If you were brave enough to have a $10 all-up on Think About It at his past eight starts, it would have returned a cool $112,729.
When you point this out to trainer Joe Pride, he is impressed, and says if he was in that predicament heading into Saturday’s The Everest, he would be happy to let it ride.
Sydney trainer Joe Pride.Credit: Getty
“That’s not a bad amount, is it?,” Pride said. “It’s having the balls to keep it going.
“At some stage if you were up $20,000 or $30,000, I would have been thinking to myself, ‘I’d like that in my pocket’.
“It’s so rare to win so many in a row. I’ve only had one other horse do it and that was Rain Affair, who won nine in a row.
Joe Pride with Everest second favourite Think About It.Credit: Getty
“If you looked through his prices, he started odds-on in so many of those races, and it wouldn’t have been the same collect [as Think About It].
“He’s still the best horse I’ve trained who didn’t win a group 1. I’ve had horses win group 1s that weren’t as good as him.
“Come to think of it, he would have been great in a race like The Everest, especially if he struck a wet track.
“As for Think About It, I’m pretty sure none of the owners have had that $10 all-up.”
A $10 all-up on Think About It
Warwick Farm – January 23 – $2.35
Rosehill – January 28 – $2.05
Randwick – February 11 – $4.20
Randwick – February 25 – $3.90
Gosford – May 6 – $3.90
Eagle Farm – May 27 – $5.50
Eagle Farm – June 10 – $3.60
Randwick – September 30 – $1.85
$10 all-up – $112,729
“It would be a brave punter to let it ride on Saturday, but I also think there have been races along the way that I would have been less confident about than going into this race.
“That’s not to say he just goes out there and wins. He’s a great chance in an open race.”
Pride saddles up trusty stablemate Private Eye, who almost pinched The Everest last year and was excellent in The Shorts when resuming last month.
But there is nothing like a horse that goes on a Winx-like winning streak.
Think About It holds off Hawaii Five Oh in the Premiere Stakes.Credit: Getty
Think About It, a winner of 10 from 11 career starts, saluted at his first two runs, then crashed to his only defeat in his own Warwick Farm backyard.
The two horses that finished in front of him, Capo Strada and Conrad, have struggled since, something that was not lost on Pride.
“It’s one of the vagaries of racing, a horse having his third start in a campaign, and probably nearly had enough, and got into an awkward spot in the race,” Pride said.
“I’ve got a really good memories for those sorts of things. I can’t remember my wife’s or my kids’ birthdays, but I can remember horses that beat mine in certain races, and the times they ran.”
Think About It did not start racing until he was almost four, and started at some decent odds in a handful of races.
He started $3.90 in the Liverpool City Cup and Takeover Target Stakes, then $5.50 in the group 1 $1m Kingsford-Smith Cup, before he won the Stradbroke at $3.60.
Think About It is $4.50 second elect for The Everest behind I Wish I Win, the deserved $4 favourite in the eyes of Pride.
“I’m not a form student, I’m a horse trainer, but I do tend to look at what a horse’s peak run is,” Pride said.
“For a race like this, all the horses will be theoretically speaking. But if you look at the horse that has performed best at their peak in the past, it would have to be I Wish I Win and what he did in the TJ Smith Stakes in the autumn.
“The only question mark with him is whether he is better on a wet track, which he is unlikely to get this weekend. But I still think he’s the best horse in the race.”
Private Eye had his final tune-up last Friday while Think About It will work at Warwick Farm on Tuesday.
Nash Rawiller steers Private Eye while and Sam Clipperton will be on Think About It, who had no right to win when he somehow found another gear to deny the fast-finishing The Everest rival Hawaii Five Oh.
Meanwhile, Eduardo, Pride’s old-timer who contested The Everest last year, is enjoying retirement where he is being educated for a career in dressage.
