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By Ray Hickson

It's hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Black Caviar brought down the house in her TJ Smith swansong and it’s something still fresh in jockey Luke Nolen’s memory.

People lined the fences, the infield helped an under-construction Randwick house a packed crowd, there was a sea of salmon and black.

Luke Nolen (right) with Black Caviar, strapper Donna Fisher and trainer Peter Moody after the 2013 TJ Smith Stakes (Pic: Bradley Photos).

It was the final race, run at 5.10pm out of daylight saving time and there was only one result acceptable. Nolen and trainer Peter Moody left as celebrities.

When Nolen heads to Royal Randwick on Saturday to ride Golden Eagle winner I Wish I Win in the Group 1 $3m Furphy TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) he’ll do it knowing he’s on a winning chance but with the burden of expectation off his back.

“All I wanted to do was get that race over and done with and I had to wait around all day for it,’’ Nolen said.

“She was a career defining horse and the search to find one like her has been a long one since.

“But this bloke is a nice enough horse to hitch my wagon to for sure.”

Moody has transformed I Wish I Win into a sprinter for his autumn campaign and on the evidence of fast-finishing placings in both the Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) and Newmarket Handicap (1200m) the gelding can lay claim to being an emerging sprinting force.

Nolen said those two performances suggest to him the four-year-old has adapted well to being kept to the short course and saw plenty of merit in his third placing behind In Secret and Lofty Strike at Flemington three weeks ago.

“The three-year-olds beat us with the weight allowance last time and were very much advantaged,’’ Nolen said.

“My bloke ran quite well but he had 56.5kg in a Newmarket, probably weighted to his best and just came up short. He didn’t run poorly by any stretch, back to weight-for-age I’m confident he’ll run well.”

Under the weight-for-age conditions of the TJ, I Wish I Win will meet his Newmarket conquerors 1kg and 2kg better respectively at the weights for being beaten just over a length.

By no means is Nolen offering any excuse for being beaten, he was down the outside fence while the winner was nearer the inside, but he said with a strong pace expected he has the chance to turn the tables.

“He can take a bit to engage sometimes but I wasn’t out there on my own. I’m not sure if the result would have changed if I was chasing the winner or not but I won’t know,’’ he said.

“I was happy out there because it gives a horse like him room to find the open air and get a chance to rattle home.

“There’ll be good speed in the (TJ) and you’ve got some very good horses in the second half of the field so I’ll get a tag off one of them.”

That’ll be crucial to I Wish I Win’s chances as he’ll jump from 14 in the 15 horse field.

It’s probably not the barrier Nolen would have chosen if given his pick but at the same time he says I Wish I Win, $8.50 with TAB on Wednesday, needs to be ridden a particular way to be most effective and the barrier will allow him to build into his work.

He has a Group 1 placing in New Zealand on a heavy track and was a close second to Imperatriz on soft ground early in his career so he’ll handle whatever conditions Randwick throws at him but Nolen said he’d prefer firmer to softer.

I Wish I Win's Golden Eagle victory

“Pete is of the belief, to be reeling of the sectionals we’ve seen him do, he’s advantaged by firm going but his record with the sting out is also quite sound,’’ he said.

“We’ll blend back until we find cover, I’m not sure how the track will come up and it might not be disadvantage being where we are drawn.

“He’s a no fuss sort of horse, he’s adaptable. One thing I know with the horse is you’ve got to ride him in his zone.

“Wherever that is, you leave your fate in the hands of how quickly they go. But in doing that he does get the chance to rattle off very good sectionals late.

“He’ll have to be a very good horse to be running past them but I believe I’ll have an effective enough run to give him his chance.

“Whether we are good enough to run them over we will be wiser come Saturday.”

All the fields, form and replays for Day 1 of The Star Championships at Randwick