It’s taken a while for Any Wish to work out what the racing game is all about but this week the four year old mare put it all together to win twice in the space of five days.
If you told Lee a year ago the daughter of Savabeel would still be a maiden after ten starts he wouldn’t believe you. Any Wish has impressed from day one at the sale, the star worker on many mornings at track work. She is impeccably bred being by New Zealand top stallion Savabeel and from one of New Zealand’s best female families. A magnificent big, strong mare weighing in at 550kgs, 16+ HH, a huge stride and a terrific constitution she holds all the characteristics of a good horse.
On Thursday Any Wish lined up at Kembla at her eleventh start under the saddle of Adrian Layt. She got the blows in the market drifting from $4.60 to $7.50. She settled back in the field and made a great run down the outside running past her rivals over the 1400m trip. She finally showed on the track what we had seen so many times at home.
Any Wish had been dual nominated and was still eligible after her win for the Class 1 and Maiden over 1600m at Taree on Tuesday. A good doing mare, sometimes could be accused of being a bit of a fatty, Lee was confident the mare could back up well and so accepted for the Taree race and committed to take her when she finally drew a decent barrier.
Any Wish took the trip up to Taree with stable mate Time For Peace. Initially when loading on the float the two seemed to dislike each other, squealing a jumping about for the first couple of minutes. By the time the four hour trip was complete the pair were inseparable and they settled in to their “country retreat” for the next few days.
Time For Peace was first to race and gallantly finished second in the Open 2yo event behind Lucky Shadow.
Any Wish was full of herself when she arrived on track, a mere 30 steps from her stable. She was ready to go, and certainly not behaving like a horse that raced five days prior, she was strong and focused. Andrew Gibbons was legged aboard and was confident he could win aboard the mare.
Any Wish jumped well and settled just behind the leaders, ridden exactly how Andrew said he would, he peeled off the fence at the turn and put away the field with ease.
With a mare in form it can be quite an exciting time.