When Peter Moody and Mark Chittick struck a deal for I Wish I Win to race in Australia, the expectation was for him to be competitive in country cup races.

Instead, the son of Savabeel went on to achieve far more, retiring as a multiple Group 1 winner with close to $13 million in earnings.

On Wednesday, Moody, his co-trainer Katherine Coleman, and Chittick announced I Wish I Win’s retirement after the gelding showed signs of soreness following a trackwork session on Tuesday.

“Two weeks ago, he worked brilliantly, but yesterday, he didn’t quite hit the line as he usually does,” Moody explained.

“Katherine rides him every morning and knows him well.

“We trotted him up early this morning, and we could see he was a little ‘jarry’ and not moving quite right.”

Moody and Coleman opted to retire him rather than risk potential injury.

“We could have pushed on, but I didn’t want him running below his best like he did in the T J Smith and risking his soundness,” Moody said.

X-rays showed some minor knee changes, which could have worsened with continued racing.

“He’s been too good to us to take that risk,” he said.

I Wish I Win will now return to his birthplace at Waikato Stud in New Zealand to enjoy retirement.

The gelding, who was born with a leg deformity, won two of his first nine starts in New Zealand before joining the Moody-Coleman stable.

When forming an ownership partnership, Moody told Chittick they could target races like the Cranbourne Cup, Sale Cup, and Kilmore Cup. Instead, I Wish I Win amassed just under $13 million in earnings.

Moody was particularly proud of winning the T J Smith Stakes, a race with deep personal significance.

“I grew up admiring the T J Smith, and to win it twice with Black Caviar, once with Chain Of Lightning, and once with I Wish I Win was special,” Moody said.

The gelding’s final race came in the Group 1 C F Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last month, where he finished third to Mr Brightside and Tom Kitten.

Moody admitted it was disappointing that I Wish I Win didn’t retire with a victory.

“I’ve always taken pride in retiring my best horses on top—Black Caviar, Typhoon Tracy, Dissident all went out after Group 1 wins,” Moody said.

“I Wish I Win and Incentivise were among the best I trained in my second stint. Incentivise ran second in a Melbourne Cup, and he ran third in an Orr.”

“I’m grateful for everything he achieved, but it would have been great to see him retire at his peak.”