Team Rishi are daring to dream

Team Rishi are daring to dream after a captivating TAB Smoken Up Sprint win removed the ceiling of what’s possible for their six-year-old gelding.

The last start Group 2 win has not only booked a place in Saturday night’s Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup, but was confirmation Rishi had overcome battles that had plagued him and he was poised to put his best foot forward.

Owner John Hawkes told SENTrack this morning Rishi’s “had a lot of problems”, but he had “gradually, gradually coming good”, which had built confidence in trainer Lance Justice.

“Last Tuesday (Lance) told me, 'John, I’m putting the work in him now, he’s run three (minutes) two (seconds) for a mile-and-a-half on my track’. (Lance) said ‘that’s Smoken Up’s times’. He said he’s absolutely flying.

“He said ‘now I’ve got to put it on, he’s running against the good boys, I’m not going to look after him, I’m going to treat him like he should be trained and training him harder’.”

And it all fell into place last Saturday night when, with Ride High hustling up front, Rishi’s reinsman Mick Bellman finally got the perfect platform to show the gelding in full flight.

“All of a sudden he started to show some good form, but we’ve never had the races run to suit,” Hawke said.

“He wants them to go likes bats out of hell and then he can come home, but if something pulls out in front of him and takes his run, he takes too long to get going. He’s like a big train, a big horse, he builds up and once he builds up he can run quick times.”

As he outlined on SENTrack, the triple-figure odds proved a big windfall for Hawke and his friends and coffee shop cohorts who took the tip, but there’s an even bigger prize on the line in Saturday’s $300,000 feature.

Rishi’s drawn gate nine, well placed one off the fence behind a lightning front line.

“If they do go hard and he doesn’t get checked or anything like that he will be coming home.”

That’s certainly Bellman hopes.

The reinsman joined Trots Talk on Wednesday and said they had “done well with the barrier draw, I’d rather be there than the front line, so far so good, as long as the rest falls into place we’ll be happy”.

“We don’t have to be looking for a position or vying for a position, we just have to follow through and hope we lob a good position," Bellman said.

“We have probably got a few more options than a few of the fancied runners on the front line, so we can be a sleeping giant again hopefully.”

Remarkably, Saturday night will be only Bellman’s second drive on Rishi, who's quickly made an impression.

“He just felt so strong throughout the whole trip. Travelled on the bridle really nicely and when I asked him he let down, he gave me everything he had and it was just a sensational feeling.

 “I was pretty excited just to get a drive in the Smoken Up Sprint, nevermind even dream of getting a drive in the Victoria Cup, it’s been a real surreal feeling.”

And Team Rishi are not done yet.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed,” Hawke said. “I’m believing in Lance and I think that, what else can you do but dream.

CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE FULL SENTRACK INTERVIEW:

HRV – Michael Howard