Long before Black Caviar came along, and now long after, Peter Moody has constantly had a stable flag bearer.
For four years, from April 2009 to April 2013, “Nelly” was the star of the turf, and the unbeaten champion of 25 starts is the horse Moody and jockey Luke Nolen will forever be associated with.
But horses come and go, and so do trainers, to some extent. A six-month suspension in 2016 that Moody described as “bullshit”, on charges of presenting a horse to the races with cobalt in its system, turned into a four-year stint on the sidelines, as the larger-than-life trainer vowed not to return to the sport he grew up in while those administrators in charge of racing in Victoria remained at the helm.
Co-trainers Katherine Coleman and Peter Moody.Credit: Getty Images
A more serious charge against Moody for administering cobalt for the purpose of affecting a horse’s performance was dismissed, but his suspension on the lesser charge of presenting a horse with elevated cobalt levels – cobalt is a prohibited substance that some people dispute enhances performance – left him disillusioned.
He returned in 2020, however, starting his business again from scratch.
In his halcyon days at Caulfield, growing his stable’s numbers was seen as key to his operation, with Moody having ambitions to expand into Sydney. He won four Victorian metropolitan trainers’ premierships at the peak of his powers, and the sheer weight of numbers helped him achieve those.
It’s a little different this time around. He now calls Pakenham home for his horses, where the relaxed scene is vastly different to the hustle and bustle of city life, and the quality of horse is very much prioritised over quantity. He’s also now training in partnership with Katherine Coleman, his long-time foreman and assistant trainer who officially joined Moody’s name in race books on August 1.
Incentivise put Moody back on the map two seasons ago. A rising star purchased by Brae Sokolski from Queensland, he was sent to Moody and prepared for a win in the Turnbull Stakes and then a devastating win in the Caulfield Cup, giving Moody his first major of the four-piece crown. A Melbourne Cup eluded him when he finished second a few weeks later to champion mare Verry Elleegant.
Now, Moody has another horse carrying the stable’s brand. I Wish I Win, a New Zealand-bred son of Cox Plate winner Savabeel, is a winner of last year’s rich $10 million Golden Eagle and this year one of the prospective competitors for the $20 million Everest.
Peter Moody and Luke Nolen celebrate the Golden Eagle win of I Wish I Win.Credit: Getty Images
The five-year-old has won more than $7.75 million in prizemoney, courtesy of the vast money on offer in Sydney. For comparison, Black Caviar, who didn’t lose a race and triumphed on racing’s biggest stage at Royal Ascot in front of Queen Elizabeth II, won a total of $7.95 million.
I Wish I Win’s road to the Everest begins on Saturday, naturally at Caulfield, where Black Caviar was stabled for much of her career.
There he’ll run in the first group 1 of the Victorian spring, the 1400-metre Memsie Stakes, part of a rare program that will see him drop back in distance for his Everest grand final in Sydney.
“Of course, we’re really looking forward to it,” Moody said.
“Obviously, the build-up towards the Everest is really exciting.
“[It’s] a bit of a unique path that we’re taking, and I can respect the fact people might think, ‘What the bloody hell are we doing’, but we’re just trying to tailor a program to suit the horse and this is the best result we’ve come up with. We’ll either be a genius or a mug in six weeks’ time.”
Moody has always done things his own way.
He once had Black Caviar pencilled in to run in two 1400-metre races 14 days apart. After she won the first easily, in the autumn of 2012, he figured why give her a 1000-metre track gallop between runs when he could simply race her in a Lightning Stakes worth $750,000.
Little did Moody know, rocking up on race day, that Black Caviar’s biggest rival Hay List would be at the top of his game, and he pushed the star mare within two lengths. The effort Black Caviar needed to keep her unbeaten record intact ultimately forced Moody to cancel the idea of running her for a third time in three weeks, and arguably, that run against Hay List triggered the first of many niggles she ended up taking to Royal Ascot.
I Wish I Win, claiming this year’s TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney.Credit: Getty Images
Moody has also learnt lessons in I Wish I Win’s career. Last campaign he won the group 1 TJ Smith at Randwick at his third run, so Moody is determined to keep him in Victoria for as long as possible again. If the trip to Sydney is seen externally as a hit-and-run mission then so be it.
“I just want to arrive in Sydney the day before the Everest, like we did for the TJ, like we did for the Golden Eagle. That’s worked well,” he said.
“I didn’t want to take him up to the Premiere Stakes and stay away from home for two or three weeks. I want him in his own comfort zone at home, where it’s always worked before. And I didn’t want to be running him 14 days before the Everest because his best form, and we really find he takes a bit of time to bounce through his runs, is off a minimum 21-day gap.
“That might change as he gets older and more mature, that was more back when he was an early-season four-year-old and a three-year-old, but I’m not going to risk working out whether it’s changed leading into the Everest.”
The Queen requested a private audience with Black Caviar when the unbeaten mare went to Royal Ascot in 2012.Credit: Getty Images
Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick, who part-owns I Wish I Win with Moody and has known him for 35 years, has seen firsthand the attention to detail the former Queenslander has with his horses. He says Moody’s most profound skill is his ability to keep his horses happy.
“Even more so now that he’s back and has a smaller team, the intimate planning and management of his horses, the deep thinking and the intimate involvement with them [is Moody’s biggest asset],” Chittick said.
“The great thing now is Katherine is learning that way as well, so you’ve got a two-pronged attack there, and the other thing I’ve been impressed about is, the other day was my first time I’ve been to Pakenham and the various opportunities they have for horses there suits them and the horses are happy.”
As far as talent goes, it’s hard not to argue I Wish I Win is the most talented horse he’s trained since Black Caviar. While there’s very little pressure in comparison, given the invincibility around the mighty mare, Moody believes I Wish I Win has the class to win wherever he goes.
Moody at the unveiling of the Black Caviar statue at Caulfield in 2019.Credit: Getty Images
Asked whether he could have been the one to beat in this year’s Cox Plate had Moody wanted to train him for it, he said: “Quite possibly if prepared for it, yeah.”
“I wouldn’t say not. There are good milers, probably not so many good mile-and-a-quarter horses, are there?
“But there are some very good milers around, and he’s running against two of them on Saturday in Alligator Blood and Mr Brightside, the horse that’s won the past two Doncasters. That’s as good a form line as any in the country really.”
I Wish I Win is likely to jump from barrier one as the second favourite behind Mr Brightside in Saturday’s Memsie Stakes.
