the well-performed Another Dollar. That daughter of Ocean Park won five races including the Gr.3 Premier’s Cup (2200m) and Listed Gosford Gold Cup (2000m), while her seven black-type placings included a second in the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m).
Make A Wish had two further foals after I Wish I Win. A colt by Ocean Park was born in 2021 and was bought by Moody Racing for $375,000 at Karaka last year, while a filly by Super Seth followed in the spring of 2022.