No one is more excited about I Wish I Win’s Newmarket Handicap involvement than Mark Chittick, but the Waikato Stud boss is not getting ahead of himself.
It won’t be the first time the Chittick family has had the favourite for Australia’s most famous sprint race.
O’Reilly was the 11/4 popular elect in the 1997 edition but suffered a suspensory injury that ended his career after just six starts.
“For me, the Newmarket doesn’t bring the best of memories,” Chittick said.
“O’Reilly came over and ran second to Mouawad in the Australian Guineas and Dave O’Sullivan, who trained him, always thought the shorter distance would be better race for him, so we ran him in the Newmarket, but he broke down halfway down the straight.
“We only just managed to save him because of the damage he had done and the rest is history with him, but hopefully we have a bit more luck this weekend.”
O’Reilly went on to become one of New Zealand’s great sires, but there is no such post-racing option for I Wish I Wish, who was gelded before he hit the racetrack.
The fact he even made the racetrack is an achievement.
The son of Savabeel and the Pins mare Make A Wish was born with a severely offset near foreleg, which meant he was not a viable option to be put through the sale ring.
Waikato would come to lament that after his older brother, who raced as No Limits, sold for NZ$1.4 million at Karaka a few months after I Wish I Win was born.
But having to keep him proved a blessing. I Wish I Wish was just left to grow out and once his leg started to correct itself, he was given his shot at becoming a racehorse.
“At the end of the day, it was just a matter of put racing out of our minds with him and taking it one step at a time,” Chittick said.
“But every hurdle we’ve put in front of him, he’s jumped it with ease. We’ve kept an eye on things at the end of each prep, with X-rays and all that, but he’s a totally sound horse and is as good as gold.”
I Wish I Win demonstrated he had attributes to override the legs issues in New Zealand, where he had nine starts for two wins and six placings, two of which came at the highest level, but he has gone to another level since joining the Peter Moody stable midway through last year.
He has won three races in Australia, including the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) last spring.
But it was his first-up second in the Black Caviar Lightning, when he peeled off a 31.64-second last 600m and 21.17-second last 400m to come from last and be beaten just a long-neck, that announced him as a Newmarket contender.
In the process, he backed Moody’s belief that he had what it took to be a star sprinter.
“When we had a yarn about where we might go next while he was spelling, Peter said, ‘you might think I’m mad, but I want to throw into consideration the sprint races’,” Chittick said.
“I said, ‘I don’t think you’re mad at all, not the way he exploded in that Golden Eagle’, and was very open-minded to having a crack at it.
“He’s a gelding, he’s already won a highlight race, so for us it’s now just about having a hell of a lot of fun.”
I Wish I Win will be racing for more than just Chittick’s share of the winner’s purse, with victory set to be yet another accolade for Waikato Stud’s superstar resident stallion Savabeel.
The son of Zabeel has sired 28 individual Group 1 winners, including Probabeel, Lucia Valentina, Mo’Unga, Sangster and seven-time Kiwi Group 1 winner Kawi, but never has he had one in a 1200-metre race as prestigious as the Newmarket Handicap.
“To have a horse like this racing in the top-class sprints is incredible,” Chittick said.
“For Savabeel to be able to get what might be a top-class sprinter out of a Pins mare is quite intriguing.
“It shows the versatility of the stallion and the versatility of the horse full stop.”
