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| Staff Writer |
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Waikato Stud has established a remarkable reputation in the 50+ years it has been in business. One of the top producers of bloodstock found anywhere in the world, they have won over 80 Group One races. Now in the hands of Mark Chittick, the stud has a massive shot at Everest glory this October with I Wish I Win.
It has all the hallmarks of a story that Hollywood producers would fall over themselves to get the rights to. The ugly duckling of a supermodel sibling who proved to be the superior on the track, taking on some of the best in the world and not only beating them at their own game but hammering them!
The full brother to I Wish I Win had gone through the sales ring a year before, making 1.4 million, and by all accounts from Chittick, was “a beautiful colt”, though things did not look the same when a repeat mating came a year down the line.
“He (I Wish I Win) was very deviated from the knee…there was a hell of a deviation. One leg turned out more or less at right angles.” The colt dubbed Forrest Gump due to his poor conformation had more problems than most as a foal.
“We're not big believers in intervening too much with young foals, with surgery, et cetera. But we did put a little bit of an extension on his foot. But with that weight coming down through his front end, it soon became apparent that anything we were trying to do was affecting the shape of his hoof at such a young age. We took that off pretty quickly within a few days or a week, and we just let him develop as he was basically.”
From an inauspicious start to life, I Wish I Win quickly showed an attitude that most owners and breeders could only dream of - a will to live and a wish to go as fast as his crooked legs would take him. After being gelded at 12 months, he began his career in New Zealand and quickly became a very smart type on the track.
Winning his first start in a maiden at Awapuni by four lengths, he was quickly upped in class and placed in a couple of Group One contests before joining Peter Moody's stable. “Peter and I have been mates and done bits and pieces of horse business for years and years. After his three-year-old career here in New Zealand, we just sort of thought that there was, let's say, more opportunity in Australia for him.”
His first start in Australia was a 1400m handicap at Caulfield, which he won with embarrassing ease, landing the Golden Eagle on just his fourth start for Moody in October 2022. I Wish I Win has had one race at Randwick over the same 1200m distance that he will contest in The Everest, and it is fair to say it was the best run of his life so far.
That came in the Gr.1 TJ Smith at the start of April, the last time I Wish I Win has been seen in race action on the track. It is a race that one feels Chittick will remember daily for the rest of his life.
“He is coming into the straight, and he was last with the best sprinters that are around in this part of the world, and he has just gone past them all. Giving the likes of Giga Kick two kilos on that day, and he has just gone past them as he has liked!”
It indeed was a remarkable performance. The general thinking is that ground is hard to make up on a heavy 9 surface, so to turn into the straight with 400m to go and with every rival to pass, it looked like a challenging task even for a horse who loves to come late.
Even as they hit the 200m mark, there were still four horses ahead of him and about three lengths to make up on the leader. Not only did he make them up, but he also won going away by a little over half a length, giving the impression that he had done it with a bit in hand.
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The plan for his campaign this spring looks firmly set in connections' minds already. “ He has had a couple of nice little trials the last couple of weeks, and he has still got a bit of improvement to go fitness-wise, condition-wise, and also in his coat, but Peter is looking at running him in the Memsie first up.”
That is on the 2nd of September at Caulfield over 1400m. “The plan is to go into The Everest off the back of that, so really only one run. I quite like that idea of running over 1400m and then coming back fresh to 1200m.”
His Golden Eagle win was on a good 4 surface, so I Wish I Win has no strong ground preferences, and given his come-from-behind style, the draw will not be any concern to connections in The Everest no matter what barrier he starts from in October.
A strong pace for him to run at is the first condition he needs to be seen at his best - the harder they go in front, the more he will like it. With a pedigree that shouts longer trips than sprints, he is a bit of a freak of nature in more than one sense to go along with his crooked legs.
To even have a runner in The Everest would be something special for Chittick, “It is very exciting. I wake up every morning pinching myself, trying to understand if this is really happening?” To end up having the winner with his Forrest Gump of a gelding - would be priceless.
By Scott McGlynn