I Wish I Win has gone to the paddock, but Giga Kick’s remarkable season is not yet finished, with connections keen to try the star three-year-old over a longer trip.
Mornington-based trainer Clayton Douglas said last weekend’s T.J. Smith Stakes runner-up is likely to run at 1400 metres for the first time in two weeks with a view to opening up his options for the spring.
“At this stage, we are going to prepare him for the All Aged Stakes,” Douglas said on Monday.
“I have been happy with him and he’s come through the run quite well. The slight concern would be if the track was real Heavy again, whether we would run him up to the 1400 metres on the Heavy track.
“But I feel like he will run 1400 metres. It’s a two-week turnaround and that obviously worked well for The Everest last spring.
“He’s a very good horse, so whatever I ran him in, he’d run very well.”
Peter Moody confirmed T.J. Smith winner I Wish I Win is on his way to the paddock, having earned $7.5 million this season from a mere seven runs.
“He’s done his job, so we’ve put him away to have him right for The Everest in the spring,” Moody said.
Given the horse’s versatility, Moody said he has a wealth of options for the horse after The Everest, including a Champions Mile at Flemington and a Hong Kong Mile in December.
Ben Hayes said he and his brother JD are leaning towards sending Mr Brightside to the paddock rather than back him up over 2000m in Saturday’s G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Hayes said that although he is keen to again try the horse at 2000m, he fears a second run in a week on a very Heavy track could harm his spring preparation, where the Cox Plate and a G1 race in Hong Kong in December are to be his major aims.
No horse has earned more than Giga Kick’s $7.73m for the season, but that all may change come Saturday.
Anamoe could add another cool $2.95m to his current total of $6.87m when he lines up in Saturday’s $4m Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while Gold Trip could add a further $1.15m to his current total of $5.63m when he lines up in Saturday’s $2m Sydney Cup.
As for Giga Kick, he races for a further $870,000 first prize reward in Saturday week’s G1 All Aged Stakes.
– racing.com
