3 minute read
It’s been almost a decade since Black Caviar retired but the "old firm" of Peter Moody and Luke Nolen were back on top when I Wish I Win handed them their biggest prizemoney cheque taking out the $10 million XXXX Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens.
And for Peter Moody the win was just like a 'second coming', not just for him but for Nolen.
The four-year-old showed a sharp turn of foot to strike the lead halfway down the straight and held the fast finishing Fangirl by a nose with three quarters of a length to Gypsy Goddess in third.
"We have probably both been written off, rightly or wrongly, throughout our careers but it's nice to know you can still get the job done,'' Moody said.
"It's very special, special to do it with my little mate too.
"We've been down a long road, we've hit a few dry creeks between the two of us but that's (about ) 900 wins between trainer and jockey.
"Loyalty is not used widely these days so I'm pretty proud of that too."
Moody and Nolen's last big win in Sydney together was Black Caviar's swansong in the 2013 Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes at Royal Randwick.
I Wish I Win was brought over from New Zealand by Moody thinking he could win more prizemoney by just winning a few nice races but he announced himself as a likely Doncaster Mile contender with a gripping win in the Eagle.
"We brought him over thinking there are a lot of nice mile country cups in Victoria and with all due respect, they're worth more than the Group 1s in New Zealand,'' Moody said.
"He has just continued to evolve and develop and here we are, the second biggest turf race in the world five months later.
"He was good enough today by a whisker, he strikes you as a lovely Doncaster horse."
Nolen made a point of giving I Wish I Win a good look at the Rosehill straight before going to the gates and that may have been significant.
He sprinted the 400m-200m in a race best 11.14 (Punter's Intelligence) and that likely sealed the win with runner-up Fangirl charging to just miss with a 34.03 last 600m, easily the fastest of the race.
He said the gelding is a progressive type who has continued to lift the bar each time, and the win made up for an unlucky fifth as favourite in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap three weeks ago.
"He came over with a lowish rating but he came with nice form around him, albeit he hadn't been winning races it was good to see him to build his way into this,'' he said.
"We thought he was a real chance in the Toorak at his last, he probably didn't get track conditions quite to suit. Today we blended into the race really quickly.
"It sort of took me by surprise and then he floated around and let the second horse into the race a bit, but he was really good."
Ten per cent of the prizemoney won by I Wish I Win, around $525,000, goes to the horse's charity partner the Muscular Dystrophy Association NSW.
Moody said being able to give back to a worthy cause, as all runners in the Golden Eagle do, is one of the special things about the race.
"It great for everyone, congratulations to them for being the beneficiary,'' he said.
