Horse racing: I Wish I Win pitched a race curveball

I Wish I Win in fine form.

The connections of Kiwi galloping star I Wish I Win have been pitched a radical curveball as he starts his campaign to the A$20 million Everest.

I Wish I Win resumes in the A$750,000 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield tomorrow, a race dripping in New Zealand angles with Cambridge galloper Aegon there as well as Mr Brightside, who started his career here and is seen as the biggest danger to favourite.

Add in the very Australian warhorse Alligator Blood and the Memsie will be a key pointer to some of Australia’s biggest sprints, miles and even up to the Cox Plate distance of 2040m in coming months.

But most eyes will be on I Wish I Win, whose ascension in the last 12 months has been remarkable as he went from unheralded New Zealander to winner of the A$10m Golden Eagle and $3m T J Smith, beating last season’s Everest winner Giga Kick. While his breeding and connection to Waikato Stud’s popular owner, Mark Chittick, would be enough to have many New Zealand racing fans cheering on I Wish I Win, he is now officially the first Kiwi rep in the Everest as he will race in the TAB Trackside slot purchased by the TAB and Entain, who are throwing plenty of promotional weight behind his campaign.

But a shock detour on the road to the Everest was proposed this week by the Cranbourne club who have contacted the connections of both I Wish I Win and Giga Kick about a match race that could be worth as much as A$750,000.

The club wanted to put the two stars head to head over 1200m as the centrepiece of a carnival-like, one-race meeting accompanied by bands, live AFL coverage and hospitality on September 22.

While the race would have had tremendous novelty value, I Wish I Win’s majority owner Chittick has said he isn’t keen after the Giga Kick team announced they were.

Match races were not uncommon last century involving some of the most famous horses, the last big drawcard in this part of the world being between Let’s Elope and Bettor Loosen Up at Caulfield in 1992, won by Let’s Elope.

They are almost unheard of these days, but with I Wish I Win and Giga Kick likely to need a strong workout that week, a 1200m match race on that date could have fitted into their training programmes.

While the match race idea may have been short-lived, tomorrow’s Memsie is very much on and trainer Peter Moody admits barrier 1 for his stable star concerns him. He says while I Wish I Win’s winter coat is slowly coming away, he is fit enough to race well tomorrow.

“But that draw could make things tricky. I can see him getting locked away back on the inside as the other top chances get in front of him so we will need some luck.”